Why do some conservatives resist the idea of global warming and going green?

Question

I would think that NOW one would realize how big of an effect human pollution has on the environment, even if we are not the cause of global warming, landfills and wastes, the effects of not recycling, using too much energy and oil still takes a lot out on the environment and our civilization.

So are conservatives STILL turning a blind eye to environmental issues? If you dont believe it is that big of a deal or that we have that much of an effect, what's the problem with at least going green? I dont see why people fight it.

Answer 1

That's a pretty broad generalization.  There are a lot of Conservatives that care about the Environment.  

Nannystate Liberals want mandates, but historically, they cost too much, they put good companies out of business, and they all fail.

California's Electric Car mandate has resulted in what?  Zilch.

On the flip side, Look what $4 gas has done to people's wasting habits.

And in 1998, we called it El Nino.  Now, we just blame Bush.  Anyone wonder why these accusations from the fringe are met with suspicion?

Answer 2

Money.

The obvious reason, the main reason is, of course, because acknowledging global warming and going green affect the lives of conservatives where it hurts the most - in their checkbooks and bank accounts. However, as more large corporations begin applying new technology to stop global warming, which they have been, eventually, the tide shall turn in favor of a majority going green. It's taking a while for industry to retool itself to the global conditions of our planet and the faster industry and our society in general can accomodate these changes for the better, the faster we can begin witnessing increasing limitations to and end to global warming. The theory is that we created the mess, so we can clean it up. Until the effects of global warming directly hurt those who don't yet understand it, there will always be a few who refuse to spend the extra money needed to maintain and help our world thrive as we know it. And that's the real solution: the solution must take the form of a multi-tiered industrial complex that can produce a profit, because if there is nothing to gain by working to create a better and sustainable global environment, not too many people are going to endorse it. But if companies can make a profit from "going green" and creating "green industries" you could see positive changes virtually overnight, or atleast a lot sooner than later.  The solution is also at least two fold. We must "heat" our buildings and provide energy for our factories, machines and vehicles, however, we must also our planet to "cool" down in order for the whole system to work. Once we figure out, produce and employ the mechanism(s) that allow us to do this (like carbon filters that catch and treat the carbon dioxide laden exhaust from cars and machines), we can begin to see the vast majority of skeptics accept the solution to global warming.

Answer 3

I think that the majority of conservatives are environmentally conscious, they just don't want to deal with it by creating an overhead bureaucracy and legislating it to death.  On some issues, this one in particular, conservatives are more concerned with the unintended consequences of legislation than the intended ones.

As for resisting the idea of global warming, they're taking advantage of a window of opportunity that exists between now and when we start to observe radical changes in climate--if they happen.  The models run by the IPCC instantaneously double the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and let it run.  A more realistic model is the equilibrium model in which the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increased by, say, 5% per year.  The output of this model is much less dramatic, though, and probably not as newsworthy.

There is no problem going green, unless you're a special interest group that provides the old, non-green product or service.  Of course, then you can pay a lobbyist...and we know where that leads.

And think on this, please:  Would you rather have the government tax your gasoline until there's enough demand for a cheaper alternative that one is made available, or provide tax breaks for alternative energy development until it becomes cheaper than oil and everyone wants to use it anyway?  The first method is most punitive to those who can least afford the infrastructure investment.

Answer 4

*singing*  Money money money   Mon ey!

Answer 5

Conservatives think the world is only 6000 years old too.... who knows why they believe anything.

Answer 6

China has 50 nuclear energy plants under construction. America has none. so which country is turning the blind eye on this issue

Answer 7

Many people beside just conservatives have a problem with global warming and in particular the proposed solutions. From a scientific point of view many people confuse scientific fact with scientific concensus or scientific theory. Scientific fact has no political affiliation and is verifiable and repeatable by experiment and observation regardless of who performs the experiment and observation. Scientific fact is also sometimes regarded as a law of science after it has been vigorously verified. Newtons laws of motion are but a few examples of scientific fact.

The theory of global warming has not achieved the level of scientific law primarially because we have not reached a complete and global understanding of the variables and interactions that result in weather and the associated increase and decrease in temperature and pressure associated with weather. If we did have this understanding and enough computer processing power we could accurately forsee the future weather and global periods of warming and cooling both caused naturally and by man. If you doubt this statement just look at last years forecast for hurricanes (very organized weather systems), it was completely inaccurate.

What we do have in place of scientific fact is some scientific concensus. Scientific concensus is what some scientists believe. It is not to be confused with scientific fact since in the past many things that a lot of scientists believed has been proven to be flat out wrong. There is nothing wrong with someone believing in global warming but there is something wrong with forcing others to believe in it because you do.

Let me leave you with a thought experiment on the subject. I design airplanes and in doing so use scientific methods based on scientific laws to test designs. Lift, drag and performance are all calculated and then the design is tested in a wind tunnel to confirm the calculations. Ultimately you fly safely on this airplane. Instead of doing this would you prefer that me and a group of my peers designed an airplane based on we think should work? Would you sign up for the test flight of that airplane? I'm sure you would want some proof that the stupid thing will fly beside my reassurances based on my beliefs. Same thing goes for me when it comes to global warming. I want to know that we first understand the problem and that the solution (if the problem exists) will work, not cause worse problems like starving people or freezing people because they can't afford fuel oil.

Answer 8

They should

Can we decide the starting Point?

Answer 9

Conservatives don't deny that the Earth is going through a warming pattern. What we DO deny is that it is caused solely by us, as humans. The Earth goes through natural warming and cooling periods. Ever hear of the Ice Age?

It's pretty narcisstic of humans to believe that we can destroy a 4.5 billion year old planet in less than 100 years.

Answer 10

They hate their kids, obviously.

Answer 11

Because the origins of GW go back 250 years to the Industrial Revolution, and to reverse that hemisphere wide trend in 20 years with trendy symbolic gestures or Awareness Creation is an absurd notion.

You don't believe this now, but we aren't going to make requisite decreases in GG emissions without wide scale acceptance of nuclear energy.

The International Energy Agency correctly concludes an energy revolution is in order if you really want to get serious about GW.

Answer 12

hee is a simple explanation.

Last week, many areas broke or tied temperature records that go back oer 75 years.

What caused to to be so hot back then?

Answer 13

cause it's very obvious that the earth is changing. it's destroyed. i don't think it's gonna be a big issue if we'll go green. it won't hurt us, right?..conservatives are only looking at what is at front than looking or thinking for the future. this earth won't be the before earth. right?.

Answer 14

Why are so many Libs trying to force thier distorted views and ideas on every one else?

AGW is BS. Just cut to the chase and submit every aspect of your life to the government as only they can decide what's best.

AGW is a trojan horse for a totalitarian world government.

Talk about a blind eye.......

Answer 15

Fear is control and scarcity : starvation, inadequacy, etc are being used to cripple people's reason so they will submit to Global Government by immoral and insane elitists. Scarcity is the catchy illusion of the New World Order that they manipulate populations with: lies, paper money, shill leaders (bush, clintons, etc), and fluoridated water/mercury vaccines, etc but they say this is all good for you. Now you know why Americans are dumbed down, sick, and depressed. If you hate truth then to h**l with you.

So the claimed "man-made"Co2 (excess) is implied to create a scarcity of oxygen-what a lie. Liberals tend to be touchy feely and that's not a bad thing necessarily but we cannot use emotional reasoning without employing objective reasoning studying the facts about global warming as to whether Planet 'X' as a cause of earth  changes is a hoax or real. Mars and Jupiter are heating up just like the earth is. An extra planet termed Planet 'X' heading towards Earth was discovered in the late 80's and these are all NASA findings that indicate earth changes (weather, quakes, warming, cooling, polar reversals) are caused by this brown dwarf referred to as wormwood star in Revelations. Planet X is due visible in 2009 inbound and 2012 outbound. Interestingly this matches up with revelations 3.5 years tribulation starting perhaps mid 2009. Funny how now the elites are engineering phoney war on terror, phoney oil shortages/scams(oil replenishes from earth-most dummies think we've been driving on liquified "fossil-fuel" dinosaurs), water, food shortages. They are on a race to kill off massive numbers of humans via war, starvation, vaccines, etc.

Co2 is a life giving molecule that allows plants to grow. Plants in turn process this for oxygen. Also organisms in the ocean also process to cycle oxygen. The funny thing is the same elites that are creating pollution via their corporations and elite-managed governments are creating this hype and illusions about warming/earth changes but it's ludicrous that average people are tricked into taking the blame for warming. Hitler's propagandist stated if you repeat a lie enough it will be taken for truth. Don't take lies for truth and investigate different viewpoints and then you have a better group of information/claims to decide. Google or youtube Global Warming Hoax and watch the videos and read websites. Don't just follow the Al w***e and United Nations (communist, one world government) propaganda. Question everything, even my claims and you will be healthier mentally, socially, and spiritually especially critical issues that are central in the global "perspective" as most people follow the judas goat and are betrayed with convenient lies for the elites' agendas. They are rich and powerful because you are poor, ignorant, and naive in trusting the greedy, immoral, and destructive elites. They want it all and YOU are NOT invited to keeping your life!

Answer 16

I'm an environmentalist/zoologist and i think going green all the time in fact me and my friends are going to save animals also when i was three i put everything in thee recyclingben

Answer 17

Global warming is a hoax. It has not been proven. As far as going green I personally have been doing much of what is suggested by the "green people" for the last 30 years. It is called being a good steward of your money. It is called being responsible. It has absolutely nothing to do with the environment in my case.

Answer 18

I'm a very conservative republican, but I'm all for going green.  I recycle everything I can and ....  I even found a machine that helps reduce demand of oil used to make plastic bottles, but also produces pure drinking water without using precious groundwater resources.  It is a very new product and worth taking a look at.  Take a free tour at www.4oursuccess.myxziex.com

and see for yourself how it works and how using a system like this can make a difference.

This page won't ask for any contact information to take a look.  :)

I may be the exception to the rule on this issue, but I wanted to assure you that not all stereotypes are true.  Not every republican or conservative is against going green.  There is hope.

Michelle, Carolina Beach, NC

Answer 19

Because, first off, there's absolutely no evidence that global warming is a manmade phenomenon, and heaps of evidence that it's not.

The ice caps on mars are melting at a comparable rate to the ones on earth.

The problem is, there's so much hype about global warming that legitimate environmental issues of toxins in the air and water are being ignored.

It's not a conservative thing either, except insofar as conservatives, being very suspicious about increasing the size of government and its role in people's lives, are more likely than liberals to question the need for new government programs and taxes.

You'll note that the Neoconservatives are the ones who are all gung-ho about global warming and instituting global carbon taxes and the chipping away at national sovereignty that this entails.

Remember, the global warming theory has nothing to do with pollutants, but carbon dioxide, which is one of the fundamental building blocks of life, along with oxygen water and sunlight. Increased CO2 means more robust plant growth which means richer oxygen output.

RESEARCH!!!

Answer 20

I believe that Conservatives tend to resist diving head-long into unproven 'causes'... ie. AGW.  Liberals tend to have a 'Cause du Jour' philosophy and tend to be overly trusting of the spoutings of the left-leaning media and their 'sage' advice.

The ethanol scam is but one example of a 'cause' that has now been discovered to be counter-productive to the goal of controlling pollution....ie. CO2 emissions.  THAT is the sort of thing that Conservatives tend not to unquestionably embrace.

Answer 21

The liberal thinking of global warming is just a myth. it's no different now than 2000 years ago. Wake up people!  

It's just a front/conspiracy for the Democrats to employ an increased tax called "carbon/ tax".

Besides there is plenty of untapped oil in the ground - Northern Canada, offshore Newfoundland, etc.

I personally believe in materials recycling & also the treatment of waste products - used oil, garbage, raw sewage, etc. caused by all of us.

Come on you environmental whackos, consider the non- emissions control in China, what a joke! How about the nightly campfires in India? The air is thick with pollution. Have you been there?!?. Does anyone think of these?!? There is more populus there than in North America! Stop picking on G7 countries only and see the world as a whole.

Liberal movement trying to make people hate their own country. Whatever happened to loving your country? Love it or leave it! There are plenty of immigrants at the border waiting to enter upon your exit. Try living in China with human rights virtually non-existent.

Wake up!!

As a sidebar - Bill Gates should have been in charge of fuel alternative technology after the 1970's so-called energy crisis. Look how far PC technology has gone from DOS to Windows (Vista)  Too bad the time wasn't invested instead of researching outer speace. What are we looking for up/out  there anyways?

Answer 22

Mankind is the only creature that does not belong to this world

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We are the only life form on the planet that if put out in the wild naked with out anything to fend or find with we 90% would be dead with in a week time

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We are the only creature that is destructive of everything we touch

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Humanity is the only life form that will kill each other for pure spite of color religion what country you live in what sect of the race you are

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And to think that humanity is responsible for the distruction of the earth is saying a

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Beaver did not make that dam on the creak that caused it to flood

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And we have only gotten started

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To top it off we now have the sun to help out in cooking the planet

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The sun has been getting hotter and hotter

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http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002...

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Mars is proof the sun is getting hotter also takes a little while for this page to load

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk...

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Answer 23

it seems to me that the problem with some people including me sometimes is that they dont want to believe that we can FIX the earth, because we dont want to, it is to much work, no matter how hard you try to convince a person if they are unable to convince themselves first that we have serious issues they just dont want to believe it, or help out. And it takes a group effort to begin to restore our planet.

Answer 24

ok, just because Im a conservative doesnt mean I trash the environment on purpose or litter. And not everyone can run out and buy a prius.

liberals think they have the answer to everything.  

like DDT.  350 million to 500 million people a year in Asia, Africa and South America die from malaria.  More than 80 percent are in rural Africa. Just so you libs could save some birds. thats absolutely disgusting.

and your stupid lightbulbs have mercury in them. So when you throw them away it poisons animals at the dump.

just stay out of it! you make evrything worse.

global warming isn't real!!!!

Here are some facts:

1) If you took every car off every road in the US the temperature would change less than a TENTH OF A DEGREE!

2) People cause 3.5% of temperature change with .4% coming from cars.

3) The polar bear population has gone from 5000 to 25000 in 10 years and for some reason, they are still being put on the threatened list! they can swim!

4) 5 billion dollars a year is wated by the US government to research "climate change"

5) no one has proved why the hole in the ozone layer appeared, so the theory that the extreme cold caused it is just as credible as the theory thet cfcs or whatever caused it.

6) Al Gore shows his audience a slide of CO2 concentrations, and a slide of historical temperatures. But for very good reason he does not combine them in one overlaid slide: Historically, atmospheric CO2, as often as not, increases after warming. This is typical in the campaign of claiming “consensus” to avoid debate (consensus about what being left unspoken or distorted).

7) American grocery stores are starting to introduce food rationing. Wal Mart is restricting the amount of rice customers can buy. In Mexico and Yemen, in Egypt and Indonesia, the poor are taking to the streets to protest massive rise in food prices as well as shortages. A short distance from our shores, the troubled nation of Haiti is in crisis again; Haitians, dependent on U.S. grain imports, have seen those dry up and have been reduced to eating cakes of dirt.

8) one tank of ethanol wastes enough food to feed a starving person for a year!! one tank!

9) ehtnaol produces more CO2 than regular gas

10) the models the ipcc uses are fake. even when fed random "red noise" they still made hocky stick curved graphs!!!

less than 20 years ago they were freaking out about the next ice age!!!!

what more wil it take to convince you? why believe what politicians and liberal "scientists" say when you can just look at the science and prove it wrong!?

and just because I am a republican and dont believe in global warming does not mean i am pro litter/ pollution. it means i am pro common sense!

global warming is a MYTH! It has been repeated soooo many times without many true conservatives stopping it, it has been accepted as fact.

Answer 25

Because most conservatives see through the lies and hysteria. "Manmade global warming" is just an excuse for liberals to gain more control of your life (what car you drive, where you can build a house, how much of you money to take to 'save the environment', etc). Think about it…if Al Gore really gave a d**n about CO2 emissions, would he be FLYING all over the world for his speeches? Wouldn't he be giving them for free and/or over the internet 'cuz it's that important? Just try to get him to speak to your school or work for nothing. And scientists don't get grant money to do a study called "Everything's Fine: Nothing to see here".  Politicians get elected because they're going to 'do something about global warming.' Mostly it's just ways to get your money and give you the false sense that something good has happened.

You can go green if you want to, just don't force the rest of us to come along.

Answer 26

not all do that thing. you must just continue to present them facts until they can't resist it anymore. people are really like that.

Answer 27

Global Warming IS a hoax . Why do you believe something with no evidence? If Al Gore told you the earth was flat would you believe that too?