Why is there a growing cynicism towards environmental issues?

Question

Why is there a growing cynicism towards environmental issues?

Answer 1

because we are all going to die and nobody wants to face up to this reality, THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEIGH

Answer 2

Because people scream DISASTER when DISASTER is not happening.  Chicken Little, the boy who cried wolf, etc. are all morality tales that apply to this situation.

Answer 3

Because CO2 dosen't cause global warming, the sun determines the global climate and people that know this are sick of hearing it and are getting pissed off thats its being preached like its fact.

Answer 4

I think it has to do with information overload.  We have it shoved down our throats now.  Also because it has become a 'political bandwagon', and politics naturally generates distrust.  When it comes to climate change, it has been exaggerated to the point that people don't know what to believe.  Is the climate changing? Yes.  How much?  We are constantly getting conflicting reports and paranoid rants on the subject.  Little wonder we become so cynical.

Regardless of the political messages out there, or even if climate change is false or exaggerated, our environment is something we should take care of.  I want my child to be able to breathe fresh air, and to know the wonder the world shows everyday.  I just hope that the cynicism generated today doesn't negatively impact the environmental movement.  And I wish the pollies would stop using it as a platform to be elected- they care more for money, and are simply saying what they think people want to hear.

Answer 5

I wasn't aware it was. If you are talking about global warming only, then yes; I think people start to realize that some future scenario might have been exaggerated. I think the reason is very simple: If you do research on the development of the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, you'll get more attention and therefore more financial support of you come with an apocalyptic model.

In my humble opinion, we don't know exactly how that increase in CO2 will affect us and that is, in itself, scarry enough. But we should remain objectif.

A couple of years ago I wrote to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute with the following question:

If we observe an increase in temperature near the poles but not near the equator, it means that while the absolute global temperature increases, the relative temperature between the poles and equator, decreases, thus reducing the energy in the frontal lows that generate bad weather on the temperate latitudes. Hence, the 'storms of the future' you predicted make no sense to me.

The answer I got said simply: "It's more complicated than that." Without any argument. Why is that?

As most know, there are more storms in winter than summer on our latitudes. That is because the difference of temperature between the poles and equator is greater in the winter when the pole is in a night of six months.

The bottom line is: Yes we should be careful with the environment. But a movie like "An Inconvenient Truth" is pushing things a bit too far.

Answer 6

When you start mixing complex science with a lot politics and mega cash from groups, usually only bad things will result from this combination.  The research results (that are really initially the researchers best educated guess in the conclusion of the project) are usually judged too soon to be a scientific fact by some and are completely ignored by others.  And this usually occurs before the most important final process of any research project...the process of putting the research procedures and findings through a lengthy and detailed peer review.  

The global warming issue has now gone through this route.  It is now difficult to determine what is likely a fact, what is currently just a best educated guess, what is just an opinion by a person or group, and what has been changed to the point where it is now more fiction than fact.  

I think we need to reduce the politics and let the scientific community go back to doing some old fashion research work.  Then maybe we can come up with a solution we can all agree upon without the growing cynicism that we currently see with the global warming issues.

This is just my opinion.