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A large part of it, for me personally, is what I perceive to be "over-alarmism". Climate is a complicated subject and climate science is still evolving. The m

A large part of it, for me personally, is what I perceive to be "over-alarmism". Climate is a complicated subject and climate science is still evolving. The media tends to focus on the worst case scenarios, and tends to exaggerate too much. This triggers my bullshit meter and makes me pay closer attention. Other things like the usage of the term "denier" for skeptics, the over-emphasis on scientific consensus, and the near-religious zeal with which any amount of what I consider to be healthy skepticism is met with doesn't help. That's not to say that the arctic isn't warming (it is), or that the arctic sea ice isn't melting (it is). I would be more receptive to the data if it were brought to me with all of the considerable uncertainties exposed. I remember the days when scientists had a hard time saying anything definite in the media without a lot of caveats. I doubt these are specifically American traits. The politicization of both sides of the argument and the us vs. them mentality that pervades all dialogue any more that doesn't allow for non-extreme positions is probably the real problem.

lamontcg 10y ago
You're framing this argument as one of the skeptics versus the media, and ignoring the science. The gold standard of climate science is probably the IPCC AR5 report and if anything it is underestimating climate impacts like the shrinking northern summertime polar ice cap. The data is also all out there, with all the uncertainties you like, but its not going to be "brought to you", you're going to have to do a bit of work to read the original sources. IPCC AR5 is out there for you to read any time you'd actually like to get educated.
- godshatter 10y ago
  Yes, true. And I have looked into it and actually follow certain websites that show data graphs to see how things are actually progressing on a regular basis. I've gone so far as to write programs to parse data sets and graph data. I was just trying to figure out why climate skepticism seems to be a predominantly American thing, though. American media and the great political divide seem to be good candidates. I'm not sure whether "over-alarmism" is an American media-only trait or not, though. It might also have something to do with a historical importance placed in American culture on rugged individualism and an acceptance of alternative viewpoints, but that seems to be fading as the years progress, from what I've seen.

lamontcg 10y ago

You're framing this argument as one of the skeptics versus the media, and ignoring the science. The gold standard of climate science is probably the IPCC AR5 report and if anything it is underestimating climate impacts like the shrinking northern summertime polar ice cap. The data is also all out there, with all the uncertainties you like, but its not going to be "brought to you", you're going to have to do a bit of work to read the original sources. IPCC AR5 is out there for you to read any time you'd actually like to get educated.

godshatter 10y ago
Yes, true. And I have looked into it and actually follow certain websites that show data graphs to see how things are actually progressing on a regular basis. I've gone so far as to write programs to parse data sets and graph data. I was just trying to figure out why climate skepticism seems to be a predominantly American thing, though. American media and the great political divide seem to be good candidates. I'm not sure whether "over-alarmism" is an American media-only trait or not, though. It might also have something to do with a historical importance placed in American culture on rugged individualism and an acceptance of alternative viewpoints, but that seems to be fading as the years progress, from what I've seen.