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This is just a dressed up "some people are saying" puff piece.

jfengel 4y ago
A "people are saying" piece doesn't have numbers. This is reporting on polling, which is more concrete and actionable. The link is just picking out certain numbers they think are noteworthy. They link to the actual poll results, which are considerably more detailed. It's not the headline I would have chosen, which would be more to the tune of "People more concerned about energy costs than the climate". But that's pointing at a cause rather than just noting the fact, which is that climate change denial is growing despite weather that might have been expected to change minds. (They chose "skepticism", which I don't consider an appropriate word, but it is the commonly-accepted term.)
- pstuart 4y ago
  Ok, let's add numbers! At some recent point 77% of Americans believed angels are real. That doesn't sway me as it's not evidence (of that, it is of the gullibility of the population). https://www.salon.com/2014/12/20/7_things_americans_think_are_more_plausible_than_global_warming_partner/ https://www.salon.com/2014/12/20/7_things_americans_think_ar... Edit: bumped up the percentage but it's moot
  - jfengel 4y ago
    That's what the piece is about: what people believe. The question of whether climate change is real is a separate question, and one that's considered definitively solved by everybody who actually knows anything about it. The fact that many people don't accept it is a different problem, and that's what TFA is about. The article you cite is similar data: lots of people are dumb. In the case of climate change, more people accept the right answer even though many don't follow the correct reasoning. The number who do accept reality isn't sufficient to achieve serious progress against climate change. Knowing how many don't, and how that number changes, is useful if we're ever going to fix it. So the popular polls have no effect on the question of whether climate change is real, caused by humans, and serious. Both the theory and the evidence are overwhelming. But knowing that is only the beginning, not the end, of the difficulties.

A "people are saying" piece doesn't have numbers. This is reporting on polling, which is more concrete and actionable. The link is just picking out certain numbers they think are noteworthy. They link to the actual poll results, which are considerably more detailed. It's not the headline I would have chosen, which would be more to the tune of "People more concerned about energy costs than the climate". But that's pointing at a cause rather than just noting the fact, which is that climate change denial is growing despite weather that might have been expected to change minds. (They chose "skepticism", which I don't consider an appropriate word, but it is the commonly-accepted term.)

pstuart 4y ago
Ok, let's add numbers! At some recent point 77% of Americans believed angels are real. That doesn't sway me as it's not evidence (of that, it is of the gullibility of the population). https://www.salon.com/2014/12/20/7_things_americans_think_are_more_plausible_than_global_warming_partner/ https://www.salon.com/2014/12/20/7_things_americans_think_ar... Edit: bumped up the percentage but it's moot
- jfengel 4y ago
  That's what the piece is about: what people believe. The question of whether climate change is real is a separate question, and one that's considered definitively solved by everybody who actually knows anything about it. The fact that many people don't accept it is a different problem, and that's what TFA is about. The article you cite is similar data: lots of people are dumb. In the case of climate change, more people accept the right answer even though many don't follow the correct reasoning. The number who do accept reality isn't sufficient to achieve serious progress against climate change. Knowing how many don't, and how that number changes, is useful if we're ever going to fix it. So the popular polls have no effect on the question of whether climate change is real, caused by humans, and serious. Both the theory and the evidence are overwhelming. But knowing that is only the beginning, not the end, of the difficulties.