Why Doesn’t Everyone Believe Humans Are Causing Climate Change? | Nova
Last Week During His Tour of Asia, President Barack Obama Struck a New Global Warming Deal with China. It Was a Landmark Agreement That Many Expect Could Break the Logjam That Has Kept the World’s Two Largest Emitters Largely on the Sidelines of Talks to Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Both Countries Agreed to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions, with the U. S. Ramping up Reductions Starting in 2020 and China Beginning Cuts in 2030.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Wisdom Deficit
In the 1990S, Michael Ranney Started Informally Asking People What They Perceived to Be the World’s Biggest Problem. He Hadn’t Set out to Tackle Environmental Issues—He Was First Trained in Applied Physics and Materials Science Before Turning to Cognitive Psychology. but Time and Again, He Heard “Climate Change” as an Answer.
Depolarizing Language
Meanwhile, Dan Kahan Says That It’s Not a Wisdom Gap That’s Preventing Acceptance of Human’s Role in Climate Change, but the Cultural Politicization of the Topic. People Don’t Need a Sophisticated Understanding of Climate Change, He Says. “They Only Need to Be Able to Recognize What the Best Available Scientific Evidence Signifies as a Practical Matter: That Human-Caused Global Warming Is Initiating a Series of Very Significant Dynamics—Melting Ice, Rising Sea Levels, Flooding, Heightened Risk of Serious Diseases, More Intense Hurricanes and Other Extreme Weather Events—That Put Us in Danger. ”
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Ranney and Kahan, Much Like the Skeptics and Supporters of Human-Caused Climate Change, Question the Other’s Conclusions. Kahan Is Skeptical That Ranney’s Approach Can Be Very Effective on a Large Scale. “I Don’t Think It Makes Sense to Believe That If You Tell People in Five-Minute Lectures About Climate Science, That It’s Going to Solve the Problem, ” He Says. He Also Questions the Applicability of Ranney’s Experiments, Which Have Mostly Included Students and Mechanical Turk Respondents. “The People Who Are Disagreeing in the World Are Not College Students, ” He Says. “You’re Also Not in a Position to Give Every Single Person a Lecture. but If You Did, Do You Think You’d Be Giving That Lecture to Them with Rush Limbaugh Standing Right Next to Them Pointing out They They’re Full of Shit? Because in the World, That’s What Happens. ”
