Why some people don’t believe in climate change
Why do some people deny climate change? There are two possible answers:
1) Someone is too ignorant of science to understand data or the scientific method. They believe that scientists form their beliefs the way religious people or politicians form their positions: based on faith, opinions, morals, politics, and emotions. But science is not based on these things. It is based on hard data, on proof. 2014 was the hottest year EVER recorded, until it was surpassed by 2015, which was of course surpassed by 2016. This coincided with ever-increasing amounts of carbon in the atmosphere. The ice caps truly are melting, while Antarctica is turning green. An ice sheet the size of Delaware is poised to break off the Larsen Ice Shelf at any moment, proof that the ice caps are indeed disintegrating now, today. People who claim climate change is a hoax believe that these planetary changes are “opinions” that can be debated, rather than actual real-life catastrophes happening before our eyes. They believe that though 97% of scientists agree that climate change is happening and action must be taken immediately, there is still a healthy “debate” to be had over whether climate change is real. These are the voters likely to be persuaded by Sean Hannity when he claims that climate change is a massive conspiracy between all the world’s scientists, liberal socialists, and European leaders who desperately want to destroy capitalism and end American sovereignty. I like to refer to these people as “tools”.
That first group of climate deniers almost can’t be blamed for their own ignorance. Perhaps it is a failure in our education system that these people so disastrously misunderstand how science works, or perhaps the right wing propaganda machine is just too effective. But the second group of deniers, the group I will now speak about, are truly a cancer on our political system.
2) These are the people who know better, but choose to pretend that the science isn’t real. I call these people “liars”. These are the members of congress who are actually intelligent and capable human beings who read actual newspapers, and watch more than just Fox News. They understand science and data, and have heard from countless experts on the issue. They know the earth is warming rapidly, and they know humans are causing it. I’m talking about Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, and others. These people are smart enough to recognize that the science doesn’t lie, yet they make a conscious choice to cast doubt on the data, and on the entire scientific profession, simply to benefit their short-term political careers. For fear of alienating the Republican base or pissing off the billionaire oil execs who donate millions to their campaigns every year, these politicians pretend that there is no problem whatsoever with the climate, that the real problem is the job-killing nature of environmentalist policies.
It’s no coincidence that the 22 Republican senators who asked Trump to withdraw from the Paris Accords have accepted upwards of $10 million dollars from energy companies in the past few years. These so-called leaders claim to fight for the very same working-class, blue collar Americans who will soon be displaced by floods, droughts, food shortages, extreme weather, and rising prices for basic goods. But in reality they serve a different constituency: energy companies who do not wish to cut down on carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, the “tools” mentioned at the beginning of this post are told every day on Fox News that the science of climate change isn’t settled, that the debate is still raging over whether humans are causing global warming, so these voters continue to vote for the liars who propagate the myth that climate change might not be happening at all, that government regulation is much more dangerous than rising sea levels. As long as “tools” keep voting for “liars”, the liars will have incentive to keep lying. This is, of course, a very cynical way to view American politics, but the reality is most of the Republican senators know exactly what they are doing: they are trying desperately to insulate the most ignorant of American voters from reality, striving every day to convince them that the impending catastrophe is not actually going to happen, that the “kooks” on the left just want to find another way to deprive real hard-working Americans of their freedom to own SUVs.
They do this in order to keep these voters loyal to a party whose actual policies will cause real harm to these same voters’ communities (this is also true of healthcare, clean drinking water, and so many other issues). The only way to get their votes is to lie to them, so they keep lying, day in and day out, as the earth continues to warm. If these uneducated, propaganda-prone voters keep voting Republican, then Paul Ryan will finally have the votes to move forward with his life’s one true ambition: to cut taxes on millionaires and billionaires. You see, this isn’t about science at all; it’s about turning the American electorate into ignorant rubes just long enough to win the next election and enshrine into law policies that benefit the Republican party’s one real constituency: the wealthy.
But in order to seal this deal with the devil, Republicans must cast doubt on the entire scientific community and science as a profession, encouraging their voters to believe that the scientists are the liars, that scientists have some sort of skin in the game, that EVERY major scientific organization on the planet would be willing to lie about climate data because of some mysterious global conspiracy. They would rather convince an entire generation of voters that science is a sham than admit that their policies are flawed, at a time when we desperately need young people to pursue careers in science and technology if we hope to compete in the 21st century world economy. This is so irresponsible, I can hardly believe there are people out there with such a backward moral compass.
It would take true courage for these politicians to buck their billionaire masters and admit that science is real, but I wouldn’t hold my breath that Republican politicians will show any real courage any time soon. Their actions on the climate issue show the moral bankruptcy of the modern Republican party. The people who will suffer the most as a result of climate change are the poor, those without the means to adapt quickly to rising ocean levels and rising food prices. Yet the Republican party tells these poor voters that they have a friend in Mitch McConnell, while McConnell continues to support policies that guarantee a worse life for these people, and their children and grandchildren (not to mention that he supports Trumpcare, which would raise the healthcare costs for a 65 year old working-class American by 800%, but that’s a separate issue).
Republicans like McConnell claim they want to preserve jobs in the coal industry, but the reality is the coal jobs are disappearing because of the free market, that thing Republicans claim to love so much. Regulation didn’t kill coal; the reality is that solar, wind, and natural gas energy are becoming cheaper and more profitable every year, and therefore people are investing in it. The market has decided that green energy is the way of the future, so now Republican congressmen are standing on their heads trying to pass policies that circumvent this natural free market progression, in order to prop up a dying coal industry (so much irony).
Rather than speak some truth to those voters in Appalachia, who desperately need government services, healthcare, job training, and a pathway into the future, Republicans would rather find a scapegoat for the problems in coal country. “That evil socialist Obama killed your coal jobs, not the free market! If we just elect more Republicans, if we just ignore climate change, if we just eliminate all the regulations the Koch brothers instructed us to eliminate, your jobs will magically return!” When Republicans blame government regulation or the Paris Accords for the loss of coal jobs, it’s just another lie in a long list of lies designed to convince ignorant, low-information voters that Republicans fight for “real” Americans, rather than corporate interests.
The entire foundation of the Republican position is based on lies: climate science is a hoax, humans couldn’t possibly affect the climate in any significant way, we can magically bring back coal jobs if we just eliminate all of Obama’s clean air and clean water regulations. Or this whopper: millions of liberals and all the world’s scientists only pretend to be concerned about the climate so they can use it as a means to introduce socialism into America and destroy America’s corporations. This line was best summed up by Margaret Thatcher, who wrote that global warming “provides a marvelous excuse for worldwide, supra-national socialism.” This last lie really doesn’t make sense. Even the major oil companies, including BP, Chevron, and Shell, encouraged Trump to stay in the Paris agreement. Did the boards of directors of all of our major oil companies convert to socialism under our very noses?! What a catastrophe! And it’s pretty terrifying that 97% of scientists are rabid commie stooges. This is one remarkable conspiracy.
And then there’s the biggest lie of all: if we do anything to stop climate change, it will harm our economy. This lie is particularly toxic, because it convinces all those moderate, business-minded “pro-growth conservatives” that it’s best to pretend that climate change isn’t happening, because the act of doing anything to stop it would cause more harm than good. The reality however is that climate change will destroy our economy a whole lot quicker than carbon regulation will. Economies can adapt to new policies like carbon taxes, subsidies for clean energy, caps on pollution, and environmental regulation; economies CANNOT adapt when they are literally under water. If the oceans rise by just the conservative estimate of three feet by 2100, that will trigger massive flooding in the most populous areas of the United states, including Miami, the Bay Area, New Orleans, New York, and many other communities along our coastlines. What will happen to the economies of these incredibly productive cities when flood waters drive away the people and shutter the businesses? What will happen to our small-town family farms when drought and water shortages cause the crops to dry up? The answer is a refugee crisis of epic proportions.
We saw this during the Dust Bowl, when thousands of families fled man-made dust storms, and swamped an already Depression-stressed California with desperate men and starving children. What will the next refugee crisis look like when millions of Americans across the country can no longer live or support themselves on land that has been productive for our entire national history? Those in congress who claim that the Syrian refugee crisis will destroy our economy are the same politicians working to create a much more catastrophic refugee crisis.
Wouldn’t it be better to slowly adapt to carbon caps than to experience sudden flash floods in our major cities and droughts that last for centuries? Wouldn’t it be better to lose a few voters, even lose the next election, in order to do what was truly right, to do something that could literally save our nation from a catastrophe. The liars that pretend climate change is a hoax are selling out our children and grandchildren for short-term political gain. They would rather turn my son Jack into a refugee than refuse a campaign donation from the Koch brothers. I personally am disgusted. Disgusted and terrified. I sometimes wonder if our political system is so broken, that we actually won’t be able to solve this crisis. As Obama once said, with this issue there is a such thing as being “too late”.
