Hastening urgency of GW

[bascule]

Does anyone else get the general feeling that the public is becoming increasingly aware of global warming? It seems to me that the overall number of news articles and general Internet banter about not only GW but at-home ways to lower CO₂ emissions have increased dramatically following the publication of IPCC AR4 (as has the controversy surrounding AR4)

 

I certainly do

[jackson33]

entities will always take an issue, to progress there own interest. GW, is the current best means to do these things as it has stimulated the interest of the generations which are just beginning to influence society.

 

governments, are using the issue, to created taxes or promote philosophies to attain the monies or power it can generate. keep in mind economies are based on activity as well, which any change in the consumers buying patterns mean more purchases and in this case high priced items. sales tax, far off set the cost the lost sales of the few items, which will go down in sales for lack of efficiency. in the past, toilets, A/C systems, and every appliance produced has benefited from hysteria over the previous system.

 

many folks on this band wagon, and the band wagon theory does apply, are doing so for purpose. local elections, even some sates are decided on single issues. the issues are usually from what local media claims the most vital to that area. currently, the economy or usual topic for determining an outcome is of no value or interest to people. they are for the most part doing just fine and suggesting they are not, has failed.

 

business and corporation, require sales and/or service customers. Waste Management facilities have generated problems and solutions which have made fortunes off the back of the unsuspecting public. lead paint, asbestos and polluted areas, just a few. movies or media, has changed society on a dime. the US, well on its way to a clean and efficient energy source (nuclear) was stopped dead in its track in part from one movie.

 

GW is just the current issue, which can be attacked w/o causing lost creditability in other issue. many folks simply do not like progress, capitalism, wealth or achievement. these things can't be attacked in an educated society. most people want all those things and their interest would be lost. So to attack the foundation which these things currently based on, cheap energy, in indirectly focused on them through GW.....IMO

[ecoli]

People know it because left-wing celebraties are choosing it as their new moral issue.

[MolotovCocktail]

Well, pollution and destruction of the environment in general has been known for over a century. It hasn't been such a big issue until at least the 1970's.

[Sisyphus]

So, wait. Is there a big conspiracy in the scientific community because scientists "hate progress?" Are the basic facts not a matter of consensus? Or is it just that, in the words Stephen Colbert, "reality has a well-known liberal bias?"

 

ANYWAY, yes, I agree there's a building sense of urgency. People who ten years ago couldn't care less are taking steps in everyday life. Politicians who five years ago talked about it derisively have softend their rhetoric or reversed their positions. In the public perception I think it's gone from being a scary but largely hypothetical scenario to mainstream and immediate.

[Pangloss]

IMO it has more to do with current media focus than celebrities. But I don't think there's any question there's been a sea change on public opinion with this subject over the last year.

 

I think it started with the sudden trend to blame natural disasters on GW that reached its pinacle with Hurricane Katrina. There's still no direct causal relationship between GW and hurricanes (though there are some interesting hints of a link, e.g. gul water temps, el nino behaviors, etc), but the media has practically declared the linkage to be direct and factual. So every single natural disaster is now blamed directly on global warming, as well as any kind of extreme daily temperatures, both hot AND cold.

 

It's pretty much the same deal as Iraq. You trumpet something loud and long enough, and people will not only form an opinion about it, but it'll be exactly the opinion you wanted it to be. Surprise!