"The more science you know, the less worried you are about climate"
"Americans with higher levels of scientific and mathematical knowledge are more skeptical regarding the dangers of climate change than their more poorly educated fellow citizens, a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded study has found."
See link here: http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-more-science-you-know-the-less-worried-you-are-about-climate
What do you believe?
See link here: http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-more-science-you-know-the-less-worried-you-are-about-climate
What do you believe?


















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A subsidiary of the Macmillan publishing company. The only thing available regarding the actual study referred to in the "article" is a brief summary and a summary of the summary ( they call supplementary information) here:
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n10/extref/nclimate1547-s1.pdf
its a pdf. The actual study is not available for free. To read it it will cost you 35 dollars, that is unless you have access to a university library.
The study summary does not specify the actual survey size of the people they "surveyed" to get their info. They just say "large". That brings into question the validity of the study. How many people did they survey, and where? Without that information their stats mean nothing, and the study does not carry any validity, period. End of story. For all we know, they could have done a survey of 50 or 100 people in their home state. That would be totally invalid. They also limited the age group. That is totally invalid if they are talking about people, in general.
Ok, so here we have the pot calling the kettle black. This article supposedly showing the fickleness of climate change "belief" , actually has the same shortcomings that all the "climate change deniers" point out in the climate change studies - vagueness, statistical errors, and assumptions, and data missing. How absurd can one get?
We all sit around and argue about what is causing the fire, while we watch it burn, "believing" we have no valid facts, even though we see it burning. . . the climate, that is.
I wonder if this is a US/UK difference?
Some scientists and the media have told you what you should fear.
Please provide the scientific evidence that the temperature today is not a reasonable temperature for the planet earth.
Please provide the scientific evidence that it is not part of the natural evolution of this planet to gradually become warmer as it absorbs more energy, from the sun and other sources, than it gives off
Short version: the current temperature, and continuing rise, are anthropogenic - the rise matches human expansion and activity, and evidence going back over ten thousand years (ice-cores, lake sediments etc) backs this up.
New Scientist did a nice "Guide for the Perplexed" you ought to read.
It is about the interpretation of those "facts" and what people believe they really mean.
Please present the scientific facts that prove that the temperature today is the ideal temperature for the planet earth.
Please present the scientific facts that prove that global warming is not part of the natural evolution of the planet earth.
You cannot.
The current phase of climate change is anthropogenic. That is a fact, supported by the evidence helpfully summarised at the link I gave you.
Read the link (all of it), then either withdraw your statements about the lack of evidence that climate change is anthropogenic, or provide your own, equally extensive, equally valid evidence that demonstrates that the current phase of climate change is nothing to do with human activity.
That's how science works - if you think it's wrong, you have to provide the evience to show what's right.
Your meaningless questions are a reflection of your scientific ignorance, and merely reinforce your incomprehension of nature.
(For instance, I was watching a documentary recently about the Coca Cola factory in India which has lowered the water table by around a hundred feet, rendering local farms untenable for miles around, and need I mention the mining industry in South America, or electronics "recycling" in China?)
I for one consider myself to have high scientific literacy (compared to the majority of people I interact with), and I am very aware of the dangers that come with climate change.
To fully appreciate Strong's involvement in the Climate Change debate is to look at his whole career, beginning as a Canadian entrepreneur, most notably in the Oil Industry, and in the Alberta Oil patch. Throughout his early career he made a name for himself in energy and utility businesses and was appointed to Executive Vice President and then President of the Power Corporation of Canada.
After Strong's U.N. work, he returned to Canada and became head of Ontario Hydro and CEO of Petro Canada. Which is rather odd if your vested interests were in protecting the Environment. Although Strong earned many awards and accolades, he may be most proud of the fortune he's amassed. He began as an investment analyst at the age of 19, and has made many successful investments over his career. Since his U.N. work beginning in the 70's, Crude Oil Prices have skyrocketed from less than $20 a barrel, perhaps in large part to his influence working with the U.N.
Strong's entrepreneurial side is also not limited to Oil, or in Canadian businesses. In the late 70's Strong made an acquisition of 200,000 acres of Colorado land from a Saudi arms dealer because the land was over one of the continent's largest fresh water aquifers. Strong had plans to pipeline the water to the southwest U.S. desert region but protests stopped this plan. He then settled with the water company for 1.2 million and still retains the rights to the water. Perhaps that motivated the launch of the American Water Development in the mid-80's; a corporation which he controlled and used to file applications to Colorado Courts to pump that same underground water. The project again was opposed, primarily for the alleged affects to other water rights, and for the significant environmental damage it would cause to a nearby wetland and other ecosystems.
There are in my opinion, many deep pockets and individuals who can directly or indirectly benefit from both sides of the Environmental and Climate Change debates. The drive on either side isn't in the name of science, or in protecting Earth. It has much more to do with the all mighty buck, and if you follow its trail, you'll see the truth.
The link within that writeup, to the Nature article, is no better. As Kiteman points out, it is statistically absurd to infer a "trend" of any kind from just two points.
What is more, the data as presented (with uncertainties shown) is entirely consistent with no trend at all. The authors' conclusions seems to be based more on their own opinions, and not on the actual results of their "study." It is impossible for anyone to say whether those conclusions are true or false.
You cannot identify a pattern from a graph with only two points.