what "motivated reasoning" looks like–& why dissensus about "scentific consensus" #climate http://t.co/7UenGmLk5l pic.twitter.com/LfZVggTaN6
— Cultural Cognition (@cult_cognition) February 8, 2015
Does global warming denial and the anti-vaccination movement march to the same anti-science step?
03 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in climate change, economics of information, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, global warming, health economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: anti-vaccination movement, climate alarmists, expressive politics, expressive voting, psychology of persuasion
In the last post, I presented evidence, collected as part of the CCP Vaccine Risk Perception study, that showed that the trope has no meaningful connection to fact.
Those who accept and reject human evolution, those who believe in and those who are skeptical about climate change, all overwhelmingly agree that vaccine risks are low and vaccine benefits high.
The idea that either climate change skepticism or disbelief in evolution denotes hostility to science or lack of comprehension of science is false, too. That’s something that a large number of social science studies show. The CCP Vaccine Risk study doesn’t add anything to that body of evidence.
Vaccination rates are a serious issue. Do those that are trying to lift vaccination rates think they going to get anywhere by calling people stupid, corrupt and in the pay of a multinational.
Of course not. This matter is serious. It’s a real public health risk.
People are persuaded to vaccinate through gentle messages providing facts in a way they can understand that also respects their knowledge, their intellect, and their concerns for the safety of the children. You don’t win people over by insulting them.
The climate alarmists are so insulting because they have no interest in persuading the people that are actually talking to. They are reaching out to members on the audience were are on the margin, and appealing to their political base, including the fundraising base by showing how staunch they are in slaying the Dragon.
Infographic: The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus, 114th Congress Edition | ThinkProgress
03 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: 2014 congressional elections, climate alarmism, climate scepticism
Irrespective of whether you look upon climate sceptics as sceptics or heretics to be driven from the temple, this is a great graph of Who’s Who in Congress on climate alarmism.
Via Infographic: The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus, 114th Congress Edition | ThinkProgress.
There are different ways of measuring global warming
03 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, theory and measurement
Picking up that blizzard, drought or hurricane, climate alarmists have terrible standards of evidence
01 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: activists, climate alarmists, conjecture and refutation, expressive voting, global warming, philosophy of science
American public concern about global warming is recovering with the economy
26 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism, expressive voting
It was the Democrats and and independents who lost interest in global warning as the economy weakened.
Global warming is second bottom is a major political priority in the USA at this time
Are the climate models still running too hot?
26 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in climate change, environmental economics, global warming
Overcoming Bias : Exposing Scientist Liberality
24 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, environmental economics, global warming, occupational choice, personnel economics Tags: academic bias, activists, climate alarmism, expressive 13, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
If the public knew the truth, I expect two effects:
- The public would consider scientists to be less authoritative as a neutral source on policy questions, and
- Since scientists are respected, the public would become less conservative and more liberal.
What do climate alarmists do when the facts change
24 Jan 2015 1 Comment
in environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, conjecture and refutation, global warming, political psychology, sociology of science, structure of scientific revolutions
Climate change and nuclear bombs set ‘doomsday clock’ on verge of midnight | The Guardian
23 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in defence economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, The Guardian
Whoever is equating global warming with the risk of thermonuclear war and the Cold War either wasn’t around or wasn’t paying attention to world politics prior to 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Richard Lindzen on the consensus in global warming science
23 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, conjecture and refutation, Richard Lindzen
I looked up his 2011 House of Lords testimony:
- The global mean surface temperature is always changing. Over the past 60 years, it has both decreased and increased.
- For the past century, it has probably increased by about 0.6 degrees Centigrade (C). That is to say, we have had some global mean warming.
- CO2 is a greenhouse gas and its increase should contribute to warming. It is, in fact, increasing, and a doubling would increase the radiative forcing of the earth (mainly due to water vapour and clouds) by about 2 per cent.
- There is good evidence that man has been responsible for the recent increase in CO2, though climate itself (as well as other natural phenomena) can also cause changes in CO2.
To this extent, and no further, Linden was it is legitimate to speak of a scientific consensus. He later ended noting a disconnect where:
• The fact that there is widespread and even rigorous scientific agreement that complete adherence to the Kyoto Agreement would have no discernible impact on climate.
• This clearly is of no importance to the thousands of negotiators, diplomats, regulators, general purpose bureaucrats and advocates attached to this issue.
There are a lot of stunts in environmental politics:
• Clinton signed the Kyoto protocol in 1997 but never submitted it to the Senate. Does that 801 days of inaction on the great moral issue of our time leave him steeped in moral turpitude?
• Did Obama ever submit the Kyoto protocol to the senate? Does that leave him steeped in moral turpitude?
Bjorn Lomborg: Climate Change Is Real, But We Have Time
21 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming Tags: Bjørn Lomborg
Yet our climate conversation has been dominated by end-of-the-world thinking that bears no relation to the measured language of the IPCC.
While panic is a great way to raise awareness and win votes, it is a terrible starting point for making smart policies.
The best known scare story is Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, which was all the rage seven years ago.
Remember where he showed us how a sea-level rise of almost seven metres would inundate Holland, Bangladesh and Florida? Yes, it was terrifying. Yes, it had a huge impact. No, it had no basis in reality.
HT: Bjorn Lomborg: Climate Change Is Real, But We Have Time | The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) and Bjørn Lomborg on realism in the latest IPCC climate report. – Project Syndicate.
HT:
Roger Pielke Jr. – Five Modes of Science Engagement
21 Jan 2015 3 Comments
in environmental economics, global warming, industrial organisation, liberalism, occupational choice, survivor principle Tags: activists, science engagement
You may have noticed that the title of this post promised five modes of engagement and I’ve only described four.
There is a fifth, what I call the Stealth Issue Advocate. This role is characterized by the expert who seeks to hide his/her advocacy behind a facade of science, either pure scientist or science arbiter.
This role seeks to swim in a sea of politics without getting wet. It is the fastest route to pathologically politicizing science. It is also what gives scientists as advocates a bad name.
via Roger Pielke Jr.’s Blog: Five Modes of Science Engagement.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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