Americans' Belief in Climate Change Tied to Local Weather Events

[OKIsItJustMe]

Last edited Tue Dec 20, 2016, 08:21 PM - Edit history (1)

https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/americans%E2%80%99-belief-climate-change-tied-local-weather-events

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Americans’ Belief in Climate Change Tied to Local Weather Events[/font]
[font size=4]Researchers found that people living in regions with recent historically high temperatures are more likely to believe in climate change.[/font]



December 19, 2016
By Kristen Mitchell

[font size=3]A new study co-authored by a George Washington University researcher finds that local weather may play an important role in determining Americans’ belief in climate change. The study found that Americans who recently experienced record low temperatures are less likely to belief the Earth is warming compared to those who have experienced highs.

“The idea here is that individuals make decisions about climate change not just based on what they read in the news but what they experience,” said Department of Geography Professor Michael Mann, co-author of “The Spatial Heterogeneity of Climate Change: An Experiential Basis for Skepticism.”

The paper was published in Proceedings National Academy of Sciences Monday.

One of the greatest challenges to communicating scientific findings about climate change is the cognitive disconnect between local and global events, Dr. Mann said. Americans who experience more record high temperatures than lows are more likely to believe the Earth is warming. Americans who have experienced more low temperatures—in areas like southern Ohio and the Mississippi River basins—are more skeptical.

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[mackdaddy]

1. More extremes: Very Hot or VeryCold, or Drought vs torrential rains are the new "Normal".

Here is rural Ohio, we voted 2 to 1 for Trump so yes we have a very high dumb-ass quotient.

Much of our weather wierding has been warm in the spring an fall were very summer like, so unusual "good" weather. We have also had the either very dry or very wet periods. We also get our share of the arctic vortex slams. These very wet/ very dry weather extremes have really hurt grain yields in western Ohio, but most people watch Fox news and would never know it.

I think we are entering the very quickly changing period of all of this. It is quickly becoming undeniable, but we will continue to deny until it is way past the point where it could be fixed, and we are probably well beyond that point already.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. It depends on how you define "fixed"

We are probably past the point where we could restore the climate which existed in pre-industrial times. However, we may not be past the point where we can avoid the worst.

The target of 350 ppm was established just 8 years ago, and, at that time, Hansen et al. believed we could still achieve it. They did not suggest stopping the rise at 350 ppm—we were already well past that. The first goal was to return to 350 ppm after as brief an “overshoot” as possible:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1127106954