At some point the U.S. media switched from using the term “global warming” to the term “climate change.” The was likely done to put the emphasis on the change in climate rather than an increase in temperature.
Global warming is very slow and it is about average temperatures. It doesn’t mean there is no fluctuation in temperatures. For example, the average winter temperature might go down one degree from last year – but the average summer temperature went up two degrees. You still have a net increase in average yearly temperature – even though the winter temperature was actually COLDER than last year! That’s because the summer was warmer than last year…
Scientists and science journalists like to say that one of the best ways to tell that climate change is real is to take a look at the changes we can already see: This year is on track to be the hottest ever recorded, and glaciers, corn, and even grizzly bears are responding to the warming.
However, all those changes won’t be enough to convince most conservative climate skeptics, a new study in Nature Climate Change finds.
A growing body of recent research suggests a person’s political ideology, economic philosophy, and religious beliefs cloud a person’s judgement about global warming. The study, which was released Monday, put that hypothesis to the test by analyzing Gallup polls taken just after the unusually warm winter of 2012.
It found that both Democrats’ and Republicans’ perceptions of the warmer weather in their state tracked fairly well with actual satellite temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
However, “for people who said their local winter was warming, the observed temperature anomalies had no effect on the tendency to attribute that to global warming,” says Aaron McCright, a sociologist at Michigan State University who authored the study.
In other words, the actual temperature had no bearing on whether people believed in climate change. Instead, McCright says, “one of the strongest predictors” is party affiliation: Republicans were far less likely to attribute the warming they felt to man-made climate change than were Democrats. Other variables, such as gender, age, and level of education, were far less reliable as predictors of a person’s global warming beliefs.”
OK, Fine. 