# Why no one cares about global warming. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337 "2015-04-23T04:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/81 "2015-04-26T03:02:12Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Cite to where I said that? Cite to where _ **anyone** _ has said that? > > What I said, and what the cited study and the actual evidence backs up in abundance, is that there are vast amounts of money to be made by lying about climate change and trying to minimize it as a non-issue. For the simple reason that the beneficiaries of the lies are pretty much all of the world’s industries, oil and coal companies, power companies, all the investors therein, and every citizen who perceives a threat to his energy-rich lifestyle, who drives a gas-guzzler and prefers his mind closed, his ears blocked, and the world’s problems to be just a distant buzz that he can ignore in blissful ignorance. > > On the other side of this bombardment of propaganda that dominates the airwaves, the print media, and the Internet are the scientists who actually study the issues. The scientists stand pretty much alone. Even governments, wary of skittish voters like the ones I just mentioned, and terrified of spooking Wall Street, tend to downplay the problem. Because the money is overwhelmingly on one side of this manufactured “debate”, and it overwhelmingly favors the side that manufactured the debate in the first place, despite strong scientific consensus to the contrary. There’s at least 10 times more money being made by talking (and exagerating) about AGW tan by denying it. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/82 "2015-04-26T03:03:01Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Get used to being **wrong** in all your posts so far, including the one where you claimed that this subject “it’s been relegated to public eye rolling status.” > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/politics/most-americans-support-government-action-on-climate-change-poll-finds.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/politics/most-americans-support-government-action-on-climate-change-poll-finds.html?_r=0) And yet no politician takes it seriously. Maybe if your cite actually claimed what you meant it to claim they would. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/83 "2015-04-26T03:10:31Z")
[What the public is concerned with.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/importance_of_issues) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/84 "2015-04-26T03:11:14Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > And yet no politician takes it seriously. Maybe if your cite actually claimed what you meant it to claim they would. 😕:eek::smack: News to me that Obama is not a politician 🙂 , as well as virtually all democrats and the very rare republicans that accept the science that are left. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/85 "2015-04-26T03:12:37Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > [What the public is concerned with.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/importance_of_issues) As I always notice, many conservatives do have trouble with time lines, my poll is from 2015. You want to go back to 2014. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/86 "2015-04-26T03:26:24Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > There’s at least 10 times more money being made by talking (and exagerating) about AGW tan by denying it. As you constantly avoid it, that has nothing to do with who is right, I might as well ask why is that you hate Joe the Plumber so much. (That benefited thanks to the ones that decided that a water and sewage system was going to give incalculable benefits to all, never mind that toilet makers could had gotten rich thanks to that). ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/87 "2015-04-26T03:38:34Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As I always notice, many conservatives do have trouble with time lines, my poll is from 2015. You want to go back to 2014. Yet you seem to ignore politician Obama taking 2 very large airplanes to the same location on the same day… A MONTH AGO. The two of them flew coast to coast to tape TV shows. They literally couldn’t have created more co2 if they tried. Literally. [We’re drilling more oil in the US under Obama than we ever did under Bush](http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/09/how-obama-became-oil-president-gas-fracking-drill). Not that he had anything to do with it but he’s bragging about it anyway. [Here’s a video showing the President mocking and then taking credit for private drilling.](http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2015/01/14/video-obama-mocked-drilling-claims-credit/) So bend over into another pretzel and cite the glorious leader’s efforts to save [del]the whales[/del], [del]the planet[/del], his career. He’s not taking it seriously. Because it’s not on anybody’s radar. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/88 "2015-04-26T03:46:37Z")
[2015 plug-in sales versus 2014](http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/). All down. Politicians don’t care about the issue and neither does the public. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/89 "2015-04-26T03:56:59Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Yet you seem to ignore politician Obama taking 2 very large airplanes to the same location on the same day… A MONTH AGO. The two of them flew coast to coast to tape TV shows. They literally couldn’t have created more co2 if they tried. Literally. > > [We’re drilling more oil in the US under Obama than we ever did under Bush](http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/09/how-obama-became-oil-president-gas-fracking-drill). Not that he had anything to do with it but he’s bragging about it anyway. [Here’s a video showing the President mocking and then taking credit for private drilling.](http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2015/01/14/video-obama-mocked-drilling-claims-credit/) > > So bend over into another pretzel and cite the glorious leader’s efforts to save [del]the whales[/del], [del]the planet[/del], his career. He’s not taking it seriously. Because it’s not on anybody’s radar. Again, why do hate Joe the Plumber? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/90 "2015-04-26T04:00:07Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > [2015 plug-in sales versus 2014](http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/). All down. > > Politicians don’t care about the issue and neither does the public. Again, this is wrong, unless you are making the point that Obama is not a politician, nor are many of the democrats. It is not my problem if you want your arguments to sound silly. And also to claim that the polls are wrong just gives me flashback of many Republicans that claimed that polls were skewed. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/91 "2015-04-26T04:10:07Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Again, why do hate Joe the Plumber? Mark down this day in history. GIGObuster temporarily ran out of cites to post. I showed you the President doesn’t care about co2 as recently as last month and that he BRAGGED about oil drilling even though he had zero to do with it. I showed you the public doesn’t care about co2. It’s not on their radar and it’s not represented by their purchasing decisions. I pointed out that we will naturally switch over to electric power for our needs in the very near future WITHOUT any of the hand-wringing fear mongering you’ve turned into a hobby. It’s going to happen because it’s the most economical path to take once battery technology advances. That advance is going to happen because there’s already a tremendous demand for it with other products. It’s GOING to happen in spite of your fear. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/92 "2015-04-26T04:11:43Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Again, this is wrong, unless you are making the point that Obama is not a politician, nor are many of the democrats. > > It is not my problem if you want your arguments to sound silly. > > And also to claim that the polls are wrong just gives me flashback of many Republicans that claimed that polls were skewed. I cited everything I stated. But carry on. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/93 "2015-04-26T04:14:49Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > [2015 plug-in sales versus 2014](http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/). All down. > > Politicians don’t care about the issue and neither does the public. I have to also comment here, care to look at those plug-in car numbers again? Not surprising to say, but you are also wrong there. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/94 "2015-04-26T04:22:42Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Mark down this day in history. GIGObuster temporarily ran out of cites to post. As the case of your sorry citation for the number of sales for the year of plug-ins show, the only one looking bad is you. And you cannot make those poll numbers disappear either. It is really not as an absolute as you claim. The real fear I detect is that indeed the Republicans are setting themselves for failure as they can not go back on what they are claiming, and in the past I have criticised what Obama is doing, but as I pointed many times before the idea that environmentalists want to stop all emissions and send us to the stone age is only in the imagination of some conservatives. And BTW it seems that you only showed all that you are avoiding dealing on why I mentioned Joe the Plumber, it is the perfect example of wilfully ignoring how a major change does not mean that we will lose jobs as the real scaremongers of the right are claiming we will do. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/95 "2015-04-26T12:28:06Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Again, why do hate Joe the Plumber? And the Pope of the Church of Global warming (Al Gore) has enormous estates which consume huge amounts of electricity. See, rules are for the “little people”. And the other big reason: India and China. Both nations have indicated that they intend to pursue economic growth firts, and worry about pollution later. The USA could stop all CO2 emissions , but India and China would still be using fossil fuels. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/96 "2015-04-26T13:14:20Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > How exactly does one make vast amounts of money by lying about climate change? > > What’s the mechanism for turning lies into piles of cash. Serious question. How bloody naive can you get? 😕 10x as much…? What universe do you guys live in, again? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/97 "2015-04-26T13:43:04Z")
The mechanism is to invent an exchange called “carbon credits trading”. Some entrepreneur will find a way to sell “credits” from nations that don’t use them (like Greenland) to countries that do. So users of fossil fuels will pay a new tax to use energy. There will be no benefit to the environment, as energy will still be consumed. But the people who sell credits will make huge profits. And determining just who will get what credits will be another huge business, paid for by the taxpayers of energy using countries. Al gore was set to become a billionaire from this. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/98 "2015-04-26T14:39:15Z")
I still want to know how one can get wealthy by being a denier that climate changes. Or by saying fossil fuels can’t change anything. Or even if they do, it will be good for the planet. How does that turn into piles of money? What is the mechanism for it? ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/99 "2015-04-26T15:13:43Z")
I already did my bit for the environment when I was a little kid in the 70’s and Jimmy Carter made my parents put me in a sweater and turn our thermostat down to 68. And I tolerated it when McDonald’s took away my huge McDLT Styro-Foam box (it kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool.) So I had had enough several years ago when 7-Eleven took away foam SuperBigGulp cups. I boycotted and went to Speedway. 7-Eleven finally realized the customer is ALWAYS right, and brought foam back. If global warming isn’t pressing enough for Obama to fly commercial, or Al Gore to turn off his A/C and open a window, do you really expect me to let a giant fountain pop sweat all over my car interior? That shit’s messy! Global warming doesn’t concern anyone, except for the Roseanne Roseannadannas for whom “it’s always something.” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337/100 "2015-04-26T16:07:26Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > And the Pope of the Church of Global warming (Al Gore) has enormous estates which consume huge amounts of electricity. See, rules are for the “little people”. And the other big reason: India and China. Both nations have indicated that they intend to pursue economic growth firts, and worry about pollution later. The USA could stop all CO2 emissions , but India and China would still be using fossil fuels. And clearly the right wing echo chamber has not told you of what has happened recently: > **[The U.S.-China game changer climate agreement » Yale Climate Connections](https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2014/12/the-u-s-china-game-changer-climate-agreement/)** > > The new U.S./China agreement is opening new doorways for promising reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades, changing the tone both domestically and internationally on climate issues. > [@](#): > > The surprise November announcement between President Obama and his Chinese counterpart on reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades changes the playing field for international climate negotiators, experts agree, even while some express concerns that the agreement doesn’t go far enough and others complain it could benefit China more than it does the U.S. > > Independent videographer Peter Sinclair, in his new “This Is Not Cool” video exclusively for Yale Climate Connections offers a strong case for why the agreement amounts to a real game-changer. > > Noting that the agreement, when combined with European Union commitments already well under way, would affect roughly 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, Princeton University scientist Michael Oppenheimer in one clip told PBS NewsHour that “we can do it with technologies and measures that are already known and available.” > > Independent journalist Keith Schneider, national correspondent for Circle of Blue, which has done extensive coverage of environmental issues in China and elsewhere, says the measures announced by the two presidents while Obama was in Beijing are “easy for both nations.” > > “America’s well on its way to reaching that goal anyway, based on market, based on market and regulations,” Schneider told Sinclair. > > Schneider and water resources expert Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute both pointed to severe water shortages facing China in coming years as key factors motivating the country’s efforts on the issue. Limitations on water availability are driving much of China’s policy now, Gleick says, and other independent experts in the video provide further support for that view. Bottom line: It has also been the Republicans the ones that have used India and China as one reason to not do anything, but in reality Republicans are not noticing that that really weak excuse is gone. Republicans are also going around the president as they did with Iran by attempting to discourage other nations from making deal about emission controls: [http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/01/3641594/mcconnells-inner-tom-cotton/](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/01/3641594/mcconnells-inner-tom-cotton/) > [@](#): > > In an effort to undermine international negotiations aimed at combating climate change, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is telling other countries not to trust President Obama’s promise to significantly reduce the United States’ carbon emissions. > > In a statement released Tuesday, McConnell warned other countries to “proceed with caution” before pledging any carbon emissions reductions to the United Nations, saying the U.S. would likely not be able to meet its own climate goals. The statement came shortly after Obama announced the official U.S. plan to slash the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions as much as 28 percent as part of an international agreement brokered by the U.N. > > “Even if the job-killing and likely illegal Clean Power Plan were fully implemented, the United States could not meet the targets laid out in this proposed new plan,” McConnell said, adding that “[O]ur international partners should proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal.” > > The Majority Leader’s tactic is similar to a recent and slightly more aggressive effort by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) to undermine international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Earlier this month, Cotton and 46 other Republican senators wrote a letter to the Iranian government warning that it should not trust any deal it strikes with the United States and its international partners, saying that the deal likely would not last past the Obama administration. > > “Mitch McConnell has evidently stolen Tom Cotton’s playbook for undermining American leadership in the face of international crises,” the Sierra Club’s director of climate programs John Coequyt said in a statement to the Hill. > > This is not the first time McConnell has sought to prevent the United States’ efforts to fight climate change, a phenomenon which he refuses to say he accepts scientifically. Earlier this month, McConnell told individual states to openly defy the EPA’s proposed rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. As pointed before, many moderate Republicans and independents made a mistake by electing this current crew of sold outs. They were aided with media that is not doing its job. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-one-cares-about-global-warming/718337.md?page=6)