Professor Kari Norgaard is author of the book "Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions
and Everyday Life" (2011, MIT Press). "This kind of cultural resistance
to very significant social threat is something that we would expect in
any society facing a massive threat," she said. The discussion, she
said, is comparable to what happened with challenges to racism or
slavery in the U.S. South.
The assumption being made by Ms Norgaard is that just like slavery and racism the people defending climate realism are wrong in their cultural and scientific stance. But what if that assumption is false? What if climate change has nothing to do with the addition of CO2 to the atmosphere by humans? What if there is no ' very significant social threat'? If that turns out to be true then, ironically, it will be Ms Norgaard and others like her who will be living in denial. The thesis of her book could just as easily be written by someone who observes the inability of alarmists to admit that their theory of CO2 induced warming is failing their own predictions as attested to by the data coming from a measurement of reality.
We determine the truth or falsity of a scientific theory by appeal to reality. If the theory agrees with what we find in reality then the theory is supported. If the theory disagrees with reality then the theory must be modified or abandoned. Reality is the final arbiter.
For example, it is implied that CAGW results in increasing global temperatures when the atmosphere accumulates more CO2 via the burning of fossil fuels. So when the warming stops as it has for the last 15 years while CO2 has continued to accumulate in the atmosphere or temperatures decrease with an increase in CO2 as happened during the 60s and 70s there is a disconnect between theory and reality.
The psychiatric definition of delusion is: maintaining fixed false beliefs even when confronted with contradictory facts. Something is definitely wrong with the rationality of a person who ignores reality in favor of some cherished belief. Our emotions can often lead us down dark alleys and human issues connected with the emotional topics of politics and religion can often be accompanied y tunnel vision. This is why free and open human discourse is so important. When things are aired publicly our natural confirmation bias is confronted with the cognitive dissonance offered by others and from the interplay of the two truth will be distilled.
One instance of disconnect between theory and reality may not be enough to sink the theory but if additional observations begin to accumulate that widen the disconnect then the theory must either account for each of them or be abandoned as incorrect.
According to the theory of CAGW we should expect to experience increasingly severe weather trauma as CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere. I am sure that we would all agree that severe weather includes such phenomena as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, drought and floods. And yet, the historical data that we have indicates that all of those weather anomalies are less frequent rather than becoming more severe and more frequent. Charts supporting a decrease in all of these can be found at C3headlines.com. It is interesting to note that the US has not been hit by a major (F3-F5) hurricane since 2005 which is the longest period of absence in the record. Inclement weather is certainly no worse than it was in the past and is not accelerating. In fact, one could draw the conclusions based on the historical record that as CO2 has accumulated in the atmosphere severe weather has decreased in frequency.
Another part of the CAGW story is that as the world warms winters will get warmer and we will see less snow. "Children won't know what snow is" said David Viner in 2000. The people in Europe, Alaska, Russia, China and Japan in 2012 might be wondering what happened to their global warming as they were pounded by severe cold and accumulated lots of snow even as Southern Ontario and the NE US were basking in winter warmth. Even the summer in Australia was abnormally cool. While we had the winter that winter forgot Australia had the summer that summer forgot. It seems CO2 can be very selective about where it decides to 'trap' heat. Snow cover records for the US are maintained and show an upward trend even as CO2 concentration continues to rise in our atmosphere. In addition, Arctic sea ice, after a low in 2007, has quietly returned to the 30 year mean in 2012. The long awaited and much predicted ice free Arctic has not materialized even as CO2 has continued to accumulate in the atmosphere. Since 2002 global temperatures have been declining.
To deny these observations is to be disconnected from reality. To maintain the belief in CAGW in the face of this contradictory evidence is to mire oneself in self-delusion.
Ms Norgaard's book actually examines not the cultural resistance to the reality of CAGW but the perception of the populace to the non-problem of CAGW. People are resisting change because they realize that any climate change that is occurring is not due to man and is not catastrophic. They have recognized the hyperbole of the CAGW supporters. They are resisting the FEAR and GUILT that are being peddled by the alarmists and maintaining a rational attitude toward the world. The amusing part is that Ms Norgaard hasn't realized it yet. People have seen through the sham Mam. That is what they are resisting. The people are smarter than the academics.
When people do not accept a cherished belief of the guardians of special knowledge a common response is to devalue the non-believer, insult them, attack their reputation and finally imply that there is something wrong with them. Cherished beliefs do not go gently into that good night.
The assumption being made by Ms Norgaard is that just like slavery and racism the people defending climate realism are wrong in their cultural and scientific stance. But what if that assumption is false? What if climate change has nothing to do with the addition of CO2 to the atmosphere by humans? What if there is no ' very significant social threat'? If that turns out to be true then, ironically, it will be Ms Norgaard and others like her who will be living in denial. The thesis of her book could just as easily be written by someone who observes the inability of alarmists to admit that their theory of CO2 induced warming is failing their own predictions as attested to by the data coming from a measurement of reality.
We determine the truth or falsity of a scientific theory by appeal to reality. If the theory agrees with what we find in reality then the theory is supported. If the theory disagrees with reality then the theory must be modified or abandoned. Reality is the final arbiter.
For example, it is implied that CAGW results in increasing global temperatures when the atmosphere accumulates more CO2 via the burning of fossil fuels. So when the warming stops as it has for the last 15 years while CO2 has continued to accumulate in the atmosphere or temperatures decrease with an increase in CO2 as happened during the 60s and 70s there is a disconnect between theory and reality.
The psychiatric definition of delusion is: maintaining fixed false beliefs even when confronted with contradictory facts. Something is definitely wrong with the rationality of a person who ignores reality in favor of some cherished belief. Our emotions can often lead us down dark alleys and human issues connected with the emotional topics of politics and religion can often be accompanied y tunnel vision. This is why free and open human discourse is so important. When things are aired publicly our natural confirmation bias is confronted with the cognitive dissonance offered by others and from the interplay of the two truth will be distilled.
One instance of disconnect between theory and reality may not be enough to sink the theory but if additional observations begin to accumulate that widen the disconnect then the theory must either account for each of them or be abandoned as incorrect.
According to the theory of CAGW we should expect to experience increasingly severe weather trauma as CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere. I am sure that we would all agree that severe weather includes such phenomena as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, drought and floods. And yet, the historical data that we have indicates that all of those weather anomalies are less frequent rather than becoming more severe and more frequent. Charts supporting a decrease in all of these can be found at C3headlines.com. It is interesting to note that the US has not been hit by a major (F3-F5) hurricane since 2005 which is the longest period of absence in the record. Inclement weather is certainly no worse than it was in the past and is not accelerating. In fact, one could draw the conclusions based on the historical record that as CO2 has accumulated in the atmosphere severe weather has decreased in frequency.
Another part of the CAGW story is that as the world warms winters will get warmer and we will see less snow. "Children won't know what snow is" said David Viner in 2000. The people in Europe, Alaska, Russia, China and Japan in 2012 might be wondering what happened to their global warming as they were pounded by severe cold and accumulated lots of snow even as Southern Ontario and the NE US were basking in winter warmth. Even the summer in Australia was abnormally cool. While we had the winter that winter forgot Australia had the summer that summer forgot. It seems CO2 can be very selective about where it decides to 'trap' heat. Snow cover records for the US are maintained and show an upward trend even as CO2 concentration continues to rise in our atmosphere. In addition, Arctic sea ice, after a low in 2007, has quietly returned to the 30 year mean in 2012. The long awaited and much predicted ice free Arctic has not materialized even as CO2 has continued to accumulate in the atmosphere. Since 2002 global temperatures have been declining.
To deny these observations is to be disconnected from reality. To maintain the belief in CAGW in the face of this contradictory evidence is to mire oneself in self-delusion.
Ms Norgaard's book actually examines not the cultural resistance to the reality of CAGW but the perception of the populace to the non-problem of CAGW. People are resisting change because they realize that any climate change that is occurring is not due to man and is not catastrophic. They have recognized the hyperbole of the CAGW supporters. They are resisting the FEAR and GUILT that are being peddled by the alarmists and maintaining a rational attitude toward the world. The amusing part is that Ms Norgaard hasn't realized it yet. People have seen through the sham Mam. That is what they are resisting. The people are smarter than the academics.
When people do not accept a cherished belief of the guardians of special knowledge a common response is to devalue the non-believer, insult them, attack their reputation and finally imply that there is something wrong with them. Cherished beliefs do not go gently into that good night.
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