Why do people disagree with global warming?

Answer 1

Science looks for ultimate causes and attempts to answer the question of "why" phenomenon observed occur through observation and experimentation. Much like experts can't agree on the causes of gravity, there are many theories on WHY or HOW it is happening, but they all agree that it IS happening. There is never really 100% consensus in science because until a theory has been disproven it is a possibility to being the truth. Science is all about relative truths, and all "laws" are really just theories and can be replaced if new evidence is gained in support of an alternative hypothesis or explanation.

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Actually, the large majority, globally, of scientists do agree on the causes of Global Warming, particularly on man-made global warming and on what to do to reduce it.

The problem is that the media when discussing the issue and to avoid being labeled as biased often allows two experts to comment on it, one for each side. This creates the false impression that the scientific community as a whole is equally divided on the issue, which it is not.

Add to that the fact that many so-called skeptical scientists and organizations are either directly or indirectly funded by those corporations which stand to loose should carbon dioxide reducing policies be adopted. The 'scientists' and organizations are often the loudest yet do little more then repeat global warming myths over and over again. Their objective is clear: not to debunk global warming as a whole but to spread misinformation so the general public wrongly believes the science is not settled.

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You will find that there is a great deal of grant money available in making sure that man induced global warming is a possible situation. This coupled with the fact that some political groups are attempting to make this "situation" be the cause to reduce lifestyles and transfer trillions of wealth to poor countries, make the issue one that many do not wish to go away currently.

Facts are altered (climategate), ignored (pusedo science blogs) and lied about. When people like climate audit catch these lies, the main stream media all but ignore the reality. The lies are quickly swept under the rug and the alarmist crowd moves on.

There are many good reasons to keep this "crisis" from being found false. The transfer of wealth, limiting of freedoms and the large grant money many "scientists" enjoy )with almost zero work or effort) make this a great scheme for lining pockets and changing lifestyles.

If you view the data, it is hard to reach the conclusion that global warming is a man induced issue. That does not mean it is not happening, it does mean we can not actually say it is or is not. The greed of many though, will prevent us from ever saying 100% that it is not so.

Answer 2

Most climate scientists do agree about global warming They agree:

• That global warming is happening, and
• That it is caused by human activity,
• That is, by deforestation (forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), and
• Also by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) in industry, transport and the generation of electricity, which releases carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, which is building up the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.

Answer 3

The major point that you will find disagreement on would stem from the lack of reliable information or how information is collected and the very tiny fraction of increase we are discussing.

Warming itself:

The current claim of warming from the low points of the last mini ice age until present is 0.67 degrees C. The problem is that in the 1800's no one tried to hold that type of accuracy. The margin of error is greater than the claimed temp increase. From the 1900's until 1979 man used weather stations. They were scattered around the planet. After 1979 we started to use satellites. Dissimilar information gathering methods require a margin of error be added. But the total amount of change is very small. It is possible that the margin of error is greater than the claimed change.

CO2 measurements:

The levels of CO2 taken by actual science experts are being questioned also. Virtually every science expert in the 1800 through the mid 1900's acknowledged that CO2 was about 400 to 440 ppm. Today we claim 390 ppm. The proxy studies used by some scientists show far different. Do we believe the science experts of the day or do we use proxy studies? Remember that a 35% increase in atmospheric CO2 is only a change of 0.007% of the atmosphere.

Models

The IPCC admits that it that science has a poor handle on what they acknowledge is a primary driver of this warming trend, solar variation. It also has had serious issues making valid models. The models are getting better, but they still are very unreliable at dealing with historic changes. Weather is very complex and we do not yet fully understand it. We do understand models though. To validate a model we should be able to input a point in history and replicate the present. Current models do so very poorly.

Part of his reason is because the current models place a single value for each element. Water vapor receives only a positive feedback value, despite the ability of water to also cool and provide albedo. Thus models fail this test.

Even today we are still unable to make some measurements:

The Antarctic is a class example. We estimate how much ice is there, but we do not actually have anyway to prove it is growing or shrinking. Miles of ice wise we know it is growing, but is the density thicker or thinner? GRACE satellites are saying it is growing in total, but again algorithms are used. Are they right?

Ocean warming. Is the ocean actually warming? NASA went about finding the answer several years ago and launched 3000 plus robots into our oceans. They would dive to the bottom of the ocean and come back up again. When they reached the surface they would tell us what they saw on the way up temperature wise. After several years, the answer came back very clear. The oceans were cooling. (see case of missing heat link) If man is responsible for the current warming this should not be the case as water should show warming better and more reliable then anything else.

Because of this issue algorithms were placed into the measurements to make the issue look right. Are these algorithms correct?

To answer the question that was asked, I can see a good reason that scientist would disagree about global warming in general. In order to evaluate temperature rise or fall over a 150 year period you would have to be consistent in the temperature recording methods. A scientist would have to know that. Recording thermometers used in the 1800s did not measure in tenths of a degree. When you compare the data from the 1800s with data taken from digital thermometers of today, a rise of a fraction of one degree has to be suspect.

Most do. There is a minority that don't believe that man is the main cause.

A: Most scientists agree that global warming is due to natural causes. There is still some lingering, but diminishing debate over the possibility of man made emissions driving global climate change, but papers such as Stott et al. show that CO2 is not the major driver for climate change.

1) Stott, L., Timmermann, A., Thunnell, R., 2007, Southern Hemisphere and Deep-Sea Warming Led Deglacial Atmospheric CO2 Rise and Tropical Warming. Science, v. 318 no. 5849 p. 435-438

Answer 4

because lots of scientists are trained to view different things in different ways

and cant see the other sides 'experts' opinions

and because statistical data can be 'manipulated' to suit whichever argument you want to put forward.

Answer 5

We're not talking exact science. The world - and in particular the oceans - is getting warmer. Over the millennia there have been periods when the world gets warmer and when it gets cooler. Most scientists now agree that the current cycle of global warming has been caused by human activity and that measures need to be taken to bring the phenomenon under control. Some scientists agree that human activity played a part in it, but that no amount of human change will reverse it. Some scientists believe that this is just another period of warming that has more to do with solar activity than with humans.

Answer 6

Scientists each have their own opinion. Because of that reason, they tend to disagree alot.

A:In a poll of scientists in different fields conducted by Doran and Kendall Zimmerman in 2009, 97 per cent of those who published at least half of their peer-reviewed research in the climate field agreed that human activity was significant in changing global temperature. Anderegg et al., in 2010, similarly found that 97% of actively publishing climate scientists went along with the international panels' consensus.

At the other extreme, Doran and Kendall Zimmerman found that only 47% of economic geologists (typically employed by oil companies and the like) concurred.

So, the scientists whom we would regard as the principal experts in the field of climate science are in strong agreement that global warming is a fact and that it is at least principally a result of human activity. Those scientists who work in other fields, typically where their employers have an interest in minimising the problem, are roughly divided on the issue.

Answer 7

Most scientists do agree. There are only a few who think global warming is part of a conspiracy theory. There is a broad scientific consensus that the earth is experiencing Global Warming, or Climate Change and we are causing it:

1. By burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) we are putting vast amounts of carbon into the greenhouse gases of the atmosphere, carbon that has been safely hidden underground for millions of years.
2. We are cutting down trees and forests that act as "carbon sinks" absorbing carbon dioxide and giving us oxygen.

Head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James Hansen, is one of the world's leading climate scientists. In 2008 he told the US Congress,

"CO2 is already almost certainly at unsafe levels, and the situation will only become more dangerous the longer we continue to largely ignore the problem."

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) says Global Warming is being caused by human activities which are increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They are backed up by climate scientists all over the world.

Other organizations agree:

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006:
  • "The conclusions in this statement reflect the scientific consensus represented by, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the Joint National Academies' statement."
• US National Academy of Science:
  • "In the judgment of most climate scientists, Earth's warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Joint Science Academies' statement, 2005:
  • "We recognise the international scientific consensusof the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)."
• Joint Science Academies' statement, 2001:
  • "The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) represents the consensus of the international scientific community on climate change science. We recognise IPCC as the world's most reliable source of information on climate change and its causes, and we endorse its method of achieving this consensus."
• American Meteorological Society, 2003:
  • "There is rarely total agreement among scientists. Individual scientific statements and papers can be exploited in the policy debate and can leave the impression that the scientific community is sharply divided on issues where there is, in reality, a strong scientific consensus. ...IPCC assessment reports are prepared at approximately five-year intervals by a large international group of experts who represent the broad range of expertise and perspectives relevant to the issues. The reports strive to reflect a consensus evaluation of the results of the full body of peer-reviewed research. ... They provide an analysis of what is known and not known, the degree of consensus, and some indication of the degree of confidence that can be placed on the various statements and conclusions."
• Network of African Science Academies:
  • "A consensus, based on current evidence,now exists within the global scientific community that human activities are the main source of climate change and that the burning of fossil fuels is largely responsible for driving this change."
• International Union for Quaternary Research, 2008:
  • "INQUA recognizes the international scientific consensus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)."
• Australian Coral Reef Society. 2006:
  • "There is almost total consensus among experts that the earth's climate is changing as a result of the build-up of greenhouse gases....There is broad scientific consensus that coral reefs are heavily affected by the activities of man and there are significant global influences that can make reefs more vulnerable such as global warming..."

Answer 8

Scientists specialize in different fields. Geologists specialize in earth science. Meteorologists specialize in weather forecasting. Neither of these have made the study of climate their primary focus. So scientists outside some discipline may harbor opinions not well grounded in prevailing theory or fact.

The question is awkwardly worded, suggesting perhaps most scientists think global warming is not a problem. Polls show that most (80%) of scientists in general believe global warming is a serious problem. But disagreement tends to evaporate towards zero when polls are limited to informed opinions of climate researchers focused on this topic. 97% of climate researchers concur that global warming is anthropogenic (caused by humans). Even the 3% who were unconvinced (these polls are now several years old) do not disagree that warming (regardless of cause) represents a problem.

Answer 9

people are people and sometimes they change their minds but its killing me to see you go after all this time

Answer 10

It is not hard to predict. If there is global warming, then the temperatures have already risen. That's what global warming means - warming, globally, that is, all round the earth.