What's the Climate Change vibe?

October 26, 2006 6:20 PM

Has there been any discernible change recently regarding public opinion of anthropogenic climate change in your neck of the woods?

Here in Australia there has been a quite sudden and obvious flip in the public mood about this issue. It has gone from something that the 'elites' cared about to something that has broad public acceptance - including acceptance that there will be costs of action. This has been driven primarily by the extensive, severe drought we're currently suffering, as well as the publication of an excellent book by Tim Flannery (The Weather Makers), and the recent Al Gore tour.

I'm curious, has there been any similar shift in gear in your part of the world?

posted by wilful to society & culture (22 answers total)

there has been a quite sudden and obvious flip in the public mood

Well, I don't know about that. I think it's been quite a popular idea for some time. Do you have any data about this?

/not elite.
posted by b33j at 6:32 PM on October 26, 2006

"data"? No, I don't have access to professional media tracking analysis, but it's been well observed by Crikey, for example. John Howard's slow and steady U-turn is apparent to anyone that watches.
posted by wilful at 6:38 PM on October 26, 2006

Well, it seems the skiiers I gab with talk about global warming a lot more lately, as do my neighbors here on the beach. I suspect last year's sucky midwinter snow situation and the Katrina incident had a lot to do with the respective changes in attitude. Dunno if people will still be as concerned given this year's hurricane non-season or if we have a killer ski season.
posted by Opposite George at 6:43 PM on October 26, 2006

Oh, I'm in the Northeastern U.S. (Connecticut) BTW.
posted by Opposite George at 6:44 PM on October 26, 2006

My father (in northern Virginia) recently decided that global warming was (probably) real. It was a rather frustrating admission too, because he phrased it as though there had never been any reason to take global warming seriously, then magically "the scientists" came up with a bunch of evidence for it in the last year. Plus it had been warm recently. Ugh.

I think that the evidence has just piled up to the point where even politicians are being forced to admit global warming is real. Gore helped bring some publicity, and many mainstream media outlets jumped on the bandwagon and did reasonably good stories about it, interviewing real scientists instead of extremists. The most extreme corporatists used to say there was no such thing, or even make fun of the idea. Now there are far fewer people advancing that viewpoint, so the realty-based community will probably win out, for lack of serious competition.
posted by Humanzee at 7:17 PM on October 26, 2006

I figured the U-turn from Howard was partly due to climate change becoming harder to refute or deny and partly due to lobbying from uranium mining companies who, wanting Australia to go (more) nuclear, can use "less greenhouse gases" as a selling point for their industry. (It's probably just my being paranoid: I have NO evidence that such lobbying is happening).
And no hard data, but I've noticed that it seems to have become a more mainstream concern in Australia - Channel 7's "Sunrise" show has some sort of "Help Us Cool The Globe" campaign, and climate change stories have featured in local (Perth) newspapers and broadcasts recently.
posted by bunglin jones at 7:24 PM on October 26, 2006

Yes, absolutely there has been a flip. I've been watching this topic for a while, and the tipping point I saw -- completely anecdotally I'm afraid, but fwiw a big part of my job is basically reading all the papers -- was Hurricane Katrina. It was then I noticed the unopposed references to "fiercer storms caused by global warming" going through the roof.

In the months that followed, global warming has been taken as a given, rather than as something controversial.
posted by bonaldi at 7:28 PM on October 26, 2006

I'm seeing a lot less resistance to the idea (live in liberal, smart, Chicago, IL) even in my conservative home state of South Carolina people scoff less at the idea of global warming.

Something has shifted at the national level in the US and it's not all Al Gore. Maybe the petrochemical companies have eased up on their anti-climate change rhetoric (for whatever reason.) I'm thinking that the right wing pundits have eased up too... so... in absence of right wing echo chamber foo-foo-ing of the idea more and more people are coming around to the idea.

Even religious conservatives (never ones to admit that the earth changes over time) seem to have lost interest in debating the subject.
posted by wfrgms at 7:32 PM on October 26, 2006

wfrgms writes "Even religious conservatives (never ones to admit that the earth changes over time) seem to have lost interest in debating the subject."

Some of them are even becoming vocal advocates of acting to counter and ameliorate climate change.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:37 PM on October 26, 2006

The Murdoch papers in the UK did a flip a few months back. Crikey had some info about it along with some speculation as to whether a shift would occur in the Murdoch press in AU and if the Liberals would alter their stance.

The Economist magazine also changed from being skeptical a few months back.
posted by sien at 7:41 PM on October 26, 2006

My dad has gone from questioning whether global warming is happening to questioning whether man is causing it.

There have been no major hurricanes this year, so I'm not seeing any sudden shift in sentiment here in the U.S. Temperatures are definitely warmer though--the first hard frost this year hit my parents' house a month later than it did 20 years ago. (21 October vs. 21 September)
posted by A dead Quaker at 8:16 PM on October 26, 2006

What Bonaldi said: in the US it was Katrina with the Al Gore follow-up. Also the general discrediting of everything Republican has broken down barriers to acceptance.

I would that Down Under the threat to the Great Barrier Reefs would be a significant concern. Won't it basically bleach out and die under most scenarios of even moderate warming?
posted by alms at 8:32 PM on October 26, 2006

I definitely agree that something has happened in the past year--probably Katrina was a big part of it. It didn't used to be this way, but nowadays every time someone mentions a weather anomaly, the conversation immediately blames global warming. You can't make small talk about the weather anymore! (at least not at my Northeastern college)
posted by clair-de-lune at 9:06 PM on October 26, 2006

Alms, the Great Barrier Reef isn't really etched into the national psyche. For most Australians, if it goes (and it looks like it will), well that would be a shame and a loss of tourism dollars, but wouldn't be nearly so profound as the impact on farmers.
posted by wilful at 9:43 PM on October 26, 2006

We had 3" of snow in Petaluma, CA about 4 years ago. We're 45 min. north of SF w/out traffic.
posted by prodevel at 9:49 PM on October 26, 2006

Word on the street is that it's gaining much broader acceptance than ever before, especially in the last year or so.

Unfortunately, I can't give you much from the "guy on the street" perspective, because I'm a scientist, and I live in kind of a bubble sometimes.
posted by chrisamiller at 10:10 PM on October 26, 2006

I don't think it's been a "flip", so much as a "flip back".

If I recall correctly, there was fairly broad acceptance of climate change in the early 1990s. Then, right-wing think tanks, and people who had something to gain from the status quo started "challenging it". The public started worrying about it less, regarding it as something that, if not proven, was at least a long way off.

Now, it seems people have started to decide that the effects are already being felt. In reality, I haven't seen much denial of it amoung the broader public. Maybe I move in the wrong circles, but no-one I know has ever shown me the least bit of skepticism about it, really. Full disclosure, I'm a scientist too, but even amoung my truck-driving / farming / whatever relatives and friends, the "change in the weather" is a common topic of discussion. It's mainly been the culture-warriors in the media who have been pushing the anti-science agenda, and I'm not sure how much that has really been believed by the public.

Importantly, business has come on side. The only people opposing the idea of "climate change" these days are idealogues - everyone from energy companies, to insurance companies, to the media, seem to have decided it's time to stop pretending it isn't real, and are instead focusing on...well not how to prevent it, but how to make money from the new scenario.

I think you're right about Howard, though bunglin jones. Howard's only real solution is nuclear power - the rest is just paying lip service. But the Nationals are giving him a bit of curry. It's a pity they can't see the connection between the climate changing, and how that might leave some areas with an inappropriate climate for agriculture.
posted by Jimbob at 12:14 AM on October 27, 2006

I've been hearing a lot more talk about global warming in my circles -- which include family in the Pacific NW and in Virginia, as well as college friends scattered around the U.S. Most of the folks I know have believed in it all along, but many are feeling spurred to do something for the first time. I think a few unusually warm years, articles in the New Yorker and New York Times, and Al Gore's movie have all contributed.

I do still encounter folks who believe it's all a bunch of hogwash, however. I know one guy who is convinced that the whole solar system is getting warmer, and that any suggestion that humans could really change the planet is a bit nuts.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:59 AM on October 27, 2006

As for what people I know are doing: I know a bunch of people who've gone to bike commuting, and lots of people who are swapping out to CFL bulbs.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:01 AM on October 27, 2006

Global cooling is definitely happening, as we had a snow here October 14th. Last year it wasn't until October 30th.

/anecdotal
/sarcasm

Seriously though, even my Republican parents are talking about global warming now, and these are Twice Bush Voters.
posted by zhivota at 3:07 PM on October 27, 2006

OK, I'm slightly biased as I care about this stuff, but I reckon that in the UK, it was when we started to get weather like this (PDF) on a regular basis.

Here's what the BBC was saying in 2000.

I think it's pretty much unquestioned now that climate change is happening. Whereas in the past they'd have to have the obligatory interview with a skeptic every time they did a feature about it in the News, now that very rarely happens. Even if it does, they are usually arguing over whether it's caused by humans (or even just arguing about how much of it is caused by humans).

You'd have to be very clueless about nature not to notice that it's almost November now and most of the trees are still green. Some thing's not right.
posted by Helga-woo at 3:48 PM on October 27, 2006

It's funny I read this, because there was just a thing about it on NPR, and I was thinking, "I'm glad people are starting to finally come around."
posted by Mr. Gunn at 4:47 PM on October 27, 2006