Pirate's Cove

Carbon pollution is very sneaky, you guys!

Nice Weather May Be Playing Tricks On Your Mind About Climate Change

“It is very tempting to rely on what you are experiencing.”

Most likely, you don’t write down the number of days each year when the temperature in your town reaches a record high or record low. But, in fact, you do keep track — subconsciously — and this practice could influence your attitude about climate change.

Subliminal awareness of local climate change can push people into either accepting or doubting climate change, depending on local climate patterns, according to new research published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Even when you know the facts, understand the science, and have seen the maps of global trends, it is very tempting to rely on what you are experiencing,’’ said Michael Mann, co-author of the PNAS study and an associate professor of geography at George Washington University (and not the climate scientist of the same name). (snip)

The research is believed to be the first to study the effects of local climate change on people’s attitudes. “This study points out that we need to be aware of our bias towards experiential learning and over-emphasizing recent events,” Mann said.

I’m seeing sleet instead of the doomy snow outside my window: should this make me concerned that the planet is doomed in 2050 or doomed in 2100?

“Despite our whole-hearted desire to confirm or deny climate change with a single weather event, we need to remember that a climate is described by averages over a 25- to 30-year period,’’ he said. “In the end, we would do much better talking to our grandparents about their experiences, than relying on our own.’’

Over that period of time, there has not been statistically significant warming. What warming occurred disagrees with 95% of the computer models. We’ve seen long stretches of reductions in tropical storms, wildfires, and tornadoes. Interestingly, 3 of the 5 biggest snow accumulations in Raleigh have occurred since the Cult of Climastrology started their incessant bleating.

That leaves the question of how do scientists and communicators use what people are experiencing in their everyday lives to reinforce the facts of climate change.

The scientists suggest that Americans could better grasp climate change if agencies and news outlets focused more on record high temperatures and low temperatures throughout the year because people are already tracking that information, even if subconsciously. “We think it’s a more effective way to communicate what’s happening with climate,” Kaufman said. “How many record high temperature days did we set compared to how many record low days?’’

So, it’s all about rephrasing. Huh. Not about showing their science, sharing their methodology, sharing their raw data, oh, and practicing what they preach in making their own lives carbon neutral, nope, rephrasing. And then they wonder why ‘climate change’ typically comes in last or next to last on lists of things people care about.