...But We’re Getting Smarter

The British public has become more sceptical about climate change over the last five years, according to a survey.

You mean, as the hysteria wound up to fever pitch, people started to believe in it less and less?

Odd, that…

Twice as many people now agree that "claims that human activities are changing the climate are exaggerated".

Hardly surprising. As Mummylonglegs points out, you’ve cried ‘wolf!’ once too often for that to work any longer.

Four in 10 believe that many leading experts still question the evidence. One in five are "hard-line sceptics".

That’s not really a ‘belief’, though, is it? It happens to be the truth, many experts are questioning the evidence (and if not the evidence, then the conclusions being drawn from it). More each day.

Nice the way the Beeb phrases it to make it sound like just another of those wacky beliefs that the common herd has…

This was the bit that I loved, though:

The survey, by Cardiff University, shows there is still some way to go before the public's perception matches that of their elected leaders.

It nicely insinuates that it’s the elected leaders who have got it right, and all us poor sheep who are in the wrong.

The special interest groups are out to protect their turf, of course:

Dr Whitmarsh told BBC News: "It is difficult for people to perceive what is and isn't climate change.

"But I think what we have to get across is that residual uncertainty in science is normal.

"Unfortunately, some people latch on to this uncertainty and say 'let's carry on as we are'."

Hey, if you aren’t certain, why the hell should we make massive changes to our lifestyle?

She feels that many people are not "playing their part" in reducing humanity's impact on the environment.

"In general people are showing little willingness to change their lifestyles.

"They will recycle, unplug the TV and change their light bulbs; but they won't change how they travel or how they eat.

"These are the things that are going to make the biggest difference."

We haven’t much choice in whether we recycle or change our light bulbs. Those choices have been taken away from us.

And until the people who bang on and on about ‘man made global warming’ start to change the way they live and travel and eat, why should anyone else?

There’s no good news for the MSM in this survey either:

Half of the people surveyed believed the media was too alarmist.

And a third said there was too much conflicting evidence to know what is actually happening.

I expect the non-disaster of swine flu hasn’t helped either of those outlooks…

It’ll be interesting to watch their next move.