Those working to raise awareness about climate change have a problem. While most Americans believe global warming is occurring and think human activities are causing it, fewer than half think it will pose a serious threat to the planet in their lifetimes.
So what do those seeking drastic change do? They publish predictions of imminent catastrophe based on computer models, threatening doom and gloom unless dramatic measures are taken immediately. When that fails, they change the deadline and try again. And the shifting dates for climate Armageddon are just one reason the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) may do harm to its cause than good.
The IPCC claims that if the world doesn’t undertake a massive effort to reduce carbon emissions by 2030, the result will be catastrophic — including mass wildfires, droughts, floods, food shortages, and dying coral reefs. The prescription offered to save the world by the 91 scientists who signed off on the report is a massive tax increase on carbon-dioxide emissions, as much as $27,000 per ton by the end of the century. That could cripple economies across the globe.
The trouble is, it’s hard to keep track of all the predictions we’ve heard in the last 20 years about impending catastrophes. Al Gore’s 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth, which won him an Oscar as well as a Nobel Peace Prize, floated a wide array of assertions and predictions about warming that were either in error or exaggerations. Since then a number of environmental groups have talked about carbon emissions needing to be cut by 2012 (the World Wildlife Federation), 2016 (International Energy Agency), or 2018 (U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change).
Now the IPCC tells us we have until 2030....
Why aren’t Americans responding to this challenge?
Part of the answer stems from a lack of trust in those making these predictions and demanding these sacrifices. ....