Washington (CNN) – A rise in skepticism among Americans over global warming is mostly due to changes among Republicans, according to new national poll.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, indicates that two-thirds of all Americans believe global warming is a proven fact. That's down eight points since June of 2008, with views among Democrats holding steady while Republicans' belief in global warming dropping 11 points.
"The growing skepticism among Republicans, with no matching shift among Democrats, suggests that the changes measured in this poll may be a reaction to having a Democrat in the White House rather than a shift in underlying attitudes toward global warming," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
The poll's release come as a United Nations climate summit opened in Copenhagen, Denmark. That global conference began under a cloud of accusations, after international attention the past two weeks over hacked e-mails that suggest some scientists faked data to support the argument of global warming. But Holland notes that polls released last month from other organizations have found similar shifts in views on global warming for several months. He says that indicates the changes in the new CNN survey are not the direct result of the media attention to the leaked e-mails from climate researchers.
iReport: Share your thoughts on climate change.
According to the survey, roughly a third of the people who believe in global warming think it is due to natural causes, rather than manmade causes such as industrial emissions. As a result, the number who say that global warming is caused by humans has dropped from 54 percent last summer to 45 percent now.
The poll indicates the number who say the U.S. should reduce emissions even if other countries do not follow suit has also dropped, from 66 percent in 2007 to 58 percent today.
"That drop is due to roughly equal changes among Republicans and Democrats, suggesting that economic conditions, rather than political factors, may be at play," noted Holland.
Why do a majority support lowering emissions when most Americans no longer think emissions cause global warming? "Americans may have other reasons to support a reduction in carbon dioxide and other gases," Holland says. "Pollution is pollution, and the country has been worried about clean air long before global warming became a topic of discussion."
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted December 2-3, with 1,041 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percent for the overall sample.
–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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The sceptics are ignorance of science. You have to be able to understand science in order to appreciate global warming.
Climate change is a matter of science, not public popularity. It's the role of the media to explain the facts and influence public opinion towards the truth. Unfortunately, our for-profit media outlets have too little spine to say anything that would offend their viewers, so instead we get some sort false equivalence on either side of the climate change issue - only one side can be correct, and responsible news agencies would report this.
That is because the progressive sheep ONLY get their information from the lamestream media who simply chose to report when any of the LIES are debunked which is often.
Climate gate was just the last straw as they ADMIT that they DESTROYED data that was not favorable, made numbers up to buffet their lies, EXPLAINED to all how to HAMMER anyone that chooses to speak up and how to use he MEDIA, not my words, THEIRS.
The world in the last 11-12 years has gotten cooler or remained the same and they NEED to hide that FACT.
Why will Al Gore NEVER debate anyone that disagrees with him on climate change (formally known as global warming until that myth was unprovable)?
Remember sheep, these were the same geniuses that said in the 1970's we were experiencing global COOLING and a herd of Killer bees were going to get us all, sorry MORE FACTS.
I recycle and do my part, but I don't need a gutless liberal telling me too.
Yes the repubs believe it is just god hugging us a little closer.
This contributes to the idea that people are too easily swayed by marketing.
The science on climate change hasn't changed – the vast majority of un affiliated scientists agree it's a critical problem.
Global Warming may in fact be happening, but humans have contributed little, and therefore cannot reverse the warming.
The only thing that is completely man-made about Global Warming is the hysteria and fraud that people like Gore and Obama have placed on the American people.
Republicans seem not to be big fans of science (now or in the past). This is another case of that. They believe that it will slow or cripple business; that just shows that they aren't thinking and imagining the profits that could be made by new businesses helping old businesses clean up what they put out. They have always denied science that could help people or the world because it could interfer with business and the bottom line. They aren't the forward thinkers that we need.
The picture at the top of this article implicates the "worst" green-house gas of all: water vapor.
Since climate skpetics are going to talk about it...
The so-called 'Climategate' has so far did nothing to undermine the scientific consensus that there is something happening with the Weather in a Global Scale, that this is not a cooling but a warming and just (no pun intended) 'heated up' the discussion if this is man-made or not.
WHY?
Because there is no proof for or against that the e-mails had been EDITED or not, there is no proof that the e-mails are real or not for that matter. Some scientist recognized some of the e-mails are actually theirs, but if they were or not edited (to better 'show' the 'scam' that Global Warming 'is') it's up to the Scotland Yard or Interpol to find out, as well as who's behind the hacking.
Plus, let's not forget that the IPCC has many others sources for their data, which has many similarities with the data now under suspicion.
So either this 'Global Warming' is a 'Global Conspiracy' against the (US) economy and progress (yeah, sure...), or there is something really wrong with the climate.
Well, here comes the biggest Conservative lie since Conservatives argued before the Civil War that slaves were really happy. The planet is in peril – and we will all find that out in a decade or two or three, depending on how this unprecedented climate change plays out.
Conservatives simply cannot bring themselves to believe that global warming is real. Why not? It has nothing to do with the bogus science generated by the scientific hired-guns in the pay of oil companies. No one could believe that. It is because IF it is true, THEN only massive government intervention in the "free market" (meaning a market controllled by global corporations) can prevent the worst of it from happening. We are already past the point of no return for significant but not massively destructive climate change. IF global warming is true, THEN we cannot proceed with "business as usual." They are delusional.
However, I think they will be able to block meaningful action for a long time. Our children and grandchildren may suffer greatly, but who gives a crap about them? We'll be dead. It won't hurt us at all.
CNN is trying to make this look like a Republican thing.
The fact that the "science" is COMPLETELY BOGUS isn't a political thing.
Al Gore has made millions off this "scam." Obama is buying into it hook, line, and sinker.
Any remaining skeptics of climate destabilization–let's just drop the all-too-abused-and-confused 'global warming' moniker right here, just need to look at the mountains of data, and use their eyes.
Leave the La-Z-boy in your little corner of the world and take a trip to, say, any great glacier area, bringing along some photos of the same area from decades past (how about Glacier National Park? It's beautiful and worth the visit). Next, how about a look at some dried up lake beds, and the rain meters of formerly temperate/moderate-rainfall areas that have seen flooding like never before the last several years. Ask folks in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest where crops were nearly ruined and cities went underwater after record swirls of jetstream from the overheated Gulf continued to inundate the region. It's not the future, it's here.
It's real–wake up.
The poll reflects the mis-information provided by Fox News to their mostly clueless viewers
Well, that's because democrats believe in science, while republicans have thrown their lot in with the faith-based "men ran around with dinosaurs 3000 years" ago crowd.
It's easier and more comforting to ignore all the evidence and instead try and believe the climate change boogy-man doesn't exist. Having a majority of your party getting their information from the Foxulist screeching heads on the White Power Network doesn't help matters, either.
Many Americans are skeptical about man-made climate change because many Americans are just plain ignorant about the real world around them. But it's no surpise. My guess is that a scientific poll would suggest these are the same people who listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and admire Sarah Palin
There is a difference between global temperature change and man-made global warming. The earth has gone through temperature cycles since it first existed, and will always continue to do so. Man did not create the ice age nor the warming that ended it. Why, all of a sudden, is man responsible for climate change? It is perfectly reasonable to agree with the facts of say, polar ice melting, and not for one second believe tha man has anything to do with it or can do anything about it.
Is this any kind of surprise? Of couse it's a hoax, just another pyramid scam to make money! Al Gore at the bottom!
Or perhaps the drop in support comes from evidence flooding out that climate scientists have been screwing with the numbers to make their case.
Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying LALALA loudly doesn't make this fact go away.
Some day when it is to late to regain control, the people will realize they have been suckered.
Then they can look beck to what might have been if only they had been a little more skeptical of the intentions of the global Warming Green Earth Freaks.
Good luck in recapturing what you have lost. Me, I'm 82 years old and I won't be around to remind you "I told you so, but you wouldn't listen"
Of COURSE Republicans don't believe in global warming. It's based on scientific facts, and the GOP turned its back on that a long time ago. They have become the party of screeching conspiracy theories, failed economic policies and anti-intellectualism. The American people, thank God, have seen through their guff for years now.
Climate change has been an ongoing process on planet earth since its formation. It's natural. I'm no scientist and I'm not going to say that there's no connection between industry and climate change, but when you have hypocrites like the Hollywood PRIVATE JET-setters and Al Gore (who has raked in millions from this so-called cause), it's getting harder and harder to take it seriously. Many around the world see it simply as a way to hobble the economies of the U.S. and the rest of the western world. Apparently it's only WESTERN pollution that causes global warming.
It really doesn't matter if the scientists are wrong about global warming. The point is this... If we do nothing we stay as is. If we help the planet, why is that bad? GOD wants us to help the planet HE created, don't you think? If so, would that mean HE'D be very pissed at those that want to destroy it, or allow it to be destroyed? The POSITIVE thing to do is save our planet. The negative thing to do is NOTHING.
I've witnessed first hand the melting of glaciers and the winters becoming increasingly milder in Alaska for over 40 years. There's no doubt in my mind or anyone who thinks intelligently that global warming is happening at an alarming rate. Those naysayers can stick their heads in the sand and pretend it's not real but when the sea level rises they'll drown. Pretending it's not happening doesn't make it so.
You don't even need to believe in global warming to know that pumping billions of tons of POLLUTION and CANCER into the air is plain WRONG.
Wake up people, forget about global warming, we should all agree that taking care of our planet needs to be a top priority – no more excuses, the responsible thing is to take care of this great planet God gave us.
If "two-thirds of all Americans believe global warming is a proven fact", then I believe 2/3 of Americans are idiots. I already know 52% of them were not too bright after last November, but 2/3? Man caused global warming is far from a proven fact. The skeptics are not all right-wing nutjobs. Many people in the scientific community are still skeptical. By the way, these 'hacked' e-mails were subject to the UK equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act. They should have been released long ago, before these con-artists had a chance to "delete them" (their words, not mine)...
Global warming is real, but its not caused by humans. History lesson: The Vikings lived on Greenland, starting a thousand years ago, for nearly two hundred years before the earth plunged into an ice age. We are still coming out of it. Why did the Vikings call it Greenland???
The oldest trick in using statistics to lie is to only show a part of the picture (such as earth's tempature since 1900). The further back in time you go, the clearer the lie is exposed.
Also, if you listen to the news, you'll learn that there is a vast Global Warning conspiracy to falsify data. The emperor's new clothes have been revealed.
So, because on group of scientists cooked the books to get more credit or funding or whatever, all of the rest of the scientists who study this problem are also wrong? Puhleez. I can use that same logic and state that because one republican voted for healthcare reform, all republicans must be for healthcare reform. Y'all really need to see beyond your little parochial, easily manipulated opinions and take a look around at what virtually every climate scientist on the planet, except those funded by the oil and coal industry, agree on. Have a nice day!
Known facts:
1) The sky is blue.
2) The earth is round and revolves around the sun.
3) Evolution is happening.
4) Climate change based on man-made factors is occuring.
All are scientific facts. If you don't believe any of these, then you have a problem with science which is based on obsevable facts and repeatable experimentation.
Global climate change is what Al Gore calls an unpleasant truth. Ignoring it or worse denying it won't change any of the facts.
Global warming is real and shouldn't be scored politically. It is everyones personal responsibility to preserve the planet will live on which we are responsible for destroying.
Every time I hear a new poll my heart sinks. Are we really all so fickle? One month we all agree global warming is happening, the next month we've changed our mind. Just a few months ago Obama was the man that could change everything, and now only half the country thinks so, according to these polls. Is it because people are so dependent of the media to tell them what to think these days? We're quick to accuse politicians of flip-flopping but we seem to do it on a daily basis!
Eric,
Open your eyes. It is a republican thing. Like who the global warming who don't believer in global warmng and a great majority are republicans. So, it is a republican thing.
The scam is the deniers. The line that Al Gore has made millions on this is right out of the right-wing play book. Al Gore has been a champion of the enviremental causes for 25 years.
Most people with common sense can see that since the industrial revolution the earth has warmed quite a bit.
I think most people acknowledge there is global warming, but they are skeptical about "science" that is politicized. Just like big oil companies have an interest in debunking global warming, there are people on the left who profit immensely from the green movement. Its disconcerting that scientists agree to privilege certain data and manipulate data, but at least this scandal has exposed that its not just the political right which has an agenda.
No, it is not a reaction to a Democrat being in the White House but rather a reaction to the Global Warming email scandal. I think you should poll those Democrats to see if they even know about the scandal.
Bad week for Gore, his whole Global Warming push is debunked by the very internet he invented.
This all a bunch of BS. I guess we stopped teaching geography and history. When I was growing up, we learned how the earth has gone through many changes in the last billions of years. We want to take a snapshot in time and try to freeze it. This is wrong on so many levels.
It is time the Government start repealing this stuff. I don't want to pollute the earth, but if we look the earth pollutes itself and seems to clean it up.
Examples: Volcanoes, fissures in the ocean spewing oil and poisonous gases, trees processing CO2.
When it stops snowing in Chicago I will beleave it
Hello, the temperature is going down...
CO2 is a trailing, not leading indicator of global warming.
The whole thing is farce, the ntersection of Liberal politics and new age religion
AGW is just another fake religion invented for the same reason all the others were – to enslave people.
Is the world going through a warming trend? Yes. Is Industrialization responsible for it? probably in part. however, the earth has in its lifetime been both much, much warmer, and much, much colder. The fact is that the earth is pretty good at regulating itself. As temperature increases, so does cloud cover, due to increased moisture in the air. Cloud cover reflects solar radiationn back out into space (otherwise it would get hotter on overcast days. Yes, it also holds heat in that is already there (cloudy nights are warmer than clear nights, generally.) However, with all things, there is a moderating effect. We certainly need to address the pollutants we put into the atmosphere, but we have to do so in an intelligent and measured fashion.
If you are here screaming about global warming, tell me, how many solar panels to you have on your roof? When did you install your geo-thermal heat pump system. What kid of fuel mileage does your car get? How far do you live from work? How big is your house in the first place? Alll of these affect energy consumption and green-house gas emmissions. What have you done personally to address the problem? Still using incandescent lights? How many stings of lights have you hung on your house for the holidays?
I wonder.. what percentage of people on either side is actually have basic training to UNDERSTAND science.... Considering level of math proficiency in this country I venture to guess that it is about 5%.. and it is VERY optimistic estimate too... yet somehow all these people believe that they have a right to have an opinion...
I think whether or not you believe in global warming, can we at least agree that we need a clean enviornment?
Can we at least agree that we need to become energy independent?
Can we at least agree that we need to greatly reduce the CO2 emmisions to help clean up the air we breathe?
Can we at least agree that we need to set the seeds now, so that future generations can have a clean environment to live in?
Do you know how much our status here and around the world will skyrocket if we achieve those?
We truly could be the greatest nation this earth has ever seen and will ever see. I believe that America has yet to see its finest generation of people. Lets get to work, and make that a reality.
The data supports that climate change is indeed going on, but what it doesn't support is that humanity has played a significant role. There is too much time and too little data to predict how our climate will react based on the past.
In addition, it looks as though our scientific comunity has been biased toward blaming climate change on society. This is evidenced by the willfull suppression of scientific data and opinion if you don't agree with the 'main-stream' view of man-caused global warming.
The people who dispute global warming are the same folks who believe we didn't land on the moon or that 9/11 was a inside job.
These people are the irrelevant and uneducated fringe.
The same people who insist there is no global warming also insist that "intelligent design" and not evolution is responsible for mankind. The same people that insist there is no global warming also insist that rampant pollution is "good" for America that stopping pollution somehow hurts the economy. The same people that insist there is no global warming think that George Bush was an intelligent, competent and honest leader.
People, Wake up! This Climate Change debate is a scam for profit. To hide information from scientists who refute the status quo is undemocratic! Let's hear from the other side, and then make your decision. Between the thousands of private jets and limos descending on Copenhagen this week (talk about hyprocasy run amok) the carbon footprint of the elite says it all.
As a scientist, I know clearly global warming is occurring and is dramatically being affected by man. But let's simply admit that it is our children's problem, not ours.
Only a complete FOOL would believe Al Gore about anything. Global warming is a CROCK based on bogus data. There are plenty of scientists that have proof that it's false. And when the scientific community starts pushing their own out of their jobs and out of their laboratories because they "don't agree with the status quo" then obviously something is very wrong. What are they hiding that they can't allow dissenters to be heard? Oh yea, their LIES! The leaked emails are only the beginning. As I told a Greenpeace rep only an hour ago, "YOUR LIES WILL BE EXPOSED AS WELL! COUNT ON IT!" The truth always comes out.
the average reading level in our country is sixth grade one of the most
popular tv shows is dancing with the stars do you think the average
american can even begin to make any reasonable remark against any
E mail I don't think tom delay can dance around this one let alone the
republicans this is way out of there league grow up and smell the
coffee who do you think stole the E mails its all in the timing
Sure the GOP numbers have dropped, why Rush said its all a farse this global warming thing. It's a shame the republicans listen to someone like Rush over a science professional
People do not deny climate change. It's natural and always occuring throughout history.
Not one person can deny the need to help clean up the environment or reduce known emissions to make things cleaner.
HOWEVER, the fascist scare tactics have to stop. In terms of style points, this goes right up there with 1930s Germany and post-9/11 security in the US with the Patriot Act.
In all seriousness, look back to the little ice age or how you could grow wine in England back 1,000 years ago because the climate was so warm and borderline tropical.
One day, maybe when we are here, the magnetic poles will shift and change EVERYTHING. What then? Humans did it?
Anyone who believes the Global Warming Climate Change garbage is affecting the planet cannot be taken very seriously. It's like a weatherman telling you what the weather is going to be like decades in advance. Would you believe them? Any rational person would not.
Also, let's say that Al Gore is right? Well, then you also have the problem of truly believing that you could do something about it. That is arrogant and absurd as well. Man, cannot and will not ever be able to control Nature. Just because some climate nazi's want no CO2 does not mean that it will solve the problem.
When you now throw in the FACT, that the data was twisted to meet a political point, and that the likes of Al and others stand to profit in the millions of dollars if this garbage is inacted, has to make any rational person have a cause for pause and really think about what is motivating this entire thing. It's not in the interest of climate change folks, like the healthcare debate, it's about money and control.
It stinks, and it's the biggest LIE in mankind. May it die in defeat and may those responsible for this be punished.
Not so fast on Global warming people. Live in Wisconsin just had the 2nd coldest summer EVER on record. Also our winters are now like they were 20 years ago. Anyone who says they know exactly what the climate or mother nature is doing are HIGH!
Second: I live in Wisconsin and I am PRO Global warming! (trademarked) its suppose to be a high of 5 degress on Wed!. Seriously everyone empty a can of aqua net into the air at least once a day. Leave you cars on idle all night. we thank you in the frozen tundra!
It's not that "we" as conservatives do not believe in global warming, it's that we disagree on the cause. I have a very well written paper from an MIT masters in physics grad that empirically shows the earth travels in a helical pattern around the sun. The author has repeatedly argued his point to college professors, but they are unwilling to rewrite all the physics books. Is he right? I don't know for sure, but it is certainly plausible. In that case the far end of the helix was the Ice Age, and we are now moving towards the center of the helix in which case everything warms up. Everything we know in the universe is three dimensional, so why would planets only move in two? The fact that we are filling the air with CO2 would be rather inconsequential if this turns out to be true. Do I believe we should reduce emissions? Absolutely, but not at a monetary cost none of us can/want to bare.
This issue is not, does global warming exist, because we have all seen the pictures. The big quesitons is 'WHY" is this happeing. The general hypothesis is that it is man-made, but little fact to go on, since we only have a small snap shot of the earths temperature history. There is also evidence that the moon is slowly moving away from the earth, which will effect the tilt and gravatational pull. That is another hypothesis that needs looked into. Let's make 'Going Green' a health issue and stop trying to attach it to a warming issue. We will all benefit by cutting air, water and food pollution and eliminating as many harmful chemicals as possible. Political chest pouinding and finger pointing will get un nowhere good.
Why is it that when a person is skeptical of something,... it has to be political?
If I doubt that man made global warming is going on, and believe that solar flares, sun spots, the distance to the sun, the ever moving molten lava making up much of the earth and creating new hot spots, or the hot spots moving, the magnetic field surrounding the Earth shifting as always (the magnetic poles shift people), etc, etc, etc is more of a factor than humans will ever be,.... I am labeled as a Republican and bashed for it,....
Yeah all of you saying go take a look,... take a look at science, history, physics, etc,.... then try and state that this is a closed case of man made global warming as has been tried to be shoved down our throats for a decade.
A simple correlation of solar cycles and this now being a very quiet period of the sun and global temps having not increased for a decade, along with the fact most scientists now believe there will be a cooling trend in the pacific northwest and northern pacific ocean is a telling factor right there,...
Global warming is part of a natural cycle. I have absolutely no worries. I do however question your statistics about 2/3 believe global warming is for real. You lie.... Anyway, I'm old enough to have seen this hype before. In fact I remember Mt. Pinatubo. Do you remember when that volcano erupted? It was a big one and killed many people. Scientists then said that more carbon emissions were released during those three days of eruptions than all the industrialized world had done in the last 100 years. Mother Earth is in charge not puny man.
Have no fear. When this current crop of politicians die off so will the hype about global warming.
)
It simply amazes me that every Leftwing organization on this earth claims global warming is manmade, despite facts to the contrary. Yet the solution is even better. Send Money.
BRIAN:
The Vikings called Greenland to trick people into thinking it was green, while calling Iceland it's name to make it scarier.
Greenland has been under ice for well your referenced time period.
They might be misguided, but the opinion of 1/3 of the country matters.
Will the deniers wake up in a few decades and say to themselves " Good god, what have I done to my kids?" when the water's lapping at their doors? Probably not. If your heads in the sand, you're blind.
Global warming (and freezing) is real, and part of the natural cycle of our earth. The summit this month in Copenhagen is a ruse of our president to sign a socialist world treaty sharing the wealth and making us all equal. Amazing the carbon imprint of this summit!!!!
Thanks CNN, for reporting the facts!
If CO2 is reduced too far what will follow is death. Plants whcih make oxygen need a minimum level of CO2 to live, if the levels far too far the plants will die and we will follow suit.
Man made global warming is a hoax.
Follow the money to see who is pushing this hoax and what they stand to make.
I like how the Earth's climate patterns are driven by popular opinion like reality TV. I wonder if when the 2004 Tsunami was racing towards Thailand, if they polled those people first?
So long as states where dumb-animal republicans continue to take the brunt of climate change induced events like hurricanes, I'm happy to settle into my arm chair and wait for them to come around to reality.
Until a scientist can step up and tell me why sending money to a leftwing organization will stop global warming, I will continue to believe that global warming is a crock.
Nadai–Ironically, the denial of climate change is a scam for profit. Look at all those interested in denying it.
Look up how much Al Gore made on spreading the lies.
Global warming is a phase, it will reach its peak, and you will see global cooling.
I belief we are already cooling down, evidence is outside of your door.
I would like to make some money on spreading the word on global cooling. Any takers???? My movie will be called "convenient Bull" And all proceeds will make my life great!!!!!!
Look up what Al Gore's property looks like, and imagine that carbon footprint.....
Do your part: Recycle, Turn off lights, do not dump medicine in the toilet ( I know that sounds stupid, look it up), limit fertilizer usage ... etc. , but please stop making lazy morons like Gore rich as hell.
That makes all of you look dumb.
Whether or not you believe the Emails were changed there remains an indisputable fact, Jones admitted he fudged the data, then dumped it, then lied about it, then got caught, then got fired. He admits it, emails or no emails. His reports, along with Mann – who is under investigation, formed the core of the IPCC report. That report initially started with a prediciton of a 7 degree rise in temps, then revised that to be 3 degrees, then most recently came out with the statement – we cannot explain why the globe is cooling, but there's no getting around that it is. If that doesn't convince you then ask yourself, If Al Gore believed in AGW – would he fly around in a private polluting jet or take commercial flights? Would he live in a 22,000 sq foot home or downsize to save the planet? Would the folks in Copenhagen be calling for an immediate reduction in CO2 or would they call for the ability to tax? The ICPP predicted a huge increase in the number and strength of Hurricanes – has that happened? There were only 3 last year, fewer the year before. If the 100 year old Ross Ice shelf broke off – what was there before that? If the glaciers are melting in the North – remember it was once a tropical climate – we know that from the petrified trees and fossils found there. There have been many Ice ages and warm periods in the 4.2 billion year history of Climate Change on this planet – and there will be many more – no matter what we puny humans do. CO2 is plant food, without you would be dead. Period. ANd last of all, chose what you would like live under, a warm sun or a mile thick ice sheet – those are the only choices. Ice ages come about every 11,500 years – so far we've been 11,400 years since the last one.
How many people carpooled to the event in Copenhagen? I bet they all flew seperate private planes. How about the hundred million dollar man Gore, who's electric bill on his pool is higher then most houses annual bill?
THese guys are opportunist hypocrits.
Kurt I have to disagree with you. I believe we landed on the moon, but I am not fully convinced on global warming. Hell it was snowing in Houston last week.
"The growing skepticism among Republicans, with no matching shift among Democrats, suggests that the changes measured in this poll may be a reaction to having a Democrat in the White House rather than a shift in underlying attitudes toward global warming," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland."
Now that's wishful thinking if I've ever heard it!
Being a Democrat without believing in AGW is like being a Catholic without believing in Jesus. It's just not considered acceptable.
What you're seeing is this: A lot of the people who had kept an open mind about the topic (Republicans and Independents) are now shifting toward skepticism because it's becoming obvious that the so-called "science" has been rigged to produce a pre-defined outcome. ...one that conveniently supports a left-wing political agenda.
The Democrats haven't changed their views because they're committed believers. They've been told by their leaders that AGW is happening and it's a theory that they desperately WANT to be true, regardless of the facts.
For them, it's a matter of FAITH, not logic. No amount of reasoning will convince these truth-deniers that they've been duped.
global warming is the wool pulled over our eyes, to bilk you and I of our money and gain personal power through legislation and taxation. I laugh and can even forgive the easily ignorant and foolish, but I would like greatly to wring the necks of each and every person who knows the truth yet chooses fraud and treason. You have been warned. The distance now to the gallows grows short.
Global warming IS a real occurrence, yet is treated with the same skepticism as when Copernicus stated that the Earth was not the center of the universe. He was locked away by the church when he wouldn't yield his point. Unfortunately, we will lock ourselves away when the water eats away at our land, and there will be NO political viewpoint that will change that.
Mike Smith–If 1/3 of America said that gravity was on the decline, should we listen to them or care about their opinion? In America, one has the right to be wrong, but the rest of the world shouldn't have to suffer for it.
Check Hubbard Glacier here in Alaska if you want to see on of many that is and has been growing each year. Maybe it is a Republican Glacier.
We live on a constantly changing dynamic planet. The Climate is ALWAYS changing...the one thing we are guaranteed is that it is NOT staying the same. The Earth has warmed and cooled since its beginning. If the Earth and Sun are going to burn us off this planet there is nothing we can do to stop it. Furthermore, the few decades for which we have accurate temperature data is woefully insufficient to measure man's impact on climate. The scientific community can not be trusted as evidenced by prominent climate scientists intentionally seeking to hide temperature declines to promote their agenda over the truth. A decade from now there must be a full scale accounting of who promoted and benefited from what will be known as the Great Man-Made Global Warming Hoax.
Fifty years ago everyone KNEW that the ground didn't move. Today we KNOW that the ground is in motion, plate tectonics. We KNOW that global warming is taking place. Just like it did at least thirty or fifty times in the past. By what science to you come to the conclusion that the Warming is man made????????? In thirty years we may KNOW that Global warming is a precursor to Global Ice Ages. To believe that we know enough to judge what is the source of a spike in a hundred million years of cycles, is the ultimate ego trip.
Idiots.
One thing is for certain: Anyone posting on this board, that claims to
know DEFINITIVELY one way or another, regarding the impact or non-impact of human activities on climate change, can immediately be rendered incredible....
Will the climate change maniacs wake up in a few decades and say to themselves " Good god, what have I done to my kids?" when the developed world's economies have collapsed under the weight of harsh regulations designed to slightly diminish a phantom problem? Probably not. If your heads are awash in popular mania, you're totally blinkered.
If the skepticism over the heliocentric model of the solar system were to heat up, would it be appropriate to bring back Ptolemaic astronomy? In scientific matters of controversy, I think it's important to give a little more credence to those who know what they're talking about, and a little less to those with a political axe to grind, or a penury conflict of interest (or both).
It has been proven by scholars that most of this hype is crap. And a lot of individuals are buying it. Thank goodness I have a brain to think and read on my own, not just accept what someone else is trying to brainwash us with.
Funny how people call us "deniers" and "blind" if we don't "believe" in man made global warming,...
Same tactics are used if you say you don't believe in God,...
Sorry but just because I like to have evidence and science prove things instead of using faith for the basis of the "facts" in my life,... doesn't mean I am wrong and the "believers" are right,...
Regardless if you believe global warming is man made or not, we need to get off oil based energy for economic reasons, political reasons, and pollution reasons. You don't have to always believe what Glenn Beck and Hannity have to say.
Global warming is 10% science and 90% politics!
So the comments say that Global Warming is a money making scheme? Has anyone looked at the opponents? Lets see: Big oil, manufacturing, big buisness? Now, who is looking to make money?
Also, comments like its snowing in Houston, or its cold here, are missing the point. Global Warming is the ice caps melting because the CO2 level is too high. That is still happening. The earth is warmer today than it was 100 yrs ago, and 200 yrs ago, etc,
Is it man made, probably at least somewhat. Whether it is or not, don't we have a responsibility to leave our children a better place than what we have?
Quick and simple answer. Quit blowing huge holes in the ozone with rockets and space shuttles. Problem solved and the ozone will at some point heal.
Consider this:
The earth experienced an ice age. Science will tell us that it is fact. Yet how many humans, factories, planes, and cars caused the climate change to move the earth out of the ice age? NOT A ONE! Folks are getting filthy rich off a theory! Parts of this country just experienced the earliest snows EVER! Gobal warming or climate change, right? The open-mined left is being anything but, especially when they disregard solar activity as a cause of cyclical changes in climate! The problem is there is too much money involved in this junk science. Just ask Al Gore!
This is an excellent study in why science must be an agnostic discipline. Once you start introducing your own biases into your research you are bound to go from science to junk science – even if that wasn't your intention. This has happened again and again in the history of scientific research. Now who will ever believe any research from the climate research group that withheld their own inconvenient truths? Credibility is history for them... and possibly for this entire thesis. There's is not the only "research" with inaccuracies throughout. Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth is full of it – as is stated in another article on the CNN site. Science: let that be a lesson to you (one you used to teach to me).
I remain skeptical on the data around Global warming due to its politicization. No dount Global warming has occured but I do not totally believe to the degree that has been stated. Take politics and the crazy environmentalists out of the mix and let unbiased scientists without ulterier motives come to conclusions whatever they may be. I am a Democrat so this cannot be a total GOP thing.
Without the global warming hoax, where would all these faux scientist derive their income from? They would actually have to go out in the world and get real jobs instead of studying ice and munipulating data. These supposed scientist destroyed all the raw data from which their claims are based.. why on earth would they do such a thing if they were conspiring to produce a myth?
Wow, if ignorance is bliss than there are some really happy people writing on this board! Why can republicans never admit to guilt? "Oh no, we had nothing to do with global warming it was the liberals hot air." Reducing carbon emissions is not a bad thing and I don't care who is to blame but for goodness sake lets not sit and argue instead of taking action.
An ignored fact: Bush/Cheney tried very hard to turn the USA into China by eroding rights, environmental protections, the Supreme Court Nominees etc. and the rest of the WORLD is putting pressure on guess who? The USA and CHINA.... A natural coincidence? I think not. High priced Public Relations is more the truth...
What is the Carbon Footprint of this meeting in Copenhagen????
Dear AP from Illinois,
Al Gore's movie was called, "An Inconvenient Truth."
First off, I like the fact that the postings above are intelligent and well thought, far from the usual rants I see related to this topic.
I don't see this as republican or democrat. There are plenty of democrats living in coal-power country who want this to go away as bad as any republican. The climate naysayers simply have a belief system of not wasting trillions in the name of "doing something."
I am in that camp. I have no doubt that the earth is heating up. The question that remains is there anything we can do about it, particularly with today's technology? The answer is emphatically "no". (Storing carbon underground? Sure – when Buck Rogers wakes up in the 25th century.)
Just like when a house is on fire, people run around wanting to do something to help the situation. Just as a bucket of water won't have an impact on a burning house, returning emissions to some level below Kyoto won't matter. So if catastrophe waits in 2050, it will still come, regardless of what is actually done in the next 10-20 years.
So what do we do? Continue to rearrange the deck chairs whilst the Titanic is sinking? No. However, employing a massive wealth re-distribution scheme in the name of saving the planet will make our time on this planet far less enjoyable in the meantime.
I think we should continue to develop the science behind climate change and make the right investments to deal with increased drought and the impact on food production. We know changes are coming in the long term, just as they have for millions of years. But we can do some things now that won't kill the economy and help the most vulnerable.
Global warming is a proven HOAX. You liberal apologists need to open your eyes and starting thinking on your own for once. This whole warming debate is one of the most frightening things I've ever witnessed.
And yet, the Pentagon is adjusting its long-term strategies to take an ice free arctic passage into account. Maybe they know something we don't. Hmmm.... never mind, just go on believing that cavemen riding dinosaurs missed a ride on Noah's ark. Have a nice day!
Does Global Warming Exitst, Well of course over the last 100 years, but no one tracked it before that. Also, the late 1700s early 1800s was considered a mini ice age. So it is a big deal we are 1 degree warmer, when in the last 10 it has stabilized. Does man play a role, it is likely, but I think it is more likely that it is so minute it doesn't make a real difference. Clean air is a good thing, but to say we need 0% emissions regardless of the cost is crazy.
The green movement is really a political movement by the far left to contral are daily lives, aka Socialism. This system clearly doesn't work, so look at the facts. Greenhouse emission is down 2.2% this year without their radical policies. Let Capitalism work and the Constitution be honored.
May the skeptics and naysayers be the first to disappear from the face of the earth in a puff of their own noxious fumes.
It goes without saying they will all be affluent Republicans.
There are 31,000 scientists that dispute global warming, 926 with PhD's. The academic elites cannot claim, like some have, that skeptics don't understand science. Maybe we just aren't as dumb as you play us off to be. Anyone with any intellectual integrity would not go forth with this conference and the EPA would not have made their political decision today – in light of the recent climategate scandal. CRU scientists conveniently blotted out the medieval warming period they had included up until 1996.
Climate change or climate scam? If it involves taking other peoples money and telling us how to act and live. IT IS A NO-BRAINER! You have to be an absolute buffoon to believe this non-sense.
I saw a documentary showing that on one coast of antartica the ice is receeding and on the opposite coast it is expanding. Maybe the earth's axis has changed enough to create warming in some areas and cooling in others. Maybe it was a result of nucear bombs knocking us off our axis.
We have 650,000 years worth of global temperature and CO2 data. When ever CO2 goes up, temperature follows. CO2 density is currently at its highest concentration in 650,000 years. The question you have to ask yourself is, do you even want to chance having to live through the hottest period on earth in 650,000 years.
How do you tax something? You have to first quantify it, then determine there is a Govt requirement to regulate it. That is why C02 (that nasty stuff that plants need to live and we exhale) has been labled and greenhouse gas and a threat. Cars emit X number of tons of it and so do buildings. Now all we have to do is attach a dollar amount to those number and Bingo we have our new tax rate for what used to be free. Govt get paid more for doing nothing.
One should read Michael Crichton's presentation at Caltech in 2003, titled, 'Alians Cause Global Warming'.........the issue at hand is consensus science not real science based on facts......
If human-caused climate change turned out to not be true, I would be disappointed. Don't read me wrong, though- I would be disappointed because I know that a large percentage of Americans would continue treating our planet like a great big ball of never-ending resources and insane resilience. At least if everyone felt a little climate change guilt, we might change our habits as a whole society. Exonerate the guilt climate change, and all the "non-hippies" will go on raping the resources.
One thing is for certain: Anyone posting on this board, that claims to
know DEFINITIVELY one way or another, regarding the impact or non-impact of human activities on climate change, can immediately be rendered incredible
------------------------------
Although I posted my thoughts, i actually agree with you with one caveat. That your statement would apply to "scientists, theorists (like Al Gore) who are getting filhty rich as well as governmenes who will soon or at least are considering destroying their economies over a THEORY! According to the EU just today, China and the US are under pressure to do more to destroy their economies over this theory!
Well, it may be that Republicans are more inclined to be skeptical about global warming. Republicans are more likely to reason through problems than to glom onto political ideology and hang on no matter what facts come your way.
And now, we find that not only do they believe easily, but they try to manipulate publications and communication to distort the truth in order to lead others astray. Shut out all dissenting voices when you can't trust your own voice to survive the truth.
So, it is possible to believe that we can pump all that waste into the atmosphere over a relatively short period of time and there will be no effect on the environment. So, we can locate a dozen or so scientists who view the data contrary to the many hundreds who are convinced that the trends are clear.....that makes me feel better. So, you can feel convinced that there are no long term changes because.....ah.....the weather in your home town is cold today!!!
I hope you all are correct because when it comes time to say "I told you so" it might just be too late.
As a scientist and statistician......the data seems to be compelling. But, what do I know? Here is what I do know......you cannot pick and choose selectively amongst all the data available just because you want to stick a bone in the eye of liberals. I know many conservatives and liberals who believe and a few in both camps who do not. This does not seem to be a ideological battle to me and we ought not to make it one.
The point is to just give a damn about Earth! Is it that hard to recycle and just keep a tab on how your individual efforts affect our planet?
The physics of global warming is too simple to be completely wrong (and I'm a physicist). The only question is, how right is it?
People of good will can disagree honorably about many things, but not about the fact (and it is a fact) that if you spew enough IR-absorbing crud into the air, the air eventually gets hotter. The things we don't know are how hot, how fast, and what we're prepared to do about it. Your grandchildren's quality of life will depend on the answers.
I suppose that it is politics that is melting the glaciers globally and raising the sea levels along with weather changes..
It really does not matter politically, it is about science and is happening so, if we choose to ignore it, it will be to our regret globally in the long run.
Then we can decide politically who to blame... right ?
I'll go with the 31,072 Scientist that signed a petition stating that Al Gore's "sky is falling" scam is a gross exaggeration. Sure the ice is melting. It started the day the ice age ended. Cap and Tax will finish bankrupting the Nation.
It's easy to ignore the fact that in only one hundred year, the world population increased by 5 billion people, and that we almost have burned up all fossil fuels of more than millions year old.
But of course, the deniers only believe in a world that is 6000 years old, and we have lived together with dinosaurs.
I believe in Global Warming because I'm studying science in school. The deniers will probably say I'm brainwashed by this 'liberal' school. While I actually go to a Catholic school in Europe.
Those leaked e-mails don't change anything at all. Global Warming is still a fact.
But they are seen as the definitive proof Global Warming is a hoax. By the republicans, GOP, Fox News, but even CNN is imputing.
I can't believe the world had to wait for 8 years for a man that finally wants to change something (Barack Obama).
"If the skepticism over the heliocentric model of the solar system were to heat up, would it be appropriate to bring back Ptolemaic astronomy? In scientific matters of controversy, I think it's important to give a little more credence to those who know what they're talking about, and a little less to those with a political axe to grind, or a penury conflict of interest (or both)."
You would be right if it weren't for the fact that politics is the driving force behind the scientific viewpoints that have become mainstream.
You can't get a grant to study the climate without already being on the AGW bandwagon. So how many scientists do you expect to bite the hand that's feeding them? ..and we now have evidence that the peer-review process has been rigged to shut-out anyone who doesn't agree.
You're living in a fantasy world if you think politics doesn't have a lot to do with the so-called consensus that we keep hearing about.
The "skepticism" is solely an American phenomenon resulting from the option to reality of the previous administration, the Republican party, and the conservatively tainted news organizations FOX News and Clear Channel radio, The rest of the world understands the issue because they are experiencing the affects of "global warming" first hand.
Regardless of whether the earth is warming or cooling or who or what is causing it, there is nothing wrong with cleaning our air and producing our own energy ourselves. Would you rather pay more and more every year for coal plants that give us cancer rather than using solar panels and wind to power you cars and houses? This is a no brainer. Call me a socialist if you want because I for one don't want to keep seeing my electric bills and natural gas bills rising when there is an alternative of a one a time cost for clean energy so my kids won't be getting chronic sickness or cancer. At some point green energy will be on par with coal or whatever else is out there to power our lives. Then the majority will jump on board.
Yes the Earth cooled and warmed before. Regardless we live in this world and we need to do what is best to adapt. Who cares what is causing it, if there is going to be flooding when Greenland melts, does it matter if it was China or the U.S. that caused it?
Climatologists receive grant money from various sources for the amount of perceived importance is placed upon their work, like all reseachers. Therefore, it is in their best financial and professional interests for the data to indicate that a human caused climate change is taking place. I would like to see the number figure on the grant increases in the last decade and a half in that field.
Looking back on world history, the periods with the warmest climates have also produced and sustained the largest and most diverse groups of species. The longer growing periods produces more plant life, in turn creating more food for other organisms. If the effects of global warming are irreversible, I prefer to look at the glass half full!
Ditto Heads are the current day lemmings of the planet. Willing to follow the "leaders" who have sent them charging toward the climatic abyss...
Now, I wouldn't care a snit, except for the fact that we are tied inextricably from these morons – which fall into two groups:
1) We have enough power and finance to take care of ourselves, no matter what happens to the planet, so lets go out there and make a big, BIG BIG pile of money.
2) We are fellow Republicans, no matter what happens, our Republican brethren will not let amything happen to us... Surely they would not lead US astray, just to make more money, and SURELY, if something went wrong, they would save US!!! We're REPUBLICANS for God's sake.
Neither faction allows for the other, and in the final analysis, both will drag us all into the dustbin of history, and then, even the history book will disappear...
UNLESS, we can stop them.
The comments posted here explain to me why people refuse to accept that the earth is warming. It is snowing, so the science must be wrong? A conspiracy to rob us of money?
Global warming doesn't mean we are all going to live in the tropics. it just means that the average global temperature is expected to shift by a FEW DEGREES. But those few degrees, when applied year after year means a melting ice cap. The reduction of the ice cap alone has an effect upon our global climate. Water levels, ocean currents, air currents. The weather of the world is like a big engine and the ice caps are a major component of that engine.
The reduction of the mass of the ice caps is not "fake science". Numerous reliable groups have physically measured the ice. There are satellite photos. There are towns falling into the sea. And the ice caps are just one piece of the evidence and problem if global warming.
Argue all you want about how much mankind is impacting it versus a natural cycle of the earth, but don't deny the warming trend. That is just avoiding un unpleasant truth. And that is just foolish.
Why is everyone so black and white on everything....or should I say Rep and Dem...
look....just because the earth has warmed naturally in the past doesn't mean that EVERYTIME it warms it is natural...
I'm sure if scientists could travel back in time to one of those past warming moments they would all conclude "The earth was closer to the sun during its orbit and that caused the warming" or "A meteor landed in the rain forest and burned up every living thing, releasing x tons of green house gases, and that caused the warming"
who knows, I'm sure every warming event had its own factors....the important thing here is THIS warming event...and the factors causing THIS warming event....and the evidence is overwhelming that the warming is caused by the excess green house gases in the air....and the green house gases are being produced by man, not a natural event...
PLAIN AND SIMPLE
Okay Global Climate Warming Cooling Carbon Credit minions, here are the questions for today's Science lesson. Question 1: How much CO2 is released into the atmosphere from a (1) Volcanic eruption or (2) Nuclear bomb ? Question 2: What is the mass balance equation for the quantity of CO2 to remain dissolved in solution for all the waterbodies of the world? Man does not control nature he is merely a strand in the web... but how can I make a profit you may ask?
Al Gore, what a joke. I saw him on TV speaking about how the center of the Earth is "millions" of degrees F. I know what you lemming like uneducated lefties are thinking, but he said it twice so he didn't "misspeak". Let's just say my 8 yr old daughter knows that is impossible and she most certainly didn't claim to create the internet. It would be so funny if it wasn't so sad this Nobel winner (don't even get me started on that too) has such a following. By the way, I'm an experienced college educated environmental scientist and a proud non believer in man made global warming.
Ugh, this argument is so stupid. What is there to lose by moving to green technologies? I guess a few things. Dependence on oil (foriegn or demestic), smog, the monopoly of energy companies. What do we have to gain? Jobs, free energy, the feeling of doing the right thing. We have to stop polluting, not because of global warming, but because we're pumping poisons into FOOD and AIR.
All one has to do is look at scientific studies done in communities near coal plants to see the jump in cancer rates. It doesn't take an MIT scholar to see the connection.
Can we just do the right thing for once.
Even if one doesn't agree with global warming / climate change, this doesn't mean one shouldn't reduce carbon emissions. It's patently un-American and immoral to buy foreign oil from petro-dictatorships (think Venezula, Saudi Arabia) that use the money to keep their grip on power.
Why not spend the money more responsibly and create jobs that stay at home by investing in renewable energy infrastructure?
But no, the naysayers would have it that global warming is a hoax, so we should continue to pay the Saudis instead of create jobs at home.
Republicans were more willing to accept the science when they had a fossil fuel hack in office willing to stop any initiatives to reduce emissions. Out of power, they now are prone to the persistent fear-mongering from their top media outlets telling them that reducing emission to will destroy the economy. So the notable shift among the right is not a surprise. This is a group that believes healthcare reform will result in government "death panels".
If we believe in the real science and take corrective action to stop the pollution spilling into our environment and poisoning us and our planet – and "Climate change" really was a myth – at least we would have a cleaner place to live, less poisons in our food, better health.
If we choose to believe the deniers and continue on filling our environment and homes with pollution because we don't "believe" in Climate change – and we are wrong – the entire human species could be eliminated from this planet.
If people choose to gamble – why are they betting on choice that could destroy everything if they're wrong. Destruction of humankind for a few money hungry egos. That's a crime above all others.
The argument is hanging primarily over semantics and context of usage of a word. (algebra or mathematical context – procedure to solve a puzzle).
The republican in question, is being swayed and possibly projecting his own faults of deceit rather than understanding the evidence and data (statistical analysis and deterministic logic) for political gain. Scientists have nothing to gain either way from there being global warming or not. they are there to determine the truth. they are paid either way, by governments, NGOs and contract research organizations.
The republican in question (I love mccain by the way)... is unoriginal in his tactic to sway unknowledgeable voters and the public. it is irresponsible of this senator to do so.
There's a difference between denying a warming trend and denying human cause. The concern of a vigilant citizen should be centered on the difficulty of proving a causal relationship between human activity and global warming. An even greater concern should be focused on an awareness of anti-humanist mindsets that dominate academia today. If your goal is to illustrate man as inherently evil, what better bandwagon is there to latch on to? If you want to apologize for man's progress and deem him as unworthy to share the planet with lesser species, climate change is a great platform from which to make your case.
A responsible citizen should always remain skeptical of the motivation for blaming mankind for climate change, regardless of the number of scientists who have joined in the climate change "consensus."
The Republicans are right! Global Warming Theories are just a communist plot by Liberals to take over the earth and force everyone to breathe clean air and drink pure water. Science is evil.
Amoungest all this he-said she -said, it would not and could not hurt for all of us to do better by the environment. The problem is we are taking a theory and threatening to destroy the economy over it! The cap and trade threat is based on a theory, not fact as no one has proven anything! And lastly sceptics as you call us, are not afraid of science. What you global warmer alarmists are presenting is not a proven science!
I'm in the 'believe in global warming but skeptical it is man made' camp. I not saying it definitively isn't, just that I think we really can't say at this point. The science behind the computer modeling of CO2's effect on climate is very interesting, but there's just so much that these models admittedly do not take into effect. Anyone who has worked with trying to model complex systems knows how uncertain future predictions are when not all the inputs of the system trying to be modeled are known.
The current levels of global CO2 is higher than at anytime in the past 800,000 years and rising.
Pour in the Sulfur Rain from Big Oil's energy plants in America and a healthy dose of Trillions of methane gas releasing from Siberia's wastelands into the atmosphere and you have the recipe for the current hell on earth temperatures routinely found on the planet Venus.
Atmospheric livability is a very thin and narrow band of conditions. American coal burning plants are absolutely pushing the Earth outside of the band of livability just to promote their corporates bottom line.
The entire Republican Party and their Big Corp. Puppets Republican lawmakers should be forced to sequester next to a Coal Plant so they can modify their grievous behavior.
"The growing skepticism among Republicans, with no matching shift among Democrats, suggests that the changes measured in this poll may be a reaction to having a Democrat in the White House rather than a shift in underlying attitudes toward global warming," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
Gee, ya think?!?! Clearly the Republican Party and the corporate lobbies that back them are happy to court only the most ignorant, malleable morons as their voting base. The Democrats share many of the same corporate backers, especially in the coal industry, so it's pretty doubtful that Waxman-Markey will be anything better than a gesture to try to appease the "green" part of the Dem base if it makes it past the Senate... Two tactics for the same result: GOP incites the ignorant nationalistic masses to protest Dem policy, Dems pretend to put up a fight and blame the eventual neutering of their policy on the opposition. As a result, the GOP gets good voter turnout, the Dem base is pacified into thinking their representatives are trying to fight for their causes (they're not), and the energy industry gets a free pass to continue polluting and a few years off from congressional scrutiny.
While these crooks hammer out their back room deals and tell their constituents fairy tales, our coastal cities continue to be under threat of nature, our water sources disappear, and cancer clusters abound...