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Re: [Phys-l] Poll shows fewer Americans "believe" in global warming

At least with students in my general ed. classes, I can do class projects that send them out to find
primary source information on "greenhouse" gases, solar activity, polar ice, historical temperature data,
temperature measurement methods, and computer modeling, they can get accurate information they
are not getting anywhere else and learn how to do it. With each assignment, my students are simply
amazed by what they learn about these topics. It's about science - not politics.



On 22 Oct 2009 at 16:27, LaMontagne, Bob wrote:

Yes they are misinformed, but it's misinformation from both sides. The anti-human-induced-global-warming crowd is touting the decade long decrease in temperature we are experiencing. But no numbers are given. The cooling of the past ten years is more than made up for by the larger warming over the preceding 10 years. Then we have the pro-human-induced-global-warming crowd equating a decrease in polar ice with flooding of low lying cities - and a supposed threat to polar bears to boot. They don't mention that the polar ice is floating ice (and that polar bear populations are actually growing).

The non-experts (which even most scientists are) are fed scanty or incorrect information. The best they can do is to look at the motives of the activists on both sides. So it's really not a matter of belief - it's a guess as to which side is scamming the public the least. The general public is pretty good at determining that - given enough time.

Bob at PC

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Tarara
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 1:43 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Poll shows fewer Americans "believe" in global warming

While Bob is right here, the real problem is that the common man is really
ill-informed. If their information is coming primarily from TV (which is
the norm), it doesn't much matter if they are watching the networks, MSNBC,
or FOX News, they are getting little data and mostly the political views of
the stations. I have searched for unbiased video on Global Warming and it
is hard to find. The best is now almost 10 years old from a NOVA/FRONTLINE
collaboration (What's Up with the Weather), and the more recent 'Heat' is
OK, but largely the view of a single reporter. I've seen nothing worse than
Gore's film (OK--the 'Swindle' film is maybe worse), but overall the problem
is that the common folk don't watch PBS, HISTORY, or DISCOVERY even if they
had good stuff (and a lot is) on. My students are barely aware of these
stations.

So, IMO, the problem here is that people really haven't been exposed to the
data. Their 'beliefs' are largely based on snippets from the news shows and
highly tainted by political and economic viewpoints.

It is, again IMO, sad that people don't recognize that the Earth is warmer
than it has been in quite a while, but as another note points out, what
people are probably actually responding to is whether they believe the earth
has warmed due to human activity. There are plenty of reputable scientists
that still have their doubts on that one--including a lot of people on
PHYS-L and TAP-L which you discover whenever the topic comes up.

Rick (New energy software almost ready--software the emulates the old
Energy/Environments Simulator from Montana State in multiple student
inputs.)

***************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
******************************
Free Physics Software
PC & Mac
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
*******************************


----- Original Message -----
From: "LaMontagne, Bob" <RLAMONT@providence.edu>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Poll shows fewer Americans "believe" in global warming


The general public does not use the word BELIEVE in the the sense of
religious-like belief. What word would you use? People are not so dumb as
to interpret BELIEVE in the absurd sense that you are trying to pin on
them. They know full well that they are being asked if the evidence that
they have encountered in the papers and on TV has convinced them of
warming or cooling or whatever.

It's elitist to have such disdain for the common person. They usually have
a better sense of what's going on around them than activists who see
everything with blinders on.

Bob at PC

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
[mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Marty
Weiss
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 1:11 PM
To: Chemistry Education Discussion List; Physics and Society D-L; Phys-l
(physics educators' list Physics Educators
Subject: [Phys-l] Poll shows fewer Americans "believe" in global warming

"The poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People &
the Press found that only 57 percent believe there is strong
scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few
decades, and as a result, people are viewing the problem as less
serious. That's down from 77 percent in 2006."

http://www.people-press.org
reported on Comcast News. Thursday, Oct., 22,2009

The interesting word here is BELIEVE. Poll Americans on evolution
and use the word BELIEVE and you would get lower numbers. Poll
Americans on " spherical earth", and use the word BELIEVE and I'd bet
you'd get 3 or 4 percent who believe the earth is flat. Poll the
public on " the spirit world" and use the word BELIEVE, and I'd bet
the numbers would be greater than for all the others I mentioned above!

The word BELIEVE is a dangerous word to use when asking someone about
a science topic. What does the word BELIEVE have to do with
scientific evidence through experimentation or direct observation?
Yet the public seems to hook onto this attitude in all topics having
to do with science! I think this is related to some of the most
recent discussions on these forums. Recall the most recent topics:
student attitudes, cheating and attitudeson cheating on chem ed-l
and the previous topic on phys-l: data, facts, and theory.
We can never prevent the laypeople (reporters) from using the word
believe when asking science questions; that's the nature of polling
and sensationalism in so-called news stories (is this actually
news?) They will always couch the question in the simplest, possibly
the most inaccurate terms possible. But, the publics' eyes glaze over
when a scientist explains a hypothesis in accurate, detailed terms.
It's a lot easier to ask someone, "Do you believe in Evolution?" or
"Do you believe there is strong evidence for global warming?" The
evidence presented by most scientists today and which is written about
in major papers doesn't seem to be sufficient to sway a lot of people
who would rather read a paragraph about some actress's latest trist
than plow through two pages of a news report on melting icebergs or
loss of a big chunk of Antarctica.
So what's a scientist to do? I don't have the answers; only the
big question: Can science ever make headway in educating the public
in light of the dumbing down of public attitudes and lack of science
education in general?


Marty
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Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
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_______________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l