After decades trying to drum up fear about the impending end of the world, top climate alarmist James Hansen has admitted that the public is becoming less convinced by the antics of the global warmongers.
Naturally, before doing so in a recent lecture, he had to trot out the mythical 'scientific consensus' notion, per this report from the Daily Telegraph:
Dr James Hansen, director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who first made warnings about climate change in the 1980s, said that public scepticism about the threat of man-made climate change has increased despite the growing scientific consensus.
Speaking ahead of a public lecture in Edinburgh this week, he admitted that without public support it will be impossible to make the changes he and his colleagues believe need to occur to protect future generations from the effects of climate change.
He blamed sceptics who are opposed to major social and economic changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for employing "tremendous resources" to undermine the scientific evidence.
Dr Hansen, who will receive the Edinburgh Medal at the Edinburgh International Science Festival, pointed to a number of controversies involving climate scientists, such as the leaked University of East Anglia emails, as being partly responsible for the shift in public opinion. [...]
"The science has become stronger and stronger over the past five years while the public perception is has gone in completely the other direction. That is not an accident."There is a very concerted effort by people who would prefer to see business to continue as usual. They have been winning the public debate with the help of tremendous resources. Who knows how the East Anglia email fiasco came about?
"There is a huge gap between the public's understanding of the situation and the scientific understanding. If the public doesn't understand, it is not going to happen. Political leaders are not independent of public opinion."
His comments come as recent surveys have revealed that public support for tackling climate change has declined dramatically in recent years. The British Social Attitudes survey published last year revealed that just 22 per cent said they are now in favour of green taxes compared to 31 per cent in 2000. Over a third said many claims about environmental threats were "exaggerated" compared to 24 per cent in 2000.
A recent BBC poll found that 25% of British adults did not think global warming was happening.
Not only is he wrong on the scientific question and lying about how there is more consensus than before (there isn't), Hansen is clearly wrong about the question of "tremendous resources." In actuality, it is the environmentalist movement which is the owner of large sums of money. Besides the billions that governments around the world spend to promote and study the idea that the earth is getting warmer thanks to humans, in the non-profit realm, it is the alarmist movement which has the cash, to the tune of hundreds of millions.
