This all happened once before. A storm season or two roared onshore, average global temps ticked up, the ocean stopped effortlessly absorbing heat, and … nothing much came of it outside of the rise of the Internet know nothings on climate change. Back then of course Bush was in the WH, and Cheney’s energy cronies were running the show. It caused a big stir. But it’s like author Mark Bowen once told me, “You can argue about framing and soundbites all you want, but to get ledge passed that advances your cause means you have to win elections.”
LA Ties— Coming on the heels of this summer’s crop-withering drought in the Midwest and destructive wildfires in the West, Sandy provided a glimpse of what scientists say the nation can expect with global warming. Even before surging floodwaters choked Manhattan subway tunnels and left parts of the Jersey Shore in shambles, public acceptance of climate change was growing.
More than half of Americans now believe that climate change caused by human activity is occurring, and 58% say they are “somewhat” or “very worried” about it, according to a September poll by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
Wow! You’ll be telling me next more than half of Americans don’t believe in Santa Claus.
Interesting to me that the slope of the graph seems to increase in the ’70s — right around embargo time, if I remember aright.
Obviously, I don’t have the data in hand to verify. But, while it seems one could easily calculate a single slope for this, the Mk. II eyeball says things were fairly flat from the 40s through the 60s, then — contrary to common sense — bend upwards just when people begin to realize fossil fuels are a finite resource.
Coincidence? I think not.