Poll results here.

The Hockey Schtick: Scientific American Poll: 81% think the IPCC is Corrupt, with Group-think & Political Agenda

It showed that 25% of those questioned did not think global warming was happening, an increase of 10% since a similar poll was conducted in November.

The percentage of respondents who said climate change was a reality had fallen from 83% in November to 75%.

The poll, based on a sample group of 1,001 adults, was conducted by Populus.

The findings, based on interviews carried out on 3-4 February, show that only 26% of people think “climate change is happening and is now established as largely man-made”, only 1% more than those who think there is no global warming.

In November 2009, a similar poll by Populus – commissioned by the Times newspaper – showed that 41% agreed that climate change was happening and it was largely the result of human activities.

“It is very unusual indeed to see such a dramatic shift in opinion in such a short period,” Populus managing director Michael Simmonds told BBC News.

“The British public are sceptical about man’s contribution to climate change – and becoming more so,” he added.

“More people are now doubters than firm believers.”

BBC News website: Climate scepticism ‘on the rise’, BBC poll shows

[In the PROVE IT! gallery, 3408 people chose to count in and 626 chose to count out. On the website, 2650 users counted in and 7612 counted out.]

Adding up the final figures given by “The Science Museum” for voting at the Museum plus voting online, you get grand totals of;
IN vote (pro IPCC) = 6058
OUT vote (sceptics)= 8238

Then if you click on “statement” below, you see a page editorialising the failure of the public to be concerned about “climate change.”

H/T Warwick Hughes

Science Museum: close your climate change show

The museum’s patronising poll against global warming ahead of Copenhagen has played right into the sceptics’ hands

Read on, and snigger!

The revelation that ministers have failed in their campaign to persuade the public that the greenhouse effect is a serious threat requiring urgent action will make uncomfortable reading for the Government as it prepares for next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen.

Only 41 per cent accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Almost a third (32 per cent) believe that the link is not yet proved; 8 per cent say that it is environmentalist propaganda to blame man and 15 per cent say that the world is not warming……..

Global warming is not our fault, say most voters in Times poll

Only a quarter of people believe that climate change is the most serious problem that the world faces, according to a poll for The Times.

The finding suggests that the public is unconvinced by the Government’s message that climate change is “the moral issue of our times” and that we must embrace urgently a low-carbon lifestyle.

The Times: Widespread scepticism on climate change undermines Copenhagen summit

Even more interesting than the result, though, is the Thunderer’s appalled reaction. In a leader that might have been easily have been written by the Great Moonbat himself, the Times quite simply refuses to accept that the growing band of sceptics may have a point. Instead, it accuses these ‘deniers’ of being idiots:

It is possible that the collective expertise of brilliant scientists could be wrong. The best minds in the world once held a geocentric theory of the solar system. Before the discovery of sub-atomic particles they believed that everything was made of earth, air, fire and water. Right up to the 19th century, serious scientists wrote recipe books for making animals. But no previous process of scientific trial, error and progress has ever overturned such a well-attested thesis. Lord Rees has reminded us that we now live in a global village and it is, he pointed out, probably inevitable that there will be some global village idiots.

The Times’s approach is not unlike that of a Marxist theorist berating the bourgeoisie for their “false consciousness”; or indeed, a Eurocrat deciding that when sovereign nations keep voting “No” in Euro referendums it doesn’t mean that the EU is an oppressive and unpopular construct but that the voters need working on a bit harder so that they come to the correct “Yes” conclusion next time. It is, in fact, another perfect case of what Jonah Goldberg calls Liberal Fascism.

It is also an example of just how increasingly out-of-touch the MSM is with the views of the wider reading world. Recently, the Times launched a poster campaign boasting that it offered more extensive eco coverage than any other newspaper. Some of the claims made on these posters – such as the one about the North East passage being used as a commercial shipping route for the first time (when actually it has been used since 1934) – have been shot down by the excellent Andrew Orlowski on The Register.

But even if these claims were true, are wall-to-wall horror stories about impending man-made eco-doom really what readers of the quality newspapers want to read these days? My suspicion is not. I’m presuming that the audience which reads and comments on blogs isn’t totally different from the one that reads newspapers in print form. And if that’s the case, then the MSM’s obsession with AGW is looking increasingly out of date.

If you don’t believe me, check out the comments below one of George Monbiot’s columns, or indeed, either of the two Times articles listed above. Commenters who take the Al-Gore-approved line are vastly outnumbered by commenters who believe the whole AGW thing is a load of crock.

And it will take a bit more than bullying accusations that they’re “idiots”, I suspect, to swing them round.

James Delingpole in The Telegraph: 59 per cent of UK population are ‘village idiots’ thunders The Times

90 per cent of motorists say they don’t feel guilty about driving their cars, just one of the survey findings conducted by autocar.co.uk.  Despite being taxed increasingly punitively by the government and indoctrinated otherwise by much of the mainstream media the survey respondents feel that cars are here to stay and to be used.

The defiant assertion comes as part of the results to Autocar’s ‘A Future with Cars’ reader survey, conducted on Autocar.co.uk earlier this month. As part of it, more than 400 readers shared their opinions on cars, alternative fuels, carbon dioxide and emissions-related taxes.

The last in the series of ‘A Future with Cars’ articles, which inspired the opinion poll, is published in Autocar magazine today.

“The government is making unrealistic assumptions that it will somehow be able to price cars off the road to combat congestion and C02 emissions.  However motorists are not going to give up their personal transport, it’s far too important to them, but our research reveals they will look at replacing their vehicles when the time is right with more efficient models. 

“The government must look at tax benefits for motorists driving greener cars but not penalise motorists for driving the cars they currently own. With the economic climate many motorists will be delaying changing their vehicle.  The government must work with the industry in encouraging the design and development of the cars needed to solve the congestion and emissions problems facing the world today”, said Chas Hallett, Autocar editor.

More than 40 per cent of respondents to the survey also said that, although they accept that cars do contribute to global warming, other contributors should be a higher priority for environmental campaigners.

Some 61.7 per cent said law-makers were wrong to increase purchase tax on high CO2 cars.

Readers’ views on alternatively powered cars were just as interesting. A remarkable 45.1 per cent of respondents believe that lighter cars, with more efficient petrol and diesel engines, have greater potential to check rising carbon emissions than fuel cell cars, all-electric cars or plug-in hybrids.

There’s plenty of optimism left for the average British motorist, it seems: nearly 90 per cent of respondents expect the car ownership experience in 20 years time to be broadly similar to how it is now.

And finally, it seems that you’re much more likely to be sceptical about global warming the older you get; 54 per cent of respondents over the age of 54 said they don’t believe in the link between carbon dioxide emissions and rising planetary temperatures, compared with only 15.4 per cent for those under 25.

Ends

A Future with Cars: Full Reader Poll Results
1.  Do you feel guilty about driving your car?
Yes – 11.2%; No – 88.8%

2.  Has your level of guilt changed since reading Autocar’s ‘A Future with Cars’ article series?
I feel less guilty – 2%
I feel more guilty – 1.2%
I feel the same – 46.2%
I haven’t read them – 50.6%

3.  Which statement best describes your attitude toward cars and climate change?
Cars are causing catastrophic climate change and we should seriously consider their environmental impact before buying and using them – 2.5%
Cars are contributing greatly to global warming and need to be radically overhauled soon – 16.5%
Vehicle emissions are a minor contributor to climate change, but other sources of man-made CO2 emissions present a greater risk to the planet –
40.5%
I’m more concerned about NOx, particulates and other harmful tailpipe emissions than I am by carbon dioxide – 12.6%
I don’t believe in the link between man-made CO2 and global warming – 27.9%

4.  Rank of global CO2 contributors:
63.9% of voters correctly put ‘energy generation’ top
39.5% of voters correctly put ‘domestic consumption’ in 3rd position
30.9% of voters correctly put ‘car emissions’ in 4th position

5.  How important are CO2 considerations when buying a new car?
49.6% of voters put it last (7th), behind Performance and Dynamics, Value for money, Reliability, Fuel economy, Practicality, and Dealer Service (in that
 order).

6. Are law-makers right to increase purchase tax on high CO2 cars?
Yes – 38.3%
No – 61.7%

7.  Which policies would you most like to see encouraged?
More supply-side fiscal measures imposed on industry – 37.9%
Greater investment in low-emissions tech development schemes – 30.9%
An international carbon trading scheme established – 26.5%
More duty on fuel and tax on high carbon cars – 4.6%

8.  What’s a sustainable level of CO2 emissions for cars?
Current level – 30.7%
160g/km – 14.1%
120g/km – 19.1%
100g/km – 18.9%
40g/km – 10.3%
Zero – 6.8%

9.  Which of the following’s got the greatest potential to bring emissions down?
Lighter, more efficient petrol and diesel cars – 45.1%
Fuel cell cars – 14.5%
Electric cars – 13.3%
Plug-in hybrids – 10.3%
Hydrogen-fuelled combustion-engined cars – 8.8%
Second-gen biofuels – 5.5%
CNG, LPG or Ethanol – 2.5%

10.  Will we still own and drive cars, as now, in 20 years time?
Yes – 89.5%
No – 10.5%

11.  Age spread of voters:
26 to 35 – 30%
36 to 45 – 22.1%
46 to 55 – 17.9%
17 to 25 – 15.9%
56 to 65 – 9.4%
66 or older – 3%
16 or younger – 1.7%

12.  Geographic spread of voters:
South-east England – 17%
Greater London – 11.9%
Outside UK – 11.6%
The West Midlands – 9.6%
Southern England – 8.6%

For further information and to receive the full survey results please contact:

Karen Parry
Autocar PR
0208 267 5553  /  07903 955 696

karen.parry@haymarket.com
karen@prandmediaworks.com

Autocar magazine is published weekly by Haymarket Magazines Limited. Launched in November 1895, it’s the world’s original motoring title, and currently has an average readership in the UK of 337,000 per issue and over one million worldwide. Autocar is first with news, comment, scoops and motorsport, and is read by an exclusive audience of enthusiasts and car buyers. Visit http://www.autocar.co.uk/

The truth according to Autocar

Cars are not the primary source of man made C02.  They are responsible for about 10 per cent of it.

Using cars is as legitimate – ethically and morally – as any other human activity that generates C02 – such as taking holidays, playing sport, using domestic appliances or heating a home.

Every C02 molecule however it is released, has an identical impact on climate change.

Car produced C02 is not a special case and should not be treated punitively in fiscal terms under the guise of limiting climate change as happens today.

Cars today emit about 130g per passenger kilometre, compared with 100g for buses and 40-80g for trains.  This will drop to 40-50g over time, at which point cars will be no worse than other modes of transport.  Planners must recognise this.

Cars will not disappear when the oil runs out.  They will have evolved to use sustainable sources of energy.  The Stone Age did not end because the planet ran out of stone.  We simply invented a better technology.

26 November 2008

Roger Pielke Sr has an essay online from Anne Henderson-Sellers who surveyed the IPCC lead authors shortly after completion of the AR4. There are lots of interesting quotes about their private doubts about the quality of models, their ironclad convictions about what the right answers are, the sense that what they really need to do is improve their political advocacy, and so forth. But what caught my attention was this paragraph:

In some places there is an (unhealthy?) fear of mis- (or out of context) quoting by global warming “deniers”. We are hesitant to stress comments such as “the Fourth Assessment Report missed doing this owing essentially to the timelines that were arranged.” Another interesting example of this fear is that the original suggestion was to entitle the Sydney workshop, “What did the IPCC get wrong?” This proposal was quickly squashed in the corridors of the World Meteorological Organisation lest the anti-greenhouse lobby picked it up and repeated it as criticism of the IPCC.

This attitude infects the whole IPCC organization. They can’t admit any errors or problems with their work lest their critics find out (as if we didn’t already know). So they cover it up, stick to the script and even squash the idea of asking what they got wrong. I suppose there are other organizations that operate this way, just none that one would trust.

Adapted from a comment by Ross McKitrick at Climate Audit. ]]> http://climateresearchnews.com/2008/10/essay-by-ann-henderson-sellers-what-ipcc-authors-really-think/feed/ 1 http://climateresearchnews.com/2008/10/another-uk-green-tax-poll/ http://climateresearchnews.com/2008/10/another-uk-green-tax-poll/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:21:43 +0000 paul http://climateresearchnews.com/?p=165 A PoliticsHome Phi5000 poll commissioned by the TaxPayers’ Alliance panel found:

An overwhelming 74% of the public now believe that “Politicians are not serious about the environment and are using the issue as an excuse to raise more revenue from green taxes”, up from 63% in August 2007. The number of people with faith that politicians are using green taxes for the right reasons has fallen from 20% to 14%. A majority of every party’s supporters hold this view: Conservative (87% : 6%); Lib Dem (63% : 20%); Labour (66% : 24%), as do floating voters (74% : 8%). This explains why the Conservative Party is rapidly backing away from their “pay as you burn not pay as you earn” tax strategy.

TPA: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/

The Guardian: ‘British Public unwiling to pay for climate change bill’

Excerpt:

“However more than seven out of 10 of the nearly 2,000 people questioned said they were unwilling to pay higher taxes to combat environmental issues, and a similar number believed the green agenda had been “hijacked” to increase taxes.”

“Public confusion was also a result of having a debate which was too “narrowly” focused on pitting the environment against economic wealth and other issues, said Tom Compton, change strategist for environmental group WWF.”

Must be a sign of the current crazy times we live in – common sense is now regarded as ‘confusion,’ and aren’t the WWF supposed to be the World Wildlife Fund!?