A recent YouGov poll shows that a surprisingly high percentage of the well-educated parts of the world is lukewarm on catastrophic climate change. Not surprisingly, the mainstream media tried to put the opposite spin on it.

Poll Breakdown

The poll divided people into four categories: those who observed warming as A) mostly humanmade, B) partly humanmade, C) entirely natural, and D) there is no warming. When the mainstream media reported the findings, they categorized only C and D as “climate skeptic,” and consequently found quite low numbers.

The problem with this approach is that most climate skeptics belong to category B and even A. That is, the warming in the past century has been so small that even if all of it were due to human activity, it still is not enough to be cause for alarm. All the catastrophic scenarios assume that our impact is more than twice that observed but that there is some mysterious cooling factor masking the real warming. Typically, this is believed to be microscopic particles from fossil fuel burning called aerosols.

The bulk of climate skeptics believe that perhaps as much as half of the observed warming could be natural, and this makes the effect of CO 2 emissions so small that there is no cause for concern. Thus, it is more accurate to say that only group A captures most “true believers” like Greta Thunberg. The rest believe that climate change is not a significant problem.

Lukewarm Americans

The media’s spin on the poll is that a skeptic is someone who does not believe in any human influence on climate change or believes that the climate has not changed at all. With this strict definition, only 15% of Americans are climate skeptics. But 37% belong to category B, those who believe in lukewarm climate change. It is, therefore, more accurate to say that 52% of Americans do not believe climate change is a serious issue, while only 38% do. The rest is uncertain.

Education Gap

The poll becomes even more intriguing when comparing results internationally. Countries with a poorly educated population, like India, Thailand, or Vietnam, tend to believe strongly in human-made climate change. The most skeptical countries also tend to be among the most educated and well-developed. At the top of the skeptics’ list, we find the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, with 58%, 56%, and 53%, respectively, who either don’t believe in climate change or don’t blame it on humanity.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) insists that America should be looking to Scandinavia for inspiration due to its incredible human development. Apparently, those pesky Vikings do not take orders from the UN.

The poll finding goes against the narrative that is being promoted by the mainstream media. We are told that only uneducated rednecks and hillbillies question the eternal wisdom of the sages at the UN. The truth is almost the diametrically opposite. Climate skeptics tend to be educated laypeople who can think for themselves.

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