[Vision2020] "Cultural Cognition", not Stupidity

[Donovan Arnold]

Paul,
 
I don't think it is a question of intelligence, I think it is a question of marketing their product, "Stop Global Warming". It is a horribly run campaign that appeals to only the most far left political thinkers. I believe that more moderate and conservatives would agree to help stop global warming if it was re-branded and geared to their values and interests. 
 
If you want to motivate people to act, you have to appeal to their immediate self interests, not just an ideal distant goal of saving a tree frog in the Amazons or polar bears in Alaska. There are numerous things the government can do. It needs to use a carrot and stick, not just a big branch and loud voice. For example, pay people to use public transportation. It sounds crazy, but it would seriously reduce congestion, fuel consumption, health problems, accidents, and generate more disposable income for many families. Require gas stations to have tire pumps and remind drivers how it saves them to have a fully aired tire. It could also use the stick, put a 25 cents tax on each plastic or paper grocery or retail bag used. People would remember to bring their own and reuse. Imagine all those plastic bags out of our or oceans. The same could be done for soda and plastic water bottles. 
 
There are thousands of little things that could be done that would both improve economical and personal interests of a consumer and be kinder on the planet at the same time. 
 
I do believe that every generation for thousands of years understood it was their duty and responsibility to God and their children to ensure that they leave this planet as they found it or better.  Somehow, for some reason, many people feel this is no longer their responsibility. A generation that leaves the planet worse than it found it is a generation that has failed.
 
Donovan J. Arnold
 
 

From: Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com>
To: Ron Force <rforce2003 at yahoo.com> 
Cc: Moscow Vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] "Cultural Cognition", not Stupidity



Reading about the climate change debate is like looking through some sort of stained glass window.  I guarantee you that they wanted to show that AGW skeptics are less scientifically literate than the AGW proponents.  When that failed, they blamed it on their politics.  They are more scientifically literate, but their cultural cognition is causing them to latch on to only those facts that fit their beliefs.  It couldn't possibly be that the AGW proponents are doing the same thing, it has to be only the skeptics that are throwing away valid scientific arguments to meet their world view.  It couldn't be that skeptics have valid scientific criticisms, because they are going against the consensus and the consensus *has* to be right. If the skeptics show their skepticism even after "97 of 100 climate scientists agree that man is causing climate change", then they are simply denying what everyone knows is true despite their greater scientific literacy. 
 Especially if they mouth off about how unscientific polls of climate scientists actually are.

The idea that man is causing the majority of the warming has become the new story of the Garden of Eden.  Mankind used to live in a blissful state, at one with nature, until we threw away our purity in the name of corporate greed and burned all the oil.  Only repenting that sin will lead back to a state of grace. It certainly can't be that this narrative is in any way shaping the political climate (no pun intended) of this debate, which in turn is shaping what gets funded and what gets studied.  Potential natural climate cause?  Oh, we'll get to that when we're done trying to wrestle tree ring data into showing that it's warmer now than it's ever been, or trying to figure out how to classify climate change skepticism as a disease.

Paul

On 05/29/2012 01:29 PM, Ron Force wrote: 
May 29, 2012
>Study rules out stupidity as a cause of disbelief in climate science
>And the Yale research published today reveals that if Americans knew more basic science and were more proficient in technical reasoning it would still result in a gap between public and scientific consensus.
>>Indeed, as members of the public become more science literate and numerate, the study found, individuals belonging to opposing cultural groups become even more divided on the risks that climate change poses.
>>Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study was conducted by researchers associated with the Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School and involved a nationally representative sample of 1500 U.S. adults.
>>"The aim of the study was to test two hypotheses," said Dan Kahan, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School and a member of the study team. "The first attributes political controversy over climate change to the public's limited ability to comprehend science, and the second, to opposing sets of cultural values. The findings supported the second hypothesis and not the first," he said.
>>"Cultural cognition" is the term used to describe the process by which individuals' group values shape their perceptions of societal risks. It refers to the unconscious tendency of people to fit evidence of risk to positions that predominate in groups to which they belong. 
>>The results of the study were consistent with previous studies that show that individuals with more egalitarian values disagree sharply with individuals who have more individualistic ones on the risks associated with nuclear power, gun possession, and the HPV vaccine for school girls.
>via www.enn.com
> 
>
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