My wife noticed that it is going to be 46* here today. For one day...….She blamed "Global Warming". This is the kind of thinking that is out there. I just shook my head.
This is the same thinking that people use when they say 'look, lots of snow this year! Global warming (climate change) is a hoax!'
We all
know that you can't look at localized information and extrapolate to the general problem, but local events are what drive emotional responses. If you live in California and you see record droughts, your house gets wiped out by fires, etc. of course it's going to seem like climate change is real.
We all
know that we should find a trusted source or sources to examine the problem scientifically. But it's the emotional responses that drive decision-making. Should I trust this research, or that research? Is that research financially or politically motivated? Etc., etc.
Using the cigarette industry as a comparison, how many years did it take before the public believed the science that overwhelmingly proved cigarettes were extremely damaging?
Tobacco companies lobbied hard, did their own questionable research, and claimed in court that even though it was scientifically shown that pregnant smokers had smaller babies with increased health risks, that 'maybe some mothers want smaller babies.' They were economically motivated to protect their markets.
How long did it take to convince people how harmful 2nd hand smoke is?
How many people, at this point, dispute that cigarettes are terrible for health?
It takes time to convince people of things they 'know' to be true. The research will continue, and at some point it will overwhelmingly convince people that whichever conclusion they come to (whether man-made global warming is a thing or not) will be generally accepted.
I see lots of posts saying 'there's money in forcing people to move to alternative energy, all the climate change research is economically motivated!' No doubt there is money in any industry, including solar and wind.
There's also a bunch of money in the oil and gas (and coal to a lesser degree) industries to maintain the status quo and keep people burning fossil fuels for energy, so any research to the contrary could also be economically motivated. We have seen oil and gas companies lobby against and influence fuel economy standards.