Fossil Fuel Powered Anti-Science Climate Denial

Despite a spate of solid peer reviewed science indicating that our current trajectory is "catastrophic," Americans are not worried about climate change. There are at least two primary reasons, the first has to do with the nature of climate change itself and the second has to do with the influence of powerful forces in the old energy economy.

At the end of 2013 a Gallup survey found that only 24 percent of Americans worry a great deal about climate change. Fifty-one percent of them worry about it very little or not at all.

Part of the problem is the fact that the leading cause of climate change (CO2) is invisible and its most devastating impacts will take place in the future. People are not exposed to the suffering it will cause and to make matters worse, we feel powerless to anything about it.

The other half of the denial equation concerns the devious efforts of powerful interests who stand to benefit from delaying political action as long as possible. They have used their limitless wealth to muddy the waters of climate science.