If it were 1962, and I were the Los Angeles Times, I'd use images like this to scare the daylights out of my readers with the idea that this very glacier is about to land on their head. Credit: Charlydamart/Dreamstime.com
A new poll by the Brookings Institute indicates that ignorance about climate science is skyrocketing. The Los Angeles Times words it slightly differently, but the idea is the same:
The latest in an ongoing series of studies by the Brookings Institute shows that the number of Americans who believe that the planet is warming is on the rise. Sixty-two percent of U.S. residents now believe in human-caused global warming, which is up from a low of 50% in spring 2010.
To the enduring credit of the Los Angeles Times writer, Dean Kuipers, weather is cited as the overwhelming reason for the shift in public sentiment. Kuipers even mentions how little science informs most people’s opinion on the matter: “In general, however, scientific studies weren’t high on the list of influences among people polled.”
This is terrible news for those who live on planet Earth, but great news for people like myself with reader-friendly books about climate science. I wonder how many respondents know that the American news media has been hawking climate terror for more than a century now? One of my all-time favorite climate-terror articles that I included in the book was actually published in the Los Angeles Times on December 23, 1962:
Like an outrigger canoe riding before a huge comber, the earth with its inhabitants is caught on the downslope of an immense climatic wave that is plunging us toward another Ice Age.
I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of language that would spur me to buy another newspaper — maybe a whole subscription! Speaking of buying things to read, have I mentioned my hilarious and well-priced book? I have? Have I mentioned that it’s available in paperback? Awesome! For less than the price of a week’s worth of the Los Angeles Times, you can be the best-informed person you know about climate change and, just like me, irritate the hey out of people at cocktail parties, Little League games, and basically everywhere you go. Seriously!
Talking About the Weather 
Nice site Mr. Ambler.
I read the post. Seems like an attempt to inflate a punctured tired.
Perhaps it is different here in Canada, but it seems to me the populace is simply tired of being afraid. One can only maintain an accelerated adrenalin level before becoming exhausted and numb.
The news hammers home daily/hourly how “terrible” the world and mankind are. Everything sensationalized. So where are these “wolves” we are supposed to be afraid of? They do not exist. Always on the horizon. Are there bad things in the world? Yes. Will we have hurdles to overcome? Yes. That is what my grandfather would call “life”.
Time to let the chicken littles prattle on to themselves, whilst the rest of us get on with it. See the MSM for what it is. I foresee good things ahead for mankind, but not without a good old fashioned roll up the sleeves and get it done work ethic. The world/future is what we make it.
Mr Ambler, I have just bought your book, Don’t Sell Your Coat. On page 101 you state that Texas covers 268,581 square miles and that this constitutes 13.2% of the US land area (3,537,441 sq.mi.) and 0.5% of the Earth’s surface (196,935,000 sq.mi.). Surely that should be 7.6% and 0.14% respectively. Also on page 82 you refer to the Island of Wight, that should read the Isle of Wight.
I am supremely grateful for your careful read and corrections. The Kindle and other eBook versions have already been corrected on the Texas issue. The paperback will be updated ASAP. The Isle of Wight problem is a great catch and the change will be made with the update to all future versions as well. Thanks again.