'Global Warming' Scarier Than 'Climate Change,' Surveys Find

[OneCrazyDiamond]

Source: Live Science

Americans are more concerned about the changing planet when the words "global warming" are used than when they hear "climate change," new research finds.

The two terms are often used synonymously, but new surveys reveal that they carry different connotations for many people, particularly African Americans, Hispanic Americans, liberals and people between the ages of 31 and 48. Republicans see the two terms as more or less equivalent, but Democrats, political independents, liberals and moderates are more likely to express concern about "global warming" than "climate change."

"The studies found that the two terms are often not synonymous — they mean different things to different people — and activate different sets of beliefs, feelings and behaviors, as well as different degrees of urgency about the need to respond," the researchers wrote in a report released today (May 27)

...

Fifteen percent of Americans reported feeling "very worried" about global warming, versus 9 percent about climate change, and 38 percent reported feeling that global warming would harm them, compared with 30 percent who felt personally threatened by climate change. Twenty-nine percent would take action against "global warming," compared with 23 percent who would fight "climate change."

Read more: http://www.livescience.com/45896-global-warming-scarier-climate-change.html

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Twenty-nine percent would take action against "global warming,"

[TreasonousBastard]

1. It's growing-- not fast, but it's growing.

[truthisfreedom]

2. When will the grownups take over this situation?

When do we drum the jokers and deniers out of office?

[Uncle Joe]

3. Global warming is a more accurate macro term, for what the underlying problem is.

Global warming is the disease whereas climate changes are the symptoms.

I wouldn't be surprised if these terms were poll tested by the corporate media and as climate change sounded more benign, they changed the language instead of educating the people.

Thanks for the thread, OneCrazyDiamond.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

4. Copy That

[seabeckind]

6. I read a pdf link some years ago about it

wiki has the gist of it.

Although Luntz later tried to distance himself from the Bush administration policy, it was his idea that administration communications reframe "global warming" as "climate change" since "climate change" was thought to sound less severe. Luntz has since said that he is not responsible for what the Bush administration did after that time. Though he now believes humans have contributed to global warming, he maintains that the science was in fact incomplete, and his recommendation sound, at the time he made it.

In a 2002 memo to President George W. Bush titled "The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America", obtained by the Environmental Working Group, Luntz wrote: "The scientific debate is closing [against us] but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to challenge the science.... Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate, and defer to scientists and other experts in the field."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz

Added: If you don't get upset easily, Mother Jones has the memo on line (thanks, google):

http://www.motherjones.com/files/LuntzResearch_environment.pdf

[Uncle Joe]

7. Here is a little more enlightening information about Luntz.

Refusal to release poll data[edit]In 1997, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, of which Luntz was not a member, criticized Luntz for refusing to release poll data to support his claimed results "because of client confidentiality". Diane Colasanto, who was president of the AAPOR at the time, said

“ It is simply wanting to know, How many people did you question? What were the questions? We understand the need for confidentiality, but once a pollster makes results public, the information needs to be public. People need to be able to evaluate whether it was sound research.[27] ”

In 2000 he was censured by the National Council on Public Polls "for allegedly mischaracterizing on MSNBC the results of focus groups he conducted during the [2000] Republican Convention."[28] In September 2004, MSNBC dropped Luntz from its planned coverage of that year's presidential debate, saying "[W]e made a decision not to use focus groups as part of our debate coverage. This decision had nothing to do with Frank's past work or politics." Luntz disagreed, believing that MSNBC "buckled to political pressure" from activist David Brock.[29]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz

However my previous implication regarding the corporate media's willingness shed their journalistic integrity and change a fundamental scientific term more for partizan reasons than for merit still stands.

No doubt Luntz informed them that climate change was a more benign sounding term than global warming and they lapped it up like puppy dogs drinking a bowl of warm milk.

[daleanime]

5. kick, kick, kick.....

[tclambert]

8. It's climate catastrophe now thanks to the delaying tactics of Big Oil

The Greenland ice sheet will melt, and the West Antarctic ice sheet. If we stop burning all fossil fuels by this afternoon, it's still too late. If we do nothing, like we've been doing for the last 25 years, the East Antarctic ice sheet will also melt. That will raise sea levels about 58 meters (190 feet). The good news is that it won't all happen in this century. The bad news is we're not even trying to stop it from happening.

Climate catastrophe.

[pitohui]

9. but it will happen to somebody else

if we have learned nothing else from this, we've learned that people do not really love their children or grandchildren -- at least not if the word "love" means "cares about what happens to them"

as a child of violence and abuse, i already knew this but i'm sorry other people have to learn this

there is something very wrong with human psychology