Truthiness in the Climate Change Debate

by Katherine Gustafson · 2010-01-06 06:00:00 UTC
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I just don't get it. Usually when you're convinced of something, it takes quite an argument to sway you the other way. How to explain, then, that the percentage of Americans who believe there is strong evidence of global warming has fallen 14 percent in the last year and a half? The Pew Research Center reports that the number was 57 percent in October 2009, down from 71 percent in April 2008.

So what convincing argument did all these people hear that made them suddenly stop believing that the world is in peril? The world is in danger! I'm convinced! What's that? You said that the world's not in danger after all? Well, in that case, never mind. No, that's okay, I don't need proof, I'll just believe you and hope for the best. I'm sure it will all work out fine.

What gives? It sounds like a lot of the people in this country are taking their cues from Stephen Colbert, who famously coined the term "truthiness" to mock those who rely more on hunches than facts and then treat their hunches like facts. "I'm not a fan of facts," he said on his comedy show The Colbert Report. "You see, the facts can change, but my opinion will never change, no matter what the facts are." The debate about climate change is starting to resemble a battle of facts versus opinion. It's a debate in which opinion is sure to win ground, since the truth is so inconvenient.

Image courtesy of Yodel Anecdotal via flickr

Katherine Gustafson
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