Why Is There So Much Skepticism About Climate Change?

There are a lot of people who are still skeptical about the reality of climate change despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that has been provided. There is much public sensitization about climate change but the big question is “why are

people skeptical about climate change?” This article will highlight some of the reasons why there is still much skepticism about climate change.

To begin with, most climate change skeptics are bound by their ideologies rather scientific facts. There are some people who hold conservative views and therefore convincing them to accept that climate change is a reality becomes difficult. This type of people will always interpret scientific facts based on their conservative views. Biased assimilation of information can make people to oppose certain realities in life. The fact that they are driven by their political ideologies rather than scientific facts means that they will always be skeptical about anything that may seem to threaten their ideologies.

Those who are in charge of educating members of the public about climate change should help in separating politics from science. Research findings have shown that worldviews and political ideologies have a great influence on the kind of positions people take on scientific topics. A perfect example of this is when climate change was greatly disputed by the majority of Republican politicians during the US midterm elections that were held in 2010.

 

The scientific facts about climate change may be similar but their interpretation is always different. The source of climate change information may also determine whether people will be skeptical or not. If the people do not trust the communicator then it automatically means that they will not trust the message. An example of this is when a campaigner communicates a message that is very contrary to their ideologies. It is this lack of trust in communicators that has also made many people to continue being skeptical about the reality of climate change.

The people who are known to dispute the existence of climate change should not be used to pass pro-climate change messages because the information will definitely fall on deaf ears. Politicians should stop using sensitive topics such as climate change in their political battles because important facts may end up being lost.

It is important to have a very sober discussion about climate change for the opposing issues to be analyzed within a clear frame of mind. Many people are aware of all the scientific facts about climate change but their ideologies and sources of information that can not be trusted are some of the reasons why they will always be skeptical about climate change.