In a recent poll, it was found that only 41% of the American population believe that the world is being harmed by climate change today, despite there being a scientific consensus that climate change is a proven matter of concern (Wike). Why do such large number of Americans reject the scientific consensus on climate change? There is a widespread misconception that there is a disconnect between scientists on the climate change issue, however the actual disconnect is between the public opinion and the scientific consensus. Is politicization negatively influencing a possible public consensus on climate change? I argue that climate change is the single most polarized and politicized issue in America and through my own research, I will demonstrate
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In the book “Merchants of Doubt,” authors Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway discuss how the Republicans argue that there is no scientific consensus on climate change and that they try to present the issue as an ongoing scientific debate, when actually it’s a political one. The Republicans refer to the environmentalists and climate specialists who published articles on the scientific consensus as “watermelon communists,” and accuse them of having selfish reasons for publishing false information. Even though various scientific researches have proven that the Earth is deteriorating and temperature is rising more and more by the years, they still maintain that the cost of doing something about it can ruin the society, and that is what the environmentalist want. They ignore the current environmental degradation and support the current economic society and the manufacturing industries. The media constantly covers such false accusations and political debates, which in turn influence the minds of the public regarding climate change since people, are heavily influenced by their reference groups and individual psychology (Oreskes and Conway). Thus, this again proves that climate change is constantly being politicized which is …show more content…
Modern societies have been swayed by political communications due to the political debates which are so heavily sensationalized. It makes people aligned to certain ideologies to act in a particular manner that may deviate from the norm, despite them having a premeditated knowledge and an understanding of the matter in hand, which overall ends up having a negative impact on the public consensus of climate change. The manner in which political orientation and political debates are sensationalized is the main reason that the public conceive certain issues wrongly, which is what is happening in the case of climate change, as I argue.
Besides this, the politicization of climate change can be analyzed from the perspective of post politics. The political choreographing of climate change is one of the dominant arenas through which a post-political frame and a post-democratic political configuration has been mediated among the public. The particular way in which the current environmental condition
In the book “Merchants of Doubt,” authors Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway discuss how the Republicans argue that there is no scientific consensus on climate change and that they try to present the issue as an ongoing scientific debate, when actually it’s a political one. The Republicans refer to the environmentalists and climate specialists who published articles on the scientific consensus as “watermelon communists,” and accuse them of having selfish reasons for publishing false information. Even though various scientific researches have proven that the Earth is deteriorating and temperature is rising more and more by the years, they still maintain that the cost of doing something about it can ruin the society, and that is what the environmentalist want. They ignore the current environmental degradation and support the current economic society and the manufacturing industries. The media constantly covers such false accusations and political debates, which in turn influence the minds of the public regarding climate change since people, are heavily influenced by their reference groups and individual psychology (Oreskes and Conway). Thus, this again proves that climate change is constantly being politicized which is …show more content…
Modern societies have been swayed by political communications due to the political debates which are so heavily sensationalized. It makes people aligned to certain ideologies to act in a particular manner that may deviate from the norm, despite them having a premeditated knowledge and an understanding of the matter in hand, which overall ends up having a negative impact on the public consensus of climate change. The manner in which political orientation and political debates are sensationalized is the main reason that the public conceive certain issues wrongly, which is what is happening in the case of climate change, as I argue.
Besides this, the politicization of climate change can be analyzed from the perspective of post politics. The political choreographing of climate change is one of the dominant arenas through which a post-political frame and a post-democratic political configuration has been mediated among the public. The particular way in which the current environmental condition