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Originally Posted by blankall
My view on this is that it doesn't take a genius to realize that burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment, regardless of beliefs on climate change. Anyone who's ever stood near a car exhaust, knows that what's coming out of there is harmful. Even before climate change became front and center, environmentalist groups were pushing a reduction in fossil fuels for reasons related to the ozone layer, acid rain, air quality, etc...
Anyone who claimed to be ignorant to air pollution, because an oil company was lying to them, is lying.
The issue once again is alternative options/technology and individuals sacrificing their own lifestyle.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
It's not like global warming or things like acid rain or consequences of world population growth were hidden by some dark oil cabal. It was taught in schools even decades ago, I remember it myself.
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This intuitive understanding of the dangers of pollution isn't nearly as strong as you seem to think it is. Most people have always had a base level understanding of "air pollution is bad", but have for the most part lacked a true deep understanding of the enormity of the problem and the looming consequences, both for the health of individual humans and for the well being of humanity as a whole.
Some of this stuff was taught in schools, and that's great and everything. But when you're a teenager going through school, that stuff mostly goes in one ear and out the other, as you have more pressing concerns such as exams, dating, etc. Then you hear your peers telling you not to worry about it because it's all a liberal hippie hoax... and guess what, chances are you're not going to be all that concerned about air pollution and the consequences thereof.
Public acceptance for things like a carbon tax, stronger fuel efficiency standards, and greater public funding for clean energy R&D has been lacking up until the past decade or so, and climate change denial is largely to blame. While it's true that people have largely prioritized their own personal lifestyles and material comforts over supporting climate action policies, it's rather dishonest to claim that climate change denial efforts haven't played a major role in shaping public opinion on this issue for decades.