{"id":350051,"date":"2024-11-03T16:15:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=350051"},"modified":"2024-11-03T16:15:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:15:29","slug":"claim-weather-disasters-are-fuelling-climate-denial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=350051","title":{"rendered":"Claim: Weather Disasters are Fuelling Climate Denial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of psychologists have claimed fear drives deniers to reject the truth. But they ignore evidence academic groupthink hysteria is the real \u201cclimate crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time to freak out? How the existential terror of hurricanes can fuel climate change denial<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: October 30, 2024 11.40pm AEDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie Goldenberg<\/a> Professor of Psychology and Area Director, Cognitive, Neuroscience and Social Psychology, University of South Florida<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily P. Courtney<\/a> Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of South Florida<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Hart<\/a> Professor of Psychology, Union College<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As TVs across Florida broadcast the all-too-familiar images of a powerful hurricane headed for the coast in early October 2024, people whose homes had been damaged less than two weeks earlier by Hurricane Helene<\/a> watched anxiously. Hurricane Milton was rapidly intensifying<\/a> into a dangerous storm, fueled by the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s record-breaking temperatures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, many people deny that climate change<\/a> is a worsening threat, or that it exists at all. As its impacts grow more visible and destructive, how is this possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One answer lies in a unique facet of human psychology \u2013 specifically, in how people manage the fear aroused by existential threats. For many people, denying the existence of a climate crisis is not only convenient, but may feel psychologically necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terror management theory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pulitzer Prize-winning anthropologist<\/a> Ernest Becker put it this way<\/a>: \u201cThe idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else \u2026 to overcome it by denying it in some way is the final destiny for man.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terror management theory predicts that individuals whose ideologies conflict with environmental concerns may ironically double down on those beliefs to psychologically manage the existential threat posed by climate-related disasters. It\u2019s similar to how mortality reminders can lead people to engage in risky behavior, such as smoking<\/a> or tanning<\/a>. Hurricanes may reinforce denial and commitment to a worldview that rejects climate change.

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/time-to-freak-out-how-the-existential-terror-of-hurricanes-can-fuel-climate-change-denial-242390<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What saddens me about such articles is the alarmist academics who write them never seem to publicly admit to the possibility they got it wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because there is plenty of evidence the climate crisis narrative is simply Western academic mass hysteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strongest evidence for hysteria and groupthink is all the academics from outside the North American and European sphere of influence who are sounding the alarm on the lack of supporting evidence for alarmist climate claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My name is Yonatan Dubi, I am a professor of chemistry and physics at Ben Gurion University, Israel. I am also one of Israel\u2019s leading advocates for rational environmentalism and climate realism. Together with a few colleagues we have conducted a very nice research, detailing and quantifying the flaws in the famous consensus study by Lynas et al, which (falsely) claimed the ridiculous 99% consensus. After a year long journey, our paper was finally published in the peer reviewed journal Climate, the link is\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2225-1154\/11\/11\/215<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Mark Lynas ‘99% Consensus’ on Climate Change – Busted in Peer Review.<\/a><\/blockquote>