Why does it seem like ultra-conservative American Republicans make up for 90% of the AGW denier camp?

Follow the money.....

I'm willing to be that 100% of the politicians who still deny global warming exists or that we should do something about it have ties to the coal and oil industries. They need to raise lots of money to run for reelection, and if those funds from oil or coal companies get pulled, they're gonna have a hard time winning!

It's not a matter of intelligence or morality. There are smart and good people at every place on the political spectrum.

The dictionary definition of conservative includes "tending to oppose change", and the definition of liberal is "open to new ideas for progress". Conservatives see global warming as something that, if admittedly real, requires change to a significant part of their lives (energy affects virtually everything in modern society). Sadly, this creates an inherent bias against looking at the science.

Another big part of the problem is the far-right media empire that's developed over the past few decades. Their very existence (and the tons of money they make) is based on fear. They stoke up their audience injecting fear that the "liberals", "environmentalists", or some other imagined bogey-man is trying to take their money or freedom. With a Republican president and a GOP controlled legislature (until 2006), other bogey-men had to be put forth in order to keep their audience listening. Global warming, and it's obvious association with environmentalism and Al Gore, was an easy choice.

It's unfortunate, that many smart conservatives seem unable to come up with creative solutions (that don't take away freedom or break the bank) to deal with global warming. Instead, they choose to deny it's reality and leave the problem for future generations.

First I think it's important to be fair to Republicans - the majority accept the reality of AGW.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Au3ak...

However, you're also correct that almost all AGW deniers are conservative, and in fact usually ultra-conservative. There are many reasons why this is the case.

1) Ultra-conservatives tend to be greedy and self-centered. They don't care if the climate will be screwed up after they're dead, but they do care if a carbon tax will raise their gas prices.

2) Ultra-conservatives tend to have a lack of respect for science. They're often strongly religious (i.e. religious right) and already have a fear of science from the evolution vs. creationism debate (which they lost).

3) Ultra-conservatives are afraid of government, and AGW requires government action (i.e. carbon cap and trade system).

The same question could be asked, but in reverse.

Why do 90% of liberals believe in AGW or GW? Is the connection because liberals are generally unhappy with anything that they cannot control, so they attempt to pass laws or regulate?

Take some personal responsibility for the world around you, do what YOU can to help. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

I like nature just as much as the next guy, I drive a high mpg car to save gas, I walk to a store 2 blocks away for groceries.

But I won't rely on a handful of people to tell me that everything is getting warmer when my own personal experience tells me that where I live is getting colder, or when people start to make $$$ and win awards for their 'work'. Or when celebrities take the stand of 'do what I say, not what I do'. And, for the most part, any AGW or GW believer is a hypocrite in my opinion.

Also I believe it's issue driven politics:

More than 30 years ago political scientist Anthony Downs discerned what he called the “issue-attention cycle,” a five-stage process by which the public and especially the news media grow alarmed over an issue, agitate for action, generate piles of scary headlines, and then begin to draw back as we come to recognize that the problem has been exaggerated or misconceived, and the price tag for action comes in. While Downs thought that the issue-attention cycle for the environment would last longer than most issues, it appears the mother-of-all-environmental scares -- global warming -- is following his model and is going to begin to fade like other environmental alarms of the past such as the population bomb and the “we’re running out of everything” scares.

Bob said:

"Many (most?) thoughtful conservatives acknowledge the reality of antropogenic global warming."

Who? Newt Gingrich and a few others? That sure sounds like most...

Oh and Netidol, you have any evidence to back up that 90% figure?

Maybe another unsubstantiated claim would be: Why does it seem like the liberal American democrats make up 90% of the AGW believer camp.

Edit:

Ken said

"The dictionary definition of conservative includes "tending to oppose change", and the definition of liberal is "open to new ideas for progress". Conservatives see global warming as something that, if admittedly real, requires change to a significant part of their lives (energy affects virtually everything in modern society). Sadly, this creates an inherent bias against looking at the science."

Sadly, the dictionary isn't the best place find the definition of a political ideology. You see, this is an energy issue for most conservatives, not a GW one. We want renewable energy, we want to be energy independent, we want more efficient farming practices, we want our society to work well with nature, but we want all the transition to such to be rational and properly planned. Most of the rest of what you say is just ridiculous conservative bashing and bordering on conspiracy theories.

Netidol,

It is not that I deny the likelihood of such a figure, I was hoping for your question to be phrased in a less blatantly biased type of way, like say: "Why has the issue of AGW become a partisan issue?"

Edit:

Dana said:

"Ultra-conservatives tend to be greedy and self-centered"

This is a ridiculous generalization. Are you racist too?

Define..ultra-conservative American Republicans

What do you mean by "has to adopt this position". Never knew I was forced to adopt a theory because of my political beliefs. I prefer to call my beliefs ideological.

Maybe because we are not sheep is why we question many things. including AGW. Most intelligent people right or left are able to discern between mights and maybes and data and logical intepertation of that data.

Because Global Warming is a POLITICAL issue first and scientific guessing second , which proves a very important point i have been trying to make for a while. Glad to see you have finally come around.

Many (most?) thoughtful conservatives acknowledge the reality of antropogenic global warming.

Many are ticked at their more extreme colleagues for giving conservatives a bad name over this issue.

"Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich challenged fellow conservatives to stop resisting scientific evidence of global warming"

"National Review (the most prestigious conservative magazine) published a cover story calling on conservatives to shake off denial and get into the climate policy debate"

just like the far left radical democrats are the 90% of the AGW scammers

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/articles/hansen...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.vie...

because they are democrats.

peers my peers are all with me on global warming being a scam.

I am NOT a republican, and I DIDN"T vote for G.W. Bush!! I personally think he will go down in history as the worst president EVER!! Having said that, I think global warming is a giant hoax! At least it's not caused by man, or fossil fuels. If you actually do some research you will find that the earth has gone through long cooling periods, and long hot periods through out history. Many scientists agree that we are in fact still in an ice age. An ice age is defined as when polar caps have ice on them, and last I looked, there is still ice there. And if it does all melt away, thats just the earth going though cycles. Man has nothing to do with it. If we try and reverse it, it will do much more harm to the environment. We have much more concerns in this world than global warming. Turn off the sundance channel & CNN...put down the water bong and do a little research on your own.