October 25th, 2009
Global warming? No, no, no, it ain't me, babe
“It ain’t me you’re lookin’ for [to blame], babe.” –Bob Dylan
We Americans can be a self-righteous bunch. You and I didn’t get those hefty Wall Street bonuses for peddling weightless paper to investors. I didn’t even pressure my foreclosed former neighbor into taking a mortgage he couldn’t afford. I’m sure neither of us had anything to do with Madoff bilking billions of dollars. And I certainly never thought it was a good idea to spend hundreds of billions to invade and occupy Iraq, even though the late Saddam Hussein was a nasty piece of work. And now it’s clear that we are not even to blame for global warming, even if it’s real. It’s somebody else’s fault. Maybe all those worthless wildebeest farting their way across the savannah in East Africa.
While global warming draws protests elsewhere we self-assured Yanks are not having any of that guilt trip. Most of us do not think we’ve done anything to cause global warming…if it does exist. There’s even a decrease in the number of Americans who think it could be a serious problem. Relax, you can still see Miami from the plane window.
Now 57% of Americans actually confess they believe there’s strong evidence for global warming, not as high as the number for gravity, but ahead of most surveys on evolution. I can safely say nearly all Americans, surveyed or not, believe money is real. Go figure.
Now the latest Pew survey shows just over a third of Americans think human activity, like burning coal or gasoline, contributes to global warming. The rest of us know it’s not me, babe. There, we’ve absolved ourselves, and can move on to fixing Afghanistan or not, to stopping drug abuse or not, to even getting a lighter and cheaper laptop.
The Pew survey confirms the highly political nature of global warming beliefs in America. Republicans doubt it, making Senator Imhofe (R-Oklahoma) proud. He leads the doubt-GW contingent in the U.S. Senate. Democrats believe, meaning his party still supports Obama’s intentions of getting some action out of Congress while Dems have big majorities in both houses. Independents are split almost evenly with a slim majority still clinging to a belief that global warming is supported by evidence.
So clearly greentech companies will need to move toward “save you money” marketing, away from “save the planet.” Hey, babe, it ain’t me that can save the planet.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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