The level of concern is nearly rock bottom

This is interesting in light of another source of data I came across today.

Hayhoe laments the public's lack of climate hysteria: "the level of concern is nearly rock-bottom" pic.twitter.com/XSNSrJXNP8

— Tom Nelson (@tan123) October 10, 2016

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Note that Elizabeth Kahn's concern is that there is freedom of speech which allows the American public to ask questions about a valid but contested hypothesis, i.e. anthropogenic climate change (global warming). A very totalitarian position to take it would seem. You get the sense that this is a matter of secular faith to Ms. Kahn rather than an empirical question to be tested and that the frustrating things is that people have the nerve to question her faith.

She seems to see this issue of free speech as a uniquely American failing. That's where the other data source comes in.

This morning I came across Global Issues from the UN. 9,700,000 people from across the world who have identified which are the issues of greatest importance to them. You can see the results by gender, by age, by education attainment level, by type of country (Low, Medium, High, and Very High levels of development.)

The sixteen options are:

A good education
Better healthcare
Better job opportunities
An honest and responsive government
Affordable and nutritious food
Protection against violence and crime
Access to clean water and sanitation
Support for people who can't work
Better transport and roads
Equality between men and women
Reliable energy at home
Political freedoms
Freedom from discrimination and persecution
Protecting forests, rivers, and oceans
Phone and internet access
Action taken on climate change

Not only are those the options, but those are the options in order of priority by all 9,700,000 participants.

Seems like for the whole world, the "the level of concern is nearly rock-bottom." Nothing to do with the dreadfulness of free speech or the pigheadedness of Americans. Nobody thinks that climate change is a priority.

If you are an adherent of anthropogenic climate change religion, I think it is hard to realize just how much skepticism the faithful's actions generate. The constant rejiggering of data, the leaked emails showing the efforts to hide results, the documented efforts to suppress alternate views, the extravagant and unsupported claims, etc. All those behaviors, even for keen conservationists such as myself, lead one to question whether this is actually a scientific endeavor or whether it is simply a massive scam.

The above listing isn't an anomaly. Virtually every demographic discounts the importance of climate change. Males and Females, Old and Young, the highly educated and the lesser educated - all rank it at the very bottom or next to bottom of concerns. Only one demographic ranks global climate change in the top ten (at tenth position) of concerns - those in Highly Developed Countries. In other words, this is a rich man's indulgence.

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You can search by individual country as well. For the US, climate change actions are also in tenth place in terms of concerns.

It is not that Americans, or anyone else, is ignorant of climate change. I think there are two factors at work - 1) there are more immediate concerns of greater tactical and strategic importance and 2) climate change advocates have not been able to separate themselves from all other blatantly self-interested groups. They come across as scammers doing a hard sell in order to enrich themselves and gain power over others. The US has invested hundreds of billions in regulations and laws, to improve the environment, to protect the environment, save wildlife. The will is there to sacrifice for identifiable and believable goals. Climate change advocates simply have not mustered the credibility to exceed that low bar.