Joining the Parade
First there was the Time magazine cover. Then USA Today ran a week-long series on the subject. Then Al Gore's slide-show-cum-movie hit theaters nationwide, and his book hit the bestseller list. And now, the latest manifestation of the trend: Global warming will be the subject of the cover story in this weekend's Parade magazine: The scientific consensus on human-caused global warming has finally gone mainstream.
The popular Sunday supplement, which has a circulation in excess of 30 million, will carry the cover line, "How Climate Change Affects You Right Now" over a photo of a sweat-soaked businessman mopping his brow with his tie. Given the usual celebrity-obsessed fare in Parade, you might expect the actual article to be, well, a hack job. Actually, the story is written by respected science writer and author, Eugene Linden and all indications are that it's the real deal.
So, what does it all mean? For some time now, people on this side of the climate "debate" have been talking wistfully about reaching a "tipping point" in terms of popular opinion on global warming -- the same tipping point Frank Luntz alluded to in his now-infamous memo to Republicans back in 2003, when he opined that, "Should the public come to believe the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly." Well, sure enough, even Luntz himself admits the tide has turned. As the pollster recently told the BBC: "It's now 2006. I think most people would conclude that there is global warming taking place and that the behavior of humans are (sic) affecting the climate."
Have we, then, reached the political tipping point? Well, clearly not everyone has joined Parade in the march of reason. Many industry front-groups and so-called "think tanks" are still stubbornly insisting that climate change is some massive hoax masterminded by ... well, by whom it's not clear -- evil forces of some sort or other. Their numbers are fast dwindling however, and it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the times they are indeed a-changin'.
The popular Sunday supplement, which has a circulation in excess of 30 million, will carry the cover line, "How Climate Change Affects You Right Now" over a photo of a sweat-soaked businessman mopping his brow with his tie. Given the usual celebrity-obsessed fare in Parade, you might expect the actual article to be, well, a hack job. Actually, the story is written by respected science writer and author, Eugene Linden and all indications are that it's the real deal. So, what does it all mean? For some time now, people on this side of the climate "debate" have been talking wistfully about reaching a "tipping point" in terms of popular opinion on global warming -- the same tipping point Frank Luntz alluded to in his now-infamous memo to Republicans back in 2003, when he opined that, "Should the public come to believe the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly." Well, sure enough, even Luntz himself admits the tide has turned. As the pollster recently told the BBC: "It's now 2006. I think most people would conclude that there is global warming taking place and that the behavior of humans are (sic) affecting the climate."
Have we, then, reached the political tipping point? Well, clearly not everyone has joined Parade in the march of reason. Many industry front-groups and so-called "think tanks" are still stubbornly insisting that climate change is some massive hoax masterminded by ... well, by whom it's not clear -- evil forces of some sort or other. Their numbers are fast dwindling however, and it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the times they are indeed a-changin'.
5 Comments:
Lest we get too cocky, Ann Coulter's latest screed is #1 on the the NYT hardcover bestseller list.
I don't think anyone's getting cocky -- it's fair to note that this issue wasn't getting this kinda coverage from these kinds of magazines even a year ago...
this is a trend worth noting.
It does seem that we've turned a corner. I think most people now take anthropocentric climate change for granted. Which is good. But now the next challenge. What do we do about it?
I HEART ANN COULTER!!!! Would she make a great pscyhological study or what??
The people who listen to the Coulters and the Limbaughs and the O'Reillys ... I wonder -- are they unreachable? Is there any hope for real change if we can't get through to the likes of them?
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