The Denver Post’s online polls often are silly, but one from April 28 is especially ridiculous:
Did you observe Earth Day?
Absolutely – Every day is Earth Day
Yes – Took part, vowed to live greener
Sort of – Accidentally got involved this year
No – Meant to, but didn’t
Never – Don’t believe in climate change
Of the five responses, the first four imply support for the motives and political goals of Earth Day, while the last response describes a position that no actual person holds.
The Post would be hard pressed to find a single person who does not “believe in climate change.” Anyone with at least an elementary education understands that, in the past, the earth’s average temperature has alternated between ice ages and warming periods.
The three main issues in contention are these: does global warming pose a significant problem within the coming decades, is modern global warming significantly impacted by human behavior, and what, if anything, should be done about it?
For what it’s worth, here’s my reply to the Post’s poll: “No, because I disagree with the environmentalist movement’s bias against human industry and its advocacy of socialistic reforms.”
“The climate changes every day” — nope, that’s the weather. The climate characterizes the average weather over a long period of time, typically years.
Climate has changed over long periods, e.g., ice ages, but there might be some people, such as creationists, who don’t believe that the climate changes. There are people who believe the earth is flat.
Still, I share your frustration both with polls that never seem to have the right options and with politicians and intellectuals that never seem to have them.
Thanks to the previous comments, I edited the post. I was momentarily thinking of “climate” in too broad of terms. The objectionable lines that I cut follow: “The climate changes every day, with temperatures dropping often dramatically every night. Much of the earth is also subject to significant seasonal climate changes.” Sorry about the dumb error! However, my broader point remains valid. By the way, I suspect that practically all self-described creationists at least admit to climate changes in the Middle Ages.
I saw that poll and had the same reaction as you had. The post has the worst polls, but that one was really bad.