For the professional deniers it’s called Denial for Profit, and for the amateur deniers its about self interest, regulation fobia, ideology/politics, religion, tribalism and cognitive biases.
Lets explain first why amateur deniers deny the science of climate change:
Key words: self interest, regulation fobia, ideology/politics, religion, tribalism and cognitive biases.
Public divisions over climate change stem not from the public’s incomprehension of science but from a distinctive conflict of interest: between the personal interest individuals have in forming beliefs in line with those held by others with whom they share close ties and the collective one they all share in making use of the best available science to promote common welfare.
The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks
Having an understanding of the world and your place in it — an understanding shared by your tribe — feels like safety. It feels like control. Questions that unsettle that understanding are instinctively treated with skepticism or outright hostility.
For most people, most of the time, social bonds matter far more than any particular bit of knowledge, any fact or belief.
This is especially true when it comes to the kinds of things defined as political “issues,” like inequality, climate change, and other societal risks, which tend to be somewhat abstract and distant from daily experience. Most people don’t have settled, coherent opinions on issues at all, just bits and bobs they’ve picked up from their tribes. They certainly don’t have enough invested in issues to warrant risking their tribal ties on behalf of particular beliefs.
Most people will settle for their parochial, inherited tribal beliefs most of the time. Humans gonna human.
This one weird trick will not convince conservatives to fight climate change
Displacement »is a psychological defense mechanism used to get rid of feelings, experiences or knowledge we experience as uncomfortable or as a natural consequence that we need to do extravagant things, such as paying more for gasoline or turning off the floor heating in the bathroom .
When think tanks and fossil fuel front groups started to lobby for the fossil fuel self interests 30 years ago, the first thing they did was to camouflage those interests as an anti government anti regulation anti tax ideological anti socialist "struggle".
They connected their audience’s underlying ideologies to climate change: Because cutting GHG emissions requires intervention regulation or increased taxation of carbon emissions—that curtail free market economics, people whose identity and worldview centers around free markets became particularly likely to reject the findings from climate science when the logic was laid bare.
ThIS 30 year + old disinformation campaign by fossil fuel funded think tanks and front groups have naturally duped many deniers into thinking the petroleum industrys self interests are about them.
A paper earlier this year from Vanderbilt University pinpointed what motivates many who choose to reject climate change: not science denial, but “regulation phobia”. Most deniers accept science in general, and even pride themselves on their science literacy, however, combatting climate change means more regulations and, the paper says, “demands a transformation of internalised attitudes”. This, the authors conclude, “has produced what can fairly be described as a phobic reaction among many people”.
"It’s not surprising that high-profile deniers are almost exclusively conservative white men, since they have most benefited from the industrial capitalist system, and therefore have the most skin in the game when it comes to protecting the powers that be — even if they aren’t those powers."
[...] “conservative white males are likely to favour protection of the current industrial capitalist order which has historically served them well”. It added that “heightened emotional and psychic investment in defending in-group claims may translate into misperceived understanding about problems like climate change that threaten the continued order of the system.”
Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States
Climate change denial strongly linked to right-wing nationalism
What the study likely highlights is that nationalism in itself strives against "globalism".
Nationalism is often a conservative ideology, and most conservatives see efforts to combat rapid anthropogenic climate change as a politically 'liberal' thing.
The joint effort to combat rapid anthropogenic climate change requires international cooperation, and plenty of nationalists who believe in "one world government" conspiracies find such cooperation as evidence for such conspiracy - when supranational entities rule national affairs.
To lose sovereignty is the complete opposite to nationalist ideals, so it's no surprise a lot of nationalists doubt climate change.
Climate change denial strongly linked to right-wing nationalism
Conservatives and Liberals are wired differently. Conservatives are more likely to base their beliefs and opinions on fears and anxieties. Fear and Anxiety Drive Conservatives' Political Attitudes. Since most conspiracy theories play on people’s fears, conservatives are much more likely to buy into them. Of course there aren’t conspiracy theories that liberals buy into as well, but you will find that many of those ‘liberals,’ actually lean libertarian which is a conservative ideology. They may wish for a clean environment, economic equality and world peace, but their mistrust of people and institutions that share those goals and actually work towards them, which is driven by paranoia and fear leaves them supporting a conservative, libertarian agenda by default.
Fear and Anxiety Drive Conservatives' Political Attitudes
It’s not just by chance that climate change denial is particularly widespread in countries that have an entrenched fossil fuel industry.” In addition to directly funding politicians, the industry also spends heavily on supporting scientific research that spreads climate disinformation.
_______________________________________________________________
WHY THE PROFESSIONAL DENIERS DENY. (THEY ARE CALLED PROFESSIONAL BECAUSE THEY KNOW AGW IS TRUE)
When think tanks and fossil fuel front groups started to lobby for the fossil fuel self interests 30 years ago, the first thing they did was to camouflage those interests as an anti government anti regulation anti tax ideological anti socialist "struggle".
They connected their audience’s underlying ideologies to climate change:
Because cutting GHG emissions requires intervention regulation or increased taxation of carbon emissions—that curtail free market economics, people whose identity and worldview centers around free markets became particularly likely to reject the findings from climate science when the logic was laid bare.
This dates back to the late 1980s when it became pretty clear that there was no persistent Soviet threat. Conservatives needed a new bogeyman, and they found it in the environmental movement. “Green is the new Red,” became a common phrase in the conservative magazines of that era. Rather than suggesting that America strip away protections designed to keep air and water clean, commentators and pols railed against controls on less visible threats, like pesticides, ozone holes, and global warming. Cries for environmental regulation were twisted into calls for socialism and the end of economic progress.
The science was not politicized until the implications of doing something about it were realized by those who saw a harmful side of doing so to their particular concern. That usually involves big money but also becomes a threat to ideologies which abhor government interference into free market capitalism. Effective global warming intervention necessarily requires that the governing bodies of the world unite in the effort in a comprehensive and coordinated way.(Russel Swan)
The Oil industry does not want to give up it’s cash cow.
CONTINUED READING IN THIS LINK: