Why do people keep referring to Global Warming as a theory?

[BushOut06]

Why is it that so many people continue to refer to global warming as a theory? Global warming is NOT a theory, it's been very well established and documented. It's happening RIGHT NOW. There are quantifiable results that show the earth is heating up. Not only that, but the facts bear out that the majority of global warming is directly related to mankind's activity. There IS no serious debate on this topic, nor should there be. The only people questioning this are those on the far-right, and those who have been bought off by the very people responsible for the global warming crisis.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. ...then, Bush's intelligence is a theory, the Surge is a theory,

Faux news having any value is a theory....we need to use language the the republics can understand.

[mmonk]

2. I guess the same way gravity is considered a theory.

[BushOut06]

3. I was actually going to put that in my post

Technically, gravity is considered a theory. But you don't normally hear people refer to it as the theory or gravity.

[POAS]

4. It is called a theory because

it has moved beyond the stage of being an untested scientific hypothesis.

Now that scientists of many disciplines have tested and validated much of what has been hypothesized and shown its validity it can now be considered a valid theory ready for further study and refinement.

Among the refinements now under consideration are things such as the extent to which humans have contributed and by extension how much we can lessen the effects of global warming by changing our activities.

[EST]

5. Rhetorical question, I'm sure.

The real argument comes from the tacit assumption on the rabid right wing is that money and power are everything. The end of the world, for them, is the loss of that wealth and power, while for us, the end of the world is much more physical and dramatic. There is no doubt that they will fight just as hard, or harder, to prevent the end of their world as will we, and they have the added advantage of one hell of a lot of stupid, lazy, "comfortable" people in the world who prefer the comfort of false assurance, though deadly, to the real, cruel truth that there are things desperately needing done and we, the people, are solely responsible for getting doing them

[Warren Stupidity]

6. You have bought the rightwing framing on the meaning of theory.

It is a theory because it is a falsifiable scientific hypothesis, just as evolution is, and therefore can be tested for validity. So far it is considered very valid and there are no serious scientific challenges to that validity, just like evolution.

[Selatius]

7. It's fine if they qualify it with "scientific theory" instead of just "theory"

"Theory" implies the lay definition of the word instead of the scientific definition of the word. The same holds true for Atomic Theory or the Theory of Plate Tectonics.

[Beelzebud]

8. Use the scientific definition of theory, not the right-wing whackjob version.

[Imperialism Inc.]

9. It is a fact and a theory depending on context.

If you are talking about describing the temperature data then it is a fact. There has been global warming. If you are talking about the explanation and the predictions it makes then that it is a theory. A well supported theory that we should all take seriously and do something about , but , yes, a theory.

[Kickin_Donkey]

10. For the same reason the anti-science idiots on the right ...

keep referring to evolution as a theory.

It's a way of denial. For those people, theory expresses doubt rather than fact. So they call evolution and global warming and stem-cell research "theories" to de-legitimize them.

[Prophet 451]

11. Two reasons

The answer depends on who's talking. If it's a scientist or academic talking, then they're probably using the word "theory" in it's proper usage and they're correct. In the proper usage, global warming is a theory. So is gravity, evolution and many others things.

The other group are those who do not want to admit that global warming exists and/or that humanity is primarily responsible for it. Generally but not always, they're politically on the right but often, they don't stand to make anything from denying it. About a week ago, Channel 4 here (the UK) showed a documentry called something like The Great Global Warming Swindle. Now, if you've heard the arguements of one person denying global warming, you've heard the contents of this show but what got me was the comments of the viewers. A couple of days thereafter, the government started debating "green taxes", the BBC, as usual, put up a comment board on the subject (for some reason, the comment boards are generally full of people to teh right of Tom DeLay) and literally 95% of the posters were those who'd seen the documentry and claimed it proved that global warming was a scam. They believe that not because the docu was especially convincing but because they want to believe it. They don't want to change their behaviour and they're frightened so they stick their heads in the sand.

I have two rules to life:
1) People will believe what they wish to believe or what they fear to be true.
2) Always bet on stupidity.
Those who continue to deny global warming simply disbelieve it because they want to. Believing it would mean either changing one's behaviour or pouring a lot of tax money into space exploration and colonisation. They don't want to do either.

[kikiek]

12. Here is a link that lays out the definition of a scientific theory. It has a

very different meaning than what most people understand it to mean. http://wilstar.com/theories.htm

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. "Theory" = "working model of how things work"

Scientists and educated people use the word "theory" to mean a working model of how things work, something that is open to revision as new data comes in. Ignoramouses (by which I mean ID supporters, neo-cons and Talibangelicals) misuse the word "theory" to mean a wild guess in direct violation of any supporting evidence.

I'd go with the scientists on this one.