Faith, belief and climate change

I recently had an online "argument" with a friend of a friend.  This occurred in one of those ubiquitous social networking sites that can really suck you in if you let them.  I would not have continued engaging said friend of a friend without be egged on by my friend, but I do have to wonder if any progress was made.

In short, this was a discussion that encapsulated the climate change argument.  I argued on the side of science, this friend's friend argued on the side of "it's bogus."  Literally.  First it's bogus because it's not real.  Well, there is consensus amongst climate scientists.  That's bogus because they left out scientists that are skeptical.  Well, the discussion and skepticism currently focus on how much of an effect and how soon are things going to fall apart.  That's bogus because they are all computer models.  Well, there are measurements, real effects observed in nature....and on and on.  Finally we both got tired and seemed to agree to disagree although I am left with the feeling that, as with the debate fomented by religiosos about evolution, this was an exercise in butting my head against a faith-based wall.  But this person was not spouting your traditional faith-based rhetoric about how a deity will save us or that this is the end of the world.

So what is the faith that supports this unyielding belief that climate change is not real in spite of overwhelming evidence and in spite of brilliant people working hard to understand and communicate the issue?  My gut reaction is that it is fear.  Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of being helpless, fear of losing money, fear of losing jobs.  If I am right, and fear is the root motivator of the anti-climate change group, then isn't that ironic?   The way I understand it, it is also fear that motivates climate scientists and climate change actions.  Because what is more frightening than drowning a huge part of Bangladesh and having to figure out how to help all of those people?  What is more frightening than the prospect of many US coastal communities being affected?  What about water supplies shifting and moving?  If the prospect of climate change is too scary to even begin to believe, why doesn't that spur people to avoid the possibility of it coming to fruition?  Even if we ignore ecosystems, wildlife and ancient cultures that are extinguished, isn't the possibility of that kind of economic disaster a big enough motivator?

Questions, more questions...and I haven't even gotten to the point of my original title for this post.  I guess I'll save that for another time.