A recent BBC poll shows that there is a significant shift in the U.K. on whether climate change is happening and whether it is human-made. This is a warning sign for all of us.Any review of blogs, commentaries, YouTube and other social media will confirm that there is a broad and aggressive effort by right-wing climate change deniers to undermine public understanding of the science behind climate change.
So how do we respond to these denial claims? They range from simplistic rants to science-oriented spins. Do we all need to become amateur scientists to confidently respond?
We do need to become well-informed but we also need to know where to find the resources to back up our arguements and make references to.
Here are a few online resources but there are many more. Feel free to add others under comments. Deniers will be expunged. Use this information to copy and paste to friends, doubters and bloggers.
Websites
Skeptical Science: Getting Skeptical About Global Warming Skeptism
David Suzuki Foundation: Reports and Resources
Real Climate: Climate Science from Climate Scientists
American Association for the Advancement of Science
DeSmogBlog: Clearing the PR cloud that clouds climate science
Videos
Greenman's3610 Channel
Potholer54's Channel
Democracy Now video:
PR Executive James Hoggan on “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming”
Debating
Climate change deniers: failsafe tips on how to spot them
Answers Come There None - George Monbiot
How to talk to your friends about climate change
Online debating tips
Framing climate debate
Communicating Climate Breakdown
Analysis
The Psychology of Denial: Climate Warming Scam
The Politics of Climate Denial
Think-Tanks Take Oil Money and Use it to Fund Climate Deniers
Climate denialism and reasonable doubt
Climate Science Under Fire
"In the last year, I've seen climate change scepticism breed and multiply in British political debate. The misinformation and ignorance would be worrying in itself, but it's bound to eventually effect policy. It was prevalent in the US when Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto protocols. It was sufficiently prevalent for Saudia Arabia use it as a pretext for not doing anything to reduce emissions during the last Copenhagen round.
I'd urge you all, for our collective health, to push back against this cult where can find it: antidote it with fact, mock it with humour, point out the flaws in its conspiratorial premises, but above all to separate the science from the ideology.
Our lives could depend on it."
- Brit, Daily Kos
We must remember that there are limits to free speech. Many countries do not permit hate speech, such as denial of the Holocaust. Denial of climate change could result in even more deaths than that. There is a line that can be crossed here.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.selfdestructivebastards.com/2009/09/flat-earth-society-ain-so-bad.html
I've posted something on this also (http://wp.me/pv9fo-9n). I'm working on other replies to climate denialists (there are some in the left too!), so this is very helpful.
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