Climate Change
Climate change misinformation, denial and skepticism
Those who question the scientific consensus that climate change is happening as a result of human actions include a range of voices and perspectives:
- Respected scientists (often estimated at approximately 3%) who have expressed skepticism that current data is sufficient for making conclusive decisions.
- Some fossil fuel industry representatives, and researchers whose studies are designed and funded by these groups
- Some conservative, small government advocates who are opposed in principle to the large scale governmental actions that climate activists call for to respond to the threat.
- Individuals who receive their information from misleading/uninformed news and social media sources
- Individuals who respond to frightening or unpleasant news with defense strategies such as denial
- Conspiracy theorists who maintain that "global warming hysteria" is a hoax designed to forward the goals of a "deep state" clandestine network.
Survey data from Yale Program on Climate Communication indicates that as of Fall 2023, 11% of the American public is "doubtful" about climate change and 11% is "dismissive."
To find web sites representing the more extreme views of climate change denial or skepticism, search for the terminology used by these groups:
- global warming (or climate change) scam
- global warming (or climate change) hysteria
- global warming (or climate change) alarmist
- global warming (or climate change) myth
- global warming (or climate change) hoax
- global warming (or climate change) junk science
See below: the politics of climate denial; the psychology of climate denial; academic studies on climate denial; and resources for debunking climate denial myths.
Photo source: https://www.newsweek.com/should-climate-change-deniers-be-prosecuted-378652
Politics of climate denial
Merchants of Doubt : how a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming by Call Number: Cascade and Sylvania Libraries 174.95 O73m 2011
- Merchants of Doubt"Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, MERCHANTS OF DOUBT takes audiences on a satirically comedic yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin." 93 minutes
- Frontline: Climate of DoubtIn 2008, climate change was a hot issue and politicians from both sides seemed poised to act. A few years later, the climate issue had cooled considerably. Politicians either ignore it or proclaim their skepticism. What’s behind this massive reversal? FRONTLINE exposes the organizations that fought the scientific establishment to shift the direction of the climate debate. 53 minutes
- How to Spot—and Help Stop—Climate MisinformationFrom Natural Resources Defense Council, April 2022
- The New Climate Denial: How social media platforms and content producers profit by spreading new forms of climate denial2024 report from The Center for Countering Digital Hate.
- The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial Risking civilization for profit, ideology and ego.From Paul Krugman, opinion piece for the New York Times, Nov. 2018
- How the fossil fuel industry got the media to think climate change was debatableFrom the Washington Post, Jan. 2019
- COVIDeniers: Anti-Science Coronavirus Denial Overlaps with Climate DenialFrom DeSmog, an award-winning blog on global warming disinformation.
The Gospel of Climate Skepticism : why evangelical Christians oppose action on climate change by Call Number: Southeast Library 363.738 V45g 2019
Miseducation : how climate change is taught in America Worth, Katie, author. by Publication Date: 2021Library ebook and print book about how American children are being misinformed about climate change.
Example of climate change denial:
"Climate ‘Emergency’? Not So Fast" published in the conservative magazine National Review, April 2021, by Dr. Richard Lindzen and Dr. William Happer. Both are respected scientists labeled as contrarian for the very high bar they set to accept that a scientific consensus has been reached. For example, Dr. Lindzen also claims among other things that lung cancer is weakly linked to smoking, and Dr. Happer denied that the ozone hole causes risks.
Psychology of climate change denial
- Climate Change Denial—Facing a reality too big to believeFrom Psychology Today, Jan. 2019
- Bill Nye's Global Meltdown"Bill Nye, the famous science guy, is feeling down. He's visiting his therapist—Dr. Arnold Schwarzenegger—wondering why he just doesn't feel like himself. He feels as if a horrible weight is on his shoulders, and life seems so empty, so meaningless. The therapist listens sympathetically, and diagnoses the cause: Bill is suffering from grief. Climate change grief. And the first stage of loss is denial." 44 minute video
Minding the Climate : how neuroscience can help solve our environmental crisisCall Number: Southeast Library 612.8 D84m 2022Publication Date: 2022Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime shows how we can retrain our neurons to value behaviors that counteract climate change.
Don't Even Think about It: why our brains are wired to ignore climate change by Call Number: Southeast Main Collection 551.6 M37d 2014Publication Date: 2014-10-09
The Madhouse Effect : how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy by Call Number: Rock Creek Main Collection 363.738 M36m 2016Publication Date: 2016-09-27
What We Think about When We Try Not to Think about Global Warming by Call Number: Ebook and Sylvania Main Collection 155.915 S76w 2015Publication Date: 2015-04-03
Academic studies of climate denial
This graphic provides a comprehensive taxonomy of climate contrarian claims. Source: Coan, Travis, et al. “Computer-assisted Detection and Classification of Misinformation About Climate Change.” SocArXiv, 9 Mar. 2021.
- Ideology and the Narrative of Climate SkepticismFrom the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), Dec. 2019
Debunking climate denial myths
How to Confront Climate Denial: literacy, social studies, and climate change by Call Number: Sylvania Library 363.738 D36h 2022
- NASA Global Climate Change—Frequently Asked QuestionsClear answers to frequent questions, including from skeptics and deniers.
- Reality Drop, from The Climate Reality ProjectResponses to 110 myths, broken into categories: "It's not happening": "It's not us"; "It's not bad": and "It's too hard."
- 10 common myths about climate change—and what science really saysArticle from CBS News, 2020
- How to Spot—and Help Stop—Climate MisinformationFrom Natural Resources Defense Council, April 2022