Climate Change (old guide)
Climate change denial
Researching climate change denial
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 (approximately 3%) who have expressed skepticism that current data is sufficient for making conclusive decisions.
- Fossil fuel industry representatives, and researchers whose studies are designed and funded by these groups
- 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.
Here are some prominent climate skeptics:
- The 10 Most-Respected Global Warming Skeptics (from Business Insider)
- Top 10 Climate Deniers (from Before the Flood, National Geographic)
- The Climate Denier List (anonymous blog profiling deniers)
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) 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
Taxonomy of climate contrarian claims
Source: Coan, Travis, et al. “Computer-assisted Detection and Classification of Misinformation About Climate Change.” SocArXiv, 9 Mar. 2021.
Climate denial web resources
The Yale Climate Opinion Maps provides a comprehensive look at American opinions on global warming, including its causes and policy implications. The data can be viewed by region, down to the congressional district level. Interactive maps are available.
- Climate Change Denial - Facing a reality too big to believeFrom Psychology Today, Jan. 2019
- 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
- Here's what your mind is doing when you deny scienceFrom the Houston Chronicle, May 2018
- COVIDeniers: Anti-Science Coronavirus Denial Overlaps with Climate DenialFrom DeSmog, an award-winning blog on global warming disinformation.
- How the fossil fuel industry got the media to think climate change was debatableFrom the Washington Post, Jan. 2019
- Ideology and the Narrative of Climate SkepticismFrom the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), Dec. 2019
- Climate change denialWikipedia, frequent updates
- Computer-assisted detection and classification of misinformation about climate changeAcademic research article, published in SocArXiv Papers, 2021
Examples 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.
Debunking climate denial myths
- NASA Global Climate Change - Frequently Asked QuestionsClear answers to frequent questions, including from skeptics and deniers.
- Reality Drop, from The Climate Realty 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
Books and ebooks
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 2011Publication Date: 2015-02-26
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
Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions, and Everyday Life by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2011-01-01
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: Sylvania Main Collection 155.915 S76w 2015ISBN: 9781603585835Publication Date: 2015-04-03
Recommended viewing: "Merchants of Doubt" (52 minutes)
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. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver-tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities - yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change. View here.
- Frontline: Climate of Doubt (53 minutes)In 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.
- Bill Nye's Global MeltdownBill 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.