With the increase in Climate Change awareness in the past decade, the number of those who deny its existence, has also risen. These individuals, known as “climate deniers” or “climate skeptics” hold a range of different explanations for why they believe climate change is fake. In this article, we will examine some of the most popular arguments and debunk them as well in hopes of possibly changing some minds.

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  In an article by the University of Hull in England, Professor Mike Rogerson helped to disprove many of the claims made by climate skeptics. One of the most used arguments skeptics use to justify their climate change denial is that “climate change is a cycle”. To this claim Professor Rogerson says, “[The] problem with natural cycles is that people look at too small a sample size,” says Mike. “A cold winter in the USA doesn’t disprove climate change. Did you check to see how hot it was in Asia at the same time? We need to look globally and for longer than the last couple years we remember.”  This exact assertion was also brought up in meteorologist Roy W. Spencer’s (a scientist who does not believe climate change was caused by human activity) 2014 blog post, “Top Ten Good Skeptical Arguments” in which he compared the 2003 Europe heatwave to the medieval warm period and questioned why only the 2003 heatwave had global significance. The Guardian very simply answered this question by stating that the medieval warm period was regional whereas, in 2003, the entire global temperature was much warmer. To sum this all up, while the earth does have a natural cycle of going through periods of heat and then periods of extreme cold, the speed and abruptness with which the earth has warmed in the past few decades are much greater than ever recorded.

       Another popular claim made by Climate Skeptics is that how do we know that it’s manmade? To answer this question is relatively simple, the intergovernmental panel on Climate Change published “Summary for Policy Makers” in 2021, in which they listed out all the statistics laid out by their climate model which calculates the extent of heating with and without human activity. With evidence collected from observed increases in mixed greenhouse gas since around 1750 (the industrial revolution began at around 1760) to the retreat of glaciers since the 1990s, the IPCC concluded all of them were most likely to be affected by human activity, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.”

  While it is a good habit to analyze new information with a critical eye, ignoring facts and statistics laid out by about 97% of scientists is pure ignorance. Whether it’s fear or whatever else that leads to denial, one should always try to be open to learning new information on topics they might not agree with and reading the arguments countering their claims before making a solid conclusion.

Works Cited

“3 charts that show how attitudes to climate science vary around the world.” World Economic Forum. Web. Aug 27, 2022 <https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/climate-science-global-warming-most-sceptics-country/>.

Figure SPM.1.Print.

“Five climate change myths.” France 24. -10-28T02:36:17+00:00 2021. Web. Aug 31, 2022 <https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211028-five-climate-change-myths-1>.

Summary for

Policymakers.Print.

“Top Ten Good Skeptical Arguments « Roy Spencer, PhD.” archive.ph. -05-01T18:52:01Z 2014. Web. Aug 31, 2022 <https://archive.ph/2qB74>.

“Why people still believe climate change is fake… and why we know they.” Web. Aug 27, 2022 <https://www.hull.ac.uk/special/blog/why-people-still-believe-climate-change-is-fake-and-why-we-know-theyre-wrong.aspx>.

” Study suggests civil action is increasing public awareness of climate change.” UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Web. Aug 31, 2022 <https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/news/study-suggests-civil-action-increasing-public-awareness-climate-change>.

Image credits: 

By National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7540927