Is it really happening and is it our fault?
Climate change sceptics generally fall into one of two camps, those who think that climate change isn't really happening and those who believe it is but its part of natural fluctuations in the earth’s temperature.
Here are some of their key arguments and counter points:
- “The urban heat island hypothesis”: Climate data is inherently unreliable because of where weather instruments are situated. Most are in urban areas and simply record increasing levels of heat in these specific areas caused by human activity. BUT a recent Met office study refutes this. It argued that if the hypothesis is correct you would expect the biggest temperature rises to come on calm nights as wind would blow excess heat from the city and the instruments. But there were no differences between the two.
- The earth has been warmer before. Current warming is simply part of a natural cycle of warming and cooling. During the last millennium temperatures in Europe were higher than they now are and the Arctic was warmer in the 1930s than it is today. BUT the reasons for warming then do not apply today. Current warming is a response to human activity on earth. Evidence for previous warming is patchy.
- Computer projections and predictions are unreliable. BUT it’s a simple way of understanding what’s happening. Their accuracy is improving and they are increasingly validated by empirical evidence.
- Climate is mainly influenced by the sun. Warming can be attributed to variations in the Sun’s magnetic field and solar winds. BUT the sun is not the only factor. The difference between the solar maximum over a 11 year solar cycle is 10 times smaller than the effect of green house gases over the same time.
- Rises in levels of CO2 come after a temperature rise not before. BUT historically this was the case but it doesn’t apply to today’s situation. The increase in CO2 is down to human activity and levels are higher than have been seen in 650,000 years of ice core data.
And some more slightly less rational:
- Scientists were wrong about the world being flat- why should we trust them now!
- We can’t predict the weather- so how can we predict climate change?
- Scientists are trying to scare us so they can secure more research funds!
This website works on an acceptance of climate change science. This is backed up by the IPCC’s statement that climate change is irrefutable. Explore the links to the side to find out more about sceptics arguments. Whether or not you accept climate change as a man made phenomenon the information on this website will hopefully still be of use.
Links
Logical science counter arguments to climate change sceptics
Climate change resistance challenges climate change orthodoxy
Skepticism.net blog examining media reporting on climate change
The great global warming swindle a documentary made by channel 4
An inconvenient truth background about Al Gore's climate change film