You may have heard that someone recently hacked into some climate scientists' emails, took statements out of context, and has been using them as "proof" that climate change is a hoax. And of course, this has been predictably dubbed ClimateGate (god forbid we have any originality in naming things).
Of course the far-right fanatics and zealots are having a field day with this. Most of the online comments I saw posted over on HuffPo were things like "Hey Gore, it's snowing here in Houston. Give your Nobel back." Once again, I shake my head in disbelief that people have no understanding of the actual facts on the issue.
So let's set the record straight, shall we?
Right Wing Talking Point #1: "It's snowing in Houston. So how can that be warming?"
The answer lies in the title: Global warming. Not location warming. The entire planet is heating up. And if you think just a couple of degrees isn't a big deal, just take a moment to think about how much energy it takes to heat the entire planet even just one degree.
This is why the current favored term is Climate Change. Because too many people, none of whom bother to read actual scientific literature, get confused over the concept of global warming vs. localized weather trends. These people also do not understand the difference between climate and weather (wiki it).
Right Wing Talking Point #2: "So what if the Earth gets warmer? Won't that mean better weather for everyone?"
No, it won't. It means more extreme weather. So whatever is the usual weather for a particular location, the trend will be towards more extreme variations: hotter summers, colder winters, wetter rainy seasons, drier dry seasons. More storms, more intense.
I'll presume my readers are intelligent enough that I don't have to point out the problems with melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and so forth. Those should be pretty self-explanatory by now. And if they aren't, google it.
Right Wing Talking Point #3: "The Earth has had many extreme fluctuations in climate, from really hot to really cold, so how do we know this isn't natural?"
It's true, the earth's climate has ranged from ice ages to swampy greenhouse. But these changes occurred over millions of years, not decades.
The issue is not really about the temperature. It's about the rate of change. The Keeling Curve shows quite clearly how atmospheric CO2 has steadily increased in recent decades. Extrapolating back through time using other sources of paleoclimate data, shows that this trend began at the dawn of the Industrial Age. No natural change in the past has ever mimicked the quickness of this trend.
We have reliable climate data stretching back hundreds of millions of years. The association with the Industrical Age indicates without question that the current trend is man-made.
Right Wing Talking Point #4: "Scientists don't agree that climate change is real."
Completely false. Yes, there are a few fringe elements out there (mostly on the payroll of petroleum, gas, and coal companies), but the overwhelming majority of scientist all over the world agree. Those that don't are considered nut jobs. This is the lamest of all anti-environmental talking points. Can we just bury this one, please?
I suppose I cold go on forever, countering myriad talking points. But constantly countering willful ignorance is exhausting. These four are the arguments I hear most often, so let's just leave it at that for now.
Climate change is real. It is not a vast left wing conspiracy. The only conspiracy here lies with those who parrot the invalid claims of those who have a political and economic interest in denying the truth.
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