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Climate Skeptics and Australia submerged

How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

A remarkable set of resource links debunking climate change skeptics by Gristmill

Image: Thanks to the And Say We Did Blog.

Every now and then a remarkable online resource deals with an issue so well, that nothing more needs to be added to the topic. That was also the case with the comments provided by guest contributor to the Gristmill, Coby Beck, on the issue of How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic.

With many thanks to the web resource and its contributors, we've copied to our website, without any changes or adjustments, the summary table page of the Gristmill.

How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

Below is a complete listing of the articles in "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic," a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming. There are four separate taxonomies; arguments are divided by:

Individual articles will appear under multiple headings and may even appear in multiple subcategories in the same heading.

Stages of Denial

  1. There's nothing happening

    1. Inadequate evidence
    2. Contradictory evidence
    3. No consensus
  2. We don't know why it's happening

    1. Models don't work
    2. Prediction is impossible
    3. We can't be sure
  3. Climate change is natural

    1. It happened before
    2. It's part of a natural change
    3. It's not caused by CO2
  4. Climate change is not bad

    1. The effects are good
    2. The effects are minor
    3. Change is normal
  5. Climate change can't be stopped

    1. Too late
    2. It's someone else's problem
    3. Economically infeasible

Scientific Topics

  1. Temperature

  2. Atmosphere

  3. Extreme events

    1. Temperature records
    2. Storms
    3. Droughts
  4. Cryosphere

    1. Glaciers
    2. Sea ice
    3. Ice sheets
  5. Oceans

  6. Modeling

    1. Scenarios
    2. Uncertainties
  7. Climate forcings

    1. Solar influences
    2. Greenhouse gases
    3. Aerosols
  8. Paleo climate

    1. Holocene
    2. Ice ages
    3. Geologic history
  9. Scientific process

Types of Argument

  1. Uninformed

  2. Misinformed

  3. Cherry Picking

  4. Urban Myths

  5. FUD

  6. Non Scientific

  7. Underdog Theories

  8. Crackpottery

Levels of Sophistication

  1. Silly

  2. Naive

  3. Specious

  4. Scientific