HOW TO ARGUE WITH A CLIMATE CHANGE SKEPTIC

How To Argue With A Climate Change Skeptic.

What is global warming?  From the Union of

Concerned Scientists:

“When CO2 and other heat-trapping emissions are released into the air, they act like a blanket, holding heat in our atmosphere and warming the planet. 

Overloading our atmosphere with carbon has far-reaching effects for people all around the world—more extreme storms, more severe droughts, deadly heat waves, rising sea levels, and more acidic oceans, which can affect the very base of the food chain.”

What causes global warming?

The primary cause of global warming is human activity, most significantly the burning of fossil fuels to drive cars, generate electricity, and operate our homes and businesses. 

There are many web sites devoted to “how to argue with a climate change skeptic.”  Researching them leads me to conclude the following:  In our militaristic society it is best to begin with the opinions of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the pentagon.  All service top brass agree that climate change is a reality and that it is a grave threat to national security.  They agree that, in the future, it will be a leading cause of war.

The second argument I would recommend to use against climate change deniers, in our “capitalistic” society, is to point out that the vast majority of the world’s corporate CEO’s are preparing to deal with the effects of climate change in their business plans. 

The third point to be presented is against the argument, often presented by climate change skeptics,  “there is no scientific consensus” about climate change facts.  Well, there will always be “flat earthers.”   But as Grist points out --
http://grist.org/climate-energy/there-is-no-consensus/ -- “No one in the climate science community is debating whether or not changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations alter the greenhouse effect, or if the current warming trend is outside of the range of natural variability, or if sea levels have risen over the last century. “  Furthermore, 97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming. “

Finally, the fourth argument I would present is against the argument often stated by climate deniers, that “It’s cold today in my town.”  I actually heard this statement repeated three times by a person I debated on facebook.  The obvious answer, from Grist, is that “The chaotic nature of weather means that no conclusion about climate can ever be drawn from a single data point, hot or cold. The temperature of one place at one time is just weather, and says nothing about climate, much less climate change, much less global climate change.”

 There are many opinions expressed by climate change skeptics.  A little research on the internet will help you to refute all of them.

However, do not expect to convince the  nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of ignorant, aprioristic white evangelical Protestants, who say they think that recent storms and dramatic changes in the weather, are evidence of the "end times" as predicted by the Bible.  That’s four out of ten Americans!  God help us all!  Well, he/she hasn’t yet interfered in our collective efforts to destroy the human race through overloading the atmosphere with carbon and other heat-trapping omissions.