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Articles on Climate change scepticism

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Believing climate change isn’t happening won’t make it go away. Image from www.shutterstock.com

Your MP doesn’t ‘believe’ in climate change? Ask the tough questions

As we head into an election, you’d be justified in asking what your local member is basing their climate change decisions on. If your MP says “I don’t support policies to prevent dangerous climate change…
Remember the Theory of Relativity sceptics? As with the Einstein debate, the modern climate debate is based on politics and strawmen, not facts and details. Flick/beautyredefined

Nature v technology: climate ‘belief’ is politics, not science

It is hard to imagine a scientific breakthrough more abstract and less politically contentious than Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Yet in Weimar Germany in the 1920s it attracted fierce controversy…
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), which says it regrets the leak of it’s latest major report. AAP Image/Paul Miller

Human role in climate change now virtually certain: leaked IPCC report

A leaked draft report by the world’s top climate scientists has found that is virtually certain that humans are causing climate change but parts of it have been wildly misinterpreted by climate change…
Presenting scientific information isn’t likely to change made-up minds, but there are a lot of un-made-up minds out there. Department of Energy and Climate Change

Science alone won’t change climate opinions, but it matters

Does scientific knowledge matter in the climate debate? Recent research suggests that it is not “what you know” but “who you are” that counts in making up your mind about climate change. What are the implications…
Straw man climate science is like real climate science, but without all the annoying science. Robin Ellis

Straw man science: keeping climate simple

Straw man: an argument, claim or opponent which is invented in order to defeat or create an argument. Climate change is controversial and much debated in the media. But did you know much of the debate…
Worrying about the future is bad for your survival - have we evolved to prefer optimism? Vassilis Galanos

How we evolved to reject climate science

Is it any wonder so many people turn their back on climate science? Who wants to hear - as the World Bank told us today - we’re heading for a four-degree-warmer world, with more heatwave deaths and life-threatening…
If British Conservatives are worried about the environment, they would do well to focus on reducing emissions, not stopping wind turbines. floato/Flickr

Corby by-election: British Tories all talk on wind power

There are few cardinal sins in politics – but campaigning on behalf of your opponent has to be one of them. So when news broke this week that the British Conservative Party MP Chris Heaton Harris had boasted…
After defeat in the 2012 election, it is back to the drawing board for the Republican Party. But will they address the true concerns of the electorate? EPA/STEPHAN SAVOIA/POOL

Republicans trust voter modelling - why not climate modelling?

Tuesday, November 6 was a game changer. The Republican Party in the United States has come to understand that the political environment has been altered. White males can no longer dictate the results of…
The vast majority of climate scientists warn that global warming is melting ice caps, but not everyone believes it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mura82

Climate change deniers are rarer than we think

Australians grossly overestimate the proportion of people who deny that climate change is happening, a CSIRO study has found. The study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, surveyed over…
Ignoring climate change isn’t stupidity, it’s ideology. Peter Foley/EPA

A storm of stupidity? Sandy, evidence and climate change

“It’s global warming, stupid” – Bloomberg’s Businessweek cover last week left little doubt about their opinion concerning “Frankenstorm” Sandy. The accompanying tweet anticipated that the cover might “generate…
Misinformation spreads rapidly and sticks tenaciously. Moon_son/Flickr

Where does misinformation come from, and what does it do?

Obama is a Muslim, vaccinations cause autism, asylum seekers are breaking the law, GM foods cause cancer. These are all pieces of unsubstantiated misinformation that are commonly encountered on TV, talk-back…
In spite of overwhelming scientific evidence for climate change, people find ways to reject that evidence if it does not fit with their world view. NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre

How do people reject climate science?

In a previous article on The Conversation, Stephan Lewandowsky asked, why do people reject science? I’m going to take a slightly different angle and consider how people are able to reject climate science…
Could listening be the way forward for scientists and science? shannonkringen

Help needed: can you fix the science/ society divide?

Want to help fix the science/ society divide? We’re making a documentary looking at how we might do this, and we’re looking for your help. Why? Well … You don’t need to be a rocket sociologist to know…
Relax and have a drink, old chap; the planet has managed to look after itself so far without any fuss. Flickr/cyclonebill

Climate change and the soothing message of luke-warmism

We are familiar with the tactics, arguments, and personnel of the denial industry. Yet there is a perhaps more insidious and influential line of argument that is preventing the world from responding to…
Most climate researchers expect to work quietly in a lab, not deal with an angry and threatening public. Danny Wolpert

Science under siege

When the denial machine goes after climate scientists it is, as one of them said, like the marines going into battle against boy scouts. The brutality of the attacks has once again been confirmed by the…
The days of ‘sit down, shut up and do your science’ are over. Today’s students ask hard questions. University of Iowa

Teaching kids to think critically about climate

Two recently published books suggest that the public - and school children in particular - are being fed lies about environmental issues such as climate change. The books - “How to Get Expelled from School…
One of the benefits of using the health frame is that it makes the issues more tangible – here and now and about people, not just polar bears. Roderick Eime/AAP

Reframing climate change could deliver health benefits

Climate change is a complex problem but appears to many people as lacking immediate impact on their lives. Reconceptualising it as a health issue may allow for both better understanding of the issue and…
Australians think they know what other Australians are thinking, but they’re often wrong. Callum Alden

I can change your mind about (other people’s minds about) climate change

The ABC recently ran the documentary I Can Change Your Mind About … Climate Change, exposing Nick Minchin, former conservative politician, and youth activist Anna Rose, to science and argument in favour…

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