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Articles on Clearing up the climate debate

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The threat of legal action can have a “chilling effect” on academic freedom. Shutterstock

The journal that gave in to climate deniers’ intimidation

In February 2013, the journal Frontiers in Psychology published a peer-reviewed paper which found that people who reject climate science are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. Predictably enough…
There’s no vaccine against persistent attacks on scientific evidence. www.shutterstock.com

Climate and vaccine deniers are the same: beyond persuasion

Governments are worried. Vaccination rates are falling under the influence of a campaign of misinformation by a small minority of fanatics. Scientifically there is no debate about immunisation, with every…
While the debate rages, the planet is changing. AAP

Clearing up the climate debate

The majority of the world’s climate scientists agree: climate change is real, we are causing it and it’s happening right now. Despite the scientific consensus, Australia is still deeply divided about what…
Bob Carter sees the world a little differently to the rest of the scientific community. AAP

Bob Carter’s climate counter-consensus is an alternate reality

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professor David Karoly goes down the rabbit hole of Bob Carter’s climate theories. In his book Climate: The Counter-consensus, Bob Carter describes three different realities…
The Galileo Movement co-opts the father of science’s name to pursue an anti-science agenda.

Rogues or respectable? How climate change sceptics spread doubt and denial

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professor Ian Enting takes a look at the front groups and published texts of Australia’s climate sceptics. The “name-calling” in what passes for public debate on climate…
Christopher Monckton deliberately misleads the public on climate change. AAP

The chief troupier: the follies of Mr Monckton

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Associate Professor John Abraham puts Christopher Monckton’s climate claims to the test. This summer, the people of Australia will yet again be treated to a circus tour…
Just some of the people and organisations climate deniers think are coming to get them. -(Jonathan)-/flickr, scottgun/flickr, Kew Gardens/fickr

A journey into the weird and wacky world of climate change denial

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professors Stephan Lewandowsky and Michael Ashley step into the twilight zone of climate change scepticism: where the sun is made of iron and the royals are out to get you…
Scientists have begun to make more noise about climate change. afagen/flickr

When scientists take to the streets it’s time to listen up

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Dr Michael Brown exposes the tactics used by purveyors of “non-science” to attack climate change research. It takes a lot to get scientists out of their offices and marching…
People can get pretty riled up about hockey sticks. AAP

Climate change denial and the abuse of peer review

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professor Stephan Lewandowsky holds “sceptics” accountable for their subversion of the peer review process. On 20 April 2010, a BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico…
Humans contribute energy to the global system at the rate of 15 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs a minute.

Our effect on the earth is real: how we’re geo-engineering the planet

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute and Professor of Geology Mike Sandiford explores the staggering ways we influence the shape of the globe. Aren’t we too puny to…
Sound the alarm. It’s a scientist’s job to alert the public to the threats of climate change. AAP

Speaking science to climate policy

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: CSIRO’s James Risbey explains why it’s not “alarmist” to describe the threat of climate change to the public and how the climate system will respond to half measures. With…
The decade ending 2010 was the warmest on record for Australia. AAP

The greenhouse effect is real: here’s why

CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Bureau of Meteorology scientist Karl Braganza explains why we know the climate is changing, and what’s causing it. In public discussions of climate change, the full range…
It’s undeniable: our planet is changing. NASA

Climate change is real: an open letter from the scientific community

Today, The Conversation launches a two-week series from the nation’s top minds on the science behind climate change and the efforts of “sceptics” to cloud the debate. The overwhelming scientific evidence…

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