Climate Change
Status: Muddy Waters
Clickbait
Science
“It is important to understand all the things that climate change is not. It is not the end of the world. Humankind is not poised teetering on the edge of extinction. The planet itself is not in peril.”
— The Economist, Climate Issue (Sep 2019)
“Although we can predict the course of broad trends, like “there will be more hot days” and “sea levels will go up,” we can’t with certainty blame climate change for any particular event.”
— Bill Gates, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
“Most concerning is the attempt to attract people to the cause by inventing the term “climate refugees.” My best understanding is that the link between climate change and migration is very, very weak. The concept of climate refugees is mostly a deliberate exaggeration, designed to turn fear of refugees into fear of climate change, and so build a much wider base of public support for lowering CO2 emissions.”
— Hans Rosling, Factfulness
UN Sustainability Development Goals
The United Nations received 9.7 million stakeholder votes while determining this list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Their top 3 issues?
Poverty,
Hunger, and
Good Health and Well-Being.
Among their least concerns? Climate Change.
Fear-Driven Anti-Knowledge
The Science
“We are digging our own graves”
“There is no chance of stopping the runaway warming of our planet, and no doubt we are slowly but surely heading toward human extinction.”
“Folks, the evidence is clear, climate change poses an existential threat to our lives and our economy.”
No mainstream climate models suggest a return to a world as bad as the one we had in 1950. Doomism is a disease, and self-fulfilling prophesy.
— Ezra Klein, IPCC-published scientist
“The climate movement must rethink its roots in nonviolence. Pipelines will be blown up if leaders don’t act on climate change.”
“[Climate Change] is a doomsday device strapped to humanity.”
A new study on plausible emissions trajectories (again) rules out RCP 8.5 / SSP5-8.5 to 2050 as implausible. Worst case climate predictions are 'no longer plausible.’
— Roger Pielke Jr., Climate Scientist, University of Colorado
“There is no more time to sit back; vote like your life depends on it.”
“We are already grasping for survival; tomorrow is not an option for it will be too late.”
“[Climate Change] is the existential threat; it is the one that threatens all life on this planet.”
“The climate crisis is an existential threat, putting at risk our very existence.”
“We want to ensure that we are being scientifically precise, while also communicating clearly with readers on this very important issue,” said the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. “The phrase ‘climate change’, for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity.”
“We need to create fear!” that’s what Al Gore said to me at the start of our first conversation about how to teach climate change… but I couldn’t agree to what he had asked. I don’t like fear. Fear of war plus the panic of urgency made me [incorrectly] see a Russian pilot and blood on the floor. Fear of pandemic plus the panic of urgency made me close the road and cause the drownings of all those mothers, children, and fishermen. Fear plus urgency make for stupid, drastic decisions with unpredictable side effects. Climate change is too important for that.
Al Gore continued to press his case for fearful animated bubbles beyond the expert forecasts, over several more conversations until, finally, I closed the discussion down.”
What should be painfully obvious is that one side is promoting fear, while the other is (attempting) to promote Science. It’s up to you to shut it down when you see it.