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Blogs - Muertos - ConspiracyScience.com Addresses Global Warming Denial
Author: Muertos (Show other entries)
Date: May 18, 2010 at 17:12
By Muertos (muertos@gmail.com)
One of the things this site is known for is Edward Winston's very detailed refutations of deceptive conspiracy films, most notably the Zeitgeist films and various Alex Jones movies. Because of this, we've gotten several requests from people who believe that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a "hoax" to include Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth on ConspiracyScience.com as a "deceptive" conspiracy film in the same vein as Zeitgeist or The Obama Deception. In investigating the movie and the phenomenon of climate change hoax allegations in general, we have come to the conclusion that not only is An Inconvenient Truth NOT appropriate to be listed as a conspiracy film, but in fact "global warming is a hoax" claims themselves qualify as a conspiracy theory that should be debunked on this site.
As of late last week, therefore, we now have an article available in our Wiki section that addresses "global warming is a hoax" conspiracy theories in general, and the claims of deception in An Inconvenient Truth in particular. (Link: http://conspiracyscience.com/blog/wiki-global-warming-denial/)
As the Wiki article explains, AGW is not a hoax. It is based upon science that has been thoroughly researched and vetted. The vast majority of the world's scientists, including (poll results) 97.5% of climatologists who have published research on climate change, agree that climate change is really happening and that it's caused primarily by human activity. The claims to the contrary--that somehow AGW is a "fraud" cooked up by (take your pick) Al Gore, the International Panel on Climate Change, a cabal of greedy scientists, or even anthropologist Margaret Mead--are false.
The article is not intended as a comprehensive debunking of every claim made by AGW deniers and conspiracy theorists. (If you want that, you should go here, here or here). In our article, I address a few of what I've encountered as the most representative and favorite claims of the "global warming is a hoax" conspiracy theorists:
The sources supporting our refutations of these arguments are in the Wiki article. If you're an AGW denier conspiracy theorist, don't write to me saying "You didn't source anything!" because this blog is not the refutation--the Wiki article is the refutation that contains the sources.
Because AGW is a political issue, I'm sure there will be some people out there who claim that our posting of this article constitutes ConspiracyScience.com taking a political position, for instance, that we must "love" Al Gore or that because we have debunked "global warming is a hoax" conspiracy theories that we must support carbon taxes or cap-and-trade legislation. This is not true. The purpose of this article is not to endorse one or another position regarding climate change policy or what should be done to mitigate climate change. The purpose of this article is to answer three specific factual, not political, questions:
For the record, speaking only for myself, I'm not a huge fan of Al Gore. I didn't vote for him and I don't think he would have made a good president. That's my personal opinion, not the opinion of ConspiracyScience.com, which neither endorses nor denounces politicians--unless they happen to promote conspiracy theories, as some do. But, as our article explains, the issue of climate change does not center around Al Gore's political beliefs, carbon taxes, cap-and-trade or the Kyoto Accords. As a factual matter, climate change is happening. What we should do about it is beyond the scope of what we're trying to do here at ConspiracyScience.com. We debunk conspiracy theories. "Global warming is a hoax!" is a conspiracy theory. Consequently, we have debunked it, and we believe our facts are sound.
So, in short, quit asking us to "debunk" An Inconvenient Truth. It has errors but it is not a conspiracy film, certainly nothing even close to Zeitgeist or The Obama Deception. For a fuller and more in-depth analysis of AGW denial as a conspiracy theory, please go to the Wiki article.
One of the things this site is known for is Edward Winston's very detailed refutations of deceptive conspiracy films, most notably the Zeitgeist films and various Alex Jones movies. Because of this, we've gotten several requests from people who believe that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a "hoax" to include Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth on ConspiracyScience.com as a "deceptive" conspiracy film in the same vein as Zeitgeist or The Obama Deception. In investigating the movie and the phenomenon of climate change hoax allegations in general, we have come to the conclusion that not only is An Inconvenient Truth NOT appropriate to be listed as a conspiracy film, but in fact "global warming is a hoax" claims themselves qualify as a conspiracy theory that should be debunked on this site.
As of late last week, therefore, we now have an article available in our Wiki section that addresses "global warming is a hoax" conspiracy theories in general, and the claims of deception in An Inconvenient Truth in particular. (Link: http://conspiracyscience.com/blog/wiki-global-warming-denial/)
As the Wiki article explains, AGW is not a hoax. It is based upon science that has been thoroughly researched and vetted. The vast majority of the world's scientists, including (poll results) 97.5% of climatologists who have published research on climate change, agree that climate change is really happening and that it's caused primarily by human activity. The claims to the contrary--that somehow AGW is a "fraud" cooked up by (take your pick) Al Gore, the International Panel on Climate Change, a cabal of greedy scientists, or even anthropologist Margaret Mead--are false.
The article is not intended as a comprehensive debunking of every claim made by AGW deniers and conspiracy theorists. (If you want that, you should go here, here or here). In our article, I address a few of what I've encountered as the most representative and favorite claims of the "global warming is a hoax" conspiracy theorists:
- There is no scientific consensus that climate change is happening or that it's caused by humans. (Sorry, there is--an overwhelming consensus).
- The "hockey stick" (meaning graphs of projected global temperatures showing a marked upward swing in recent years) is broken. (It's not--every study shows exactly the same thing).
- CO2 can't be a pollutant because far greater levels of CO2 are emitted by natural processes such as oceans and vegetation than by human activity. (Misses the point--it's about the rate of absorption, which cannot keep up with human-generated CO2 emissions).
- Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth is deceptive and fraudulent. (Sorry, it isn't--the errors in the film are minor and do not affect the scientific basis for its conclusions regarding AGW).
- The hacked emails from East Anglia University's Climate Research Unit are proof of a conspiracy by climatologists to fabricate AGW evidence. (No, they're not--every single one of these claims involves a statement taken out of context or misunderstood, and in fact the CRU has been exonerated by a recent investigation).
- Over 31,000 scientists have signed a petition stating that they disagree with AGW conclusions, which indicates a serious lack of consensus. (The petition is fraudulent, and even if it wasn't, 31,000 is a tiny minority of the scientists out there).
- AGW can't exist because the idea of the greenhouse effect violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics. (Sorry, but that's ridiculous--a total misapplication of thermodynamics and climate process in general).
- It's cold today. Therefore AGW is a hoax. (Ignorant and ridiculous--there's a difference between weather and climate).
The sources supporting our refutations of these arguments are in the Wiki article. If you're an AGW denier conspiracy theorist, don't write to me saying "You didn't source anything!" because this blog is not the refutation--the Wiki article is the refutation that contains the sources.
Because AGW is a political issue, I'm sure there will be some people out there who claim that our posting of this article constitutes ConspiracyScience.com taking a political position, for instance, that we must "love" Al Gore or that because we have debunked "global warming is a hoax" conspiracy theories that we must support carbon taxes or cap-and-trade legislation. This is not true. The purpose of this article is not to endorse one or another position regarding climate change policy or what should be done to mitigate climate change. The purpose of this article is to answer three specific factual, not political, questions:
- Is climate change really happening? (Yes).
- Is it caused primarily by human activity? (Yes).
- Are allegations that global warming is a hoax or conspiracy true? (No).
For the record, speaking only for myself, I'm not a huge fan of Al Gore. I didn't vote for him and I don't think he would have made a good president. That's my personal opinion, not the opinion of ConspiracyScience.com, which neither endorses nor denounces politicians--unless they happen to promote conspiracy theories, as some do. But, as our article explains, the issue of climate change does not center around Al Gore's political beliefs, carbon taxes, cap-and-trade or the Kyoto Accords. As a factual matter, climate change is happening. What we should do about it is beyond the scope of what we're trying to do here at ConspiracyScience.com. We debunk conspiracy theories. "Global warming is a hoax!" is a conspiracy theory. Consequently, we have debunked it, and we believe our facts are sound.
So, in short, quit asking us to "debunk" An Inconvenient Truth. It has errors but it is not a conspiracy film, certainly nothing even close to Zeitgeist or The Obama Deception. For a fuller and more in-depth analysis of AGW denial as a conspiracy theory, please go to the Wiki article.