Below is a complete listing of the articles in “How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic,” a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming. There are four separate taxonomies; arguments are divided by:
Individual articles will appear under multiple headings and may even appear in multiple subcategories in the same heading.
Stages of Denial
- There’s nothing happening
- Inadequate evidence
- Contradictory evidence
- It’s cold today in Wagga Wagga
- Antarctic ice is growing
- The satellites show cooling
- What about mid-century cooling?
- Global warming stopped in 1998
- But the glaciers are not melting
- Antarctic sea ice is increasing
- Observations show climate sensitivity is not very high
- Sea level in the Arctic is falling
- Some sites show cooling
- No consensus
- We don’t know why it’s happening
- Models don’t work
- Prediction is impossible
- We can’t be sure
- Climate change is natural
- It happened before
- It’s part of a natural change
- Current global warming is just part of a natural cycle
- Mars and Pluto are warming too
- CO2 in the air comes mostly from volcanoes
- The null hypothesis says global warming is natural
- Climate is always changing
- Natural emissions dwarf human emissions
- The CO2 rise is natural
- We are just recovering from the LIA
- It’s not caused by CO2
- Climate scientists dodge the subject of water vapor
- Water vapor accounts for almost all of the greenhouse effect
- There is no proof that CO2 is causing global warming
- Mars and Pluto are warming too
- CO2 doesn’t lead, it lags
- What about mid-century cooling?
- Geological history does not support CO2’s importance
- Historically, CO2 never caused temperature change
- It’s the sun, stupid
- Climate change is not bad
- The effects are good
- Climate change can’t be stopped
- Too late
- It’s someone else’s problem
- Economically infeasible
Scientific Topics
- Temperature
- There is no evidence
- The temperature record is simply unreliable
- One hundred years is not enough
- Current global warming is just part of a natural cycle
- What’s wrong with warmer weather?
- It’s cold today in Wagga Wagga
- Warming is due to the Urban Heat Island effect
- The satellites show cooling
- Global warming stopped in 1998
- They predicted global cooling in the 1970s
- One record year is not global warming
- Some sites show cooling
- Cryosphere
- Oceans
- Modeling
- Climate forcings
- Solar influences
- Greenhouse gases
- Climate scientists dodge the subject of water vapor
- Water vapor accounts for almost all of the greenhouse effect
- There is no proof that CO2 is causing global warming
- CO2 doesn’t lead, it lags
- CO2 in the air comes mostly from volcanoes
- What about mid-century cooling?
- Geological history does not support CO2’s importance
- Natural emissions dwarf human emissions
- Mauna Loa is a volcano
- The CO2 rise is natural
- Historically, CO2 never caused temperature change
- The US is a net CO2 sink
- Observations show climate sensitivity is not very high
- Aerosols
- Paleo climate
- Holocene
- Ice ages
- Geologic history
- Scientific process
- Global warming is a hoax
- There is no proof that CO2 is causing global warming
- There is no consensus
- The null hypothesis says global warming is natural
- Position statements hide debate
- If we can’t understand the past, how can we understand the present?
- The scientists aren’t even sure
- Consensus is collusion
- Peiser refuted Oreskes
Types of Argument
- Uninformed
- Misinformed
- It was warmer during the Holocene Climatic Optimum
- The medieval warm period was just as warm as today
- Antarctic ice is growing
- CO2 in the air comes mostly from volcanoes
- Greenland used to be green
- The satellites show cooling
- Natural emissions dwarf human emissions
- It’s the sun, stupid
- The U.S. is a net CO2 sink
- But the glaciers are not melting
- Antarctic sea ice is increasing
- They predicted global cooling in the 1970s
- Vineland was full of grapes
- Cherry Picking
- Urban Myths
- FUD
- The temperature record is simply unreliable
- Glaciers have always grown and receded
- Climate scientists dodge the subject of water vapor
- Water vapor accounts for almost all of the greenhouse effect
- Current global warming is just part of a natural cycle
- Kyoto is a big effort for almost nothing
- Mars and Pluto are warming too
- It’s cold today in Wagga Wagga
- CO2 doesn’t lead, it lags
- There is no consensus
- Antarctic ice is growing
- Warming is due to the Urban Heat Island effect
- We can’t even predict the weather next week
- Chaotic systems are not predictable
- What about mid-century cooling?
- The null hypothesis says global warming is natural
- Geological history does not support CO2’s importance
- Climate is always changing
- Natural emissions dwarf human emissions
- Mauna Loa is a volcano
- Global warming is nothing new!
- The CO2 rise is natural
- The hockey stick is broken
- Historically, CO2 never caused temperature change
- The models don’t have clouds
- Global warming stopped in 1998
- If we can’t understand the past, how can we understand the present?
- If aerosols are blocking the sun, the south should warm faster
- The scientists aren’t even sure
- Antarctic sea ice is increasing
- Peiser refuted Oreskes
- Vineland was full of grapes
- Observations show climate sensitivity is not very high
- Sea level in the Arctic is falling
- We are just recovering from the LIA
- Non Scientific
Levels of Sophistication
- Silly
- Naive
- One hundred years is not enough
- Glaciers have always grown and receded
- Why should the U.S. join Kyoto when China and India haven’t?
- It’s cold today in Wagga Wagga
- CO2 in the air comes mostly from volcanoes
- We can’t even predict the weather next week
- We can not trust unproven computer models
- The satellites show cooling
- Natural emissions dwarf human emissions
- The models don’t have clouds
- Global warming stopped in 1998
- It’s the sun, stupid
- If we can’t understand the past, how can we understand the present?
- The scientists aren’t even sure
- Vineland was full of grapes
- Some sites show cooling
- Specious
- The temperature record is simply unreliable
- Climate scientists dodge the subject of water vapor
- There is no proof that CO2 is causing global warming
- Current global warming is just part of a natural cycle
- It was warmer during the Holocene Climatic Optimum
- The medieval warm period was just as warm as today
- What’s wrong with warmer weather?
- Kyoto is a big effort for almost nothing
- CO2 doesn’t lead, it lags
- There is no consensus
- Antarctic ice is growing
- Warming is due to the Urban Heat Island effect
- Greenland used to be green
- What about mid-century cooling?
- The null hypothesis says global warming is natural
- Geological history does not support CO2’s importance
- Climate is always changing
- Global warming is nothing new!
- The CO2 rise is natural
- Historically, CO2 never caused temperature change
- Hansen has been wrong before
- Position statements hide debate
- But the glaciers are not melting
- If aerosols are blocking the sun, the south should warm faster
- Antarctic sea ice is increasing
- Consensus is collusion
- They predicted global cooling in the 1970s
- Peiser refuted Oreskes
- Vineland was full of grapes
- Scientific
Stories in this series:
‘There is no evidence’ — Yes, there is
(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide) Objection: Despite what the computer models tell us, there is actually no evidence of significant global warming. Answer: Global warming is not an output …
‘Mauna Loa is a volcano’ — CO2 rise is measured on top of a volcano!
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: CO2 levels are recorded on top of Mauna Loa ... a volcano! No wonder the levels are so high. (image courtesty of …
‘Warming is due to the Urban Heat Island effect’ — No, it isn’t
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: The apparent rise of global average temperatures is actually an illusion due to the urbanization of land around weather stations, the Urban …
‘One hundred years is not enough’–Yes it is
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: One hundred and some years of global surface temperatures is not long enough to draw any conclusions from or worry about anyway. …
‘The scientists aren’t even sure’ — No scientist ever is
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: Even the scientists don't know that the climate is changing more than normal and if it's our fault or not. If you …
‘One record year is not global warming’–Luckily, there are plenty more years to consider
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: So 2005 was a record year. Records are set all the time. One really warm year is not global warming. Answer: This …
‘Glaciers have always grown and receded’–A few glaciers melting does not mean global warming
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: A few glaciers receding today is not proof of global warming. Glaciers have grown and receded differently in many times and places.
‘The temperature record is unreliable’–But temperature trends are clear and widely corroborated
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: The surface temperature record is full of assumptions, corrections, differing equipment and station settings, changing technology, varying altitudes, and more. It is …
‘It’s cold today in Wagga Wagga’–Weather and climate are different
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide) Objection: It was way colder than normal today in Wagga Wagga, proof that there is no global warming. Does this even deserve an …