Climate change deniers are a vocal, visible and fairly powerful lot. There is a global consensus of the scientific community on the issue of climate change: that it is at least partly the result of human activity. However the deniers speak out against the rigorous research based data either because they are part of organisations that are directly responsible for activities that cause climate change, are sympathetic or beholden to such organisations. Some deny climate change because this is a part of their ideological belief system. Climate change deniers are often prominent leaders; but they are all demonstrably wrong:
When the President of the United States speaks about climate change he sounds uninformed, paranoid and delusional. He famously attributed climate change to some Chinese conspiracy. Each time the weather gets really, really cold, he proudly presents that as ‘evidence’ that disproves global warming.
While he is not a climate change denier in the true sense of the term, in 2014, some school kids asked Narendra Modi about climate change and did actually say this.
Usually climate change deniers start out with the disclaimer about not being scientific people, after which they should correctly stop speaking. However, they typically continue to spout facts and figures meant to persuade us that that climate change is a motivated hoax created by people who are against development. These ‘facts and figures’ are usually collated by entities who have the most to lose if climate change regulations are enforced.
For me, this is always the most confounding question, even if you choose to deny that climate change exists, why resist the regulations that are meant to prevent it? Programs geared towards of sustainability, reducing pollution, renewable energy sources, and conservation initiatives can only be good for our communities and the world!
Let me just say it – John Oliver is my hero and he puts the whole climate change denial business into simple perspective: do you believe in gravity? Does two plus two equal to four? No, you cannot have an opinion on facts; its not optional!
There is consensus about human activities causing or at least contributing to climate change. This is backed up by extensive research. The nay-sayers usually have no concrete reply to the incontrovertible research data. Mere cussedness is not really a sound argument against scientific data.
Stephen Colbert is another late show host who pulls no punches with his satiric, gently acerbic style. This comment of his is aimed at those who present the current weather as proof to dispel the ‘myth’ of climate change.
Sometimes one finds the need to shout a little… when the deniers cannot comprehend the difference between simple concepts such as the climate (a range of weather conditions measured over 30 years) and the weather (how hot/cold/dry/windy it is right now).
It’s a strange phenomenon – the climate change skeptics are often strangely superstitious or credulous in other ways. They believe in the story about Noah’s ark and about 40 days of rain flooding the earth but not that sea levels are rising discernibly. Many will believe the old superstition about Ground Hog Day and some rodent's behavior deciding when spring begins, but not the fact that human activities are raising temperatures all over the world.
If climate change believers are wrong and we make changes to curb pollution, create cleaner and safer environments and make industries made more responsible, accountable, we are no worse off than we are now. But if the climate change deniers are wrong, and we don’t do anything to bring about arresting climate change, then we all stand to lose. Pick a side.
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