When people stake out positions on an issue, those in one camp or another often bear the burden of associations not of their own doing. Such is the case in the field of climatology. For years, those in the camp of: a) there is no global warming, b) the Earth has always warmed and cooled, or c) the Earth is warming, but human attribution is minimal or not well understood, have latched on to the term skepticism
Please, remove the C++ tag from your question. You make people like me, wanting to help others on C++ questions, loose their time...
Hi Bruno, Not intended at that at all. However, just wanted the views on the focus of the question on Climate Change skepticism.
But why climate change skepticism?
I for one would not write on whether the climate has changed or not in many other regions, but in the Pacific, the impact of climate change is obvious and hard-felt. The melting cryosphere has been contributing to sea level rise and many atoll islands are now being threatened. The intensity of natural hazards have significantly increased. There are longer summers and short winters.
If it is not climate change that is causing this, then what is it?
Dear Ravinal,
Please get one thing clear in order to proceed with this interesting question you have raised: Climate change is not a 'cause', it is a 'consequence'. Therefore climate change cannot cause climate change. That said, I will gently suggest that you come into this debate with an open mind without any preconceived ideas and without recourse to emotions. You will be surprised at how much you may learn in the course of time. It is absolutely necessary to have a clear mind prior to delving into this debate because the question you have raised is so so so complex in itself, coupled with a lot of corporate and political interests that have further amplified the complexity.
I look forward to having a very fruitful exchange on ideas on this thread.
Best Regards
Hi Karlj,
I am not a skeptic. I asked this question to start discussion on the roles played by those skeptics in the area of climate change. Plus what you say above is the meaning of skepticism that does exists, the many which I would agree with.
Thank you Dr. Kralj. Its the nicest way to put that. I consider this forum as a learning forum and that as student it helps me look at things differently. Nevertheless, I did speak of skepticism from IPCC Assessment reports.
Can we really say that all blind belief is religion? This is perhaps okay to put it as for those who look at things from the science perspective. I feel it can be a discriminatory statement on the contrary.
Just looking for your view on this
Ales,
once more, you've nailed it with all you've written above. The educational system is really messing-up people's minds; telling us what and not how to think. Ravinal, if the real intent of this question is for learning purposes, begin by ignoring everything your professors and textbooks have told you. At the end, make up your own mind. There is something called the philosophy of science, which is being totally ignored in our universities nowadays. Look that up. Then, study some basic climate science, in order to have an idea of the climate system complexity. Once you do that, and in the end you still hold the consensus belief that no one is supposed to question the IPCC position, then I got nothing else to say.
By the way, is your research focus in the climate sciences of climate policy?
Hi,
To reduce the level of skepticism about climate change, you could turn to TED lectures about this subject, on Utube in the following linnks:
https://www.ted.com/talks/james_hansen_why_i_must_speak_out_about_climate_change?language=en
https://www.ted.com/talks/gavin_schmidt_the_emergent_patterns_of_climate_change?language=en
https://www.ted.com/talks/mary_robinson_why_climate_change_is_a_threat_to_human_rights?language=en
https://www.ted.com/talks/alice_bows_larkin_we_re_too_late_to_prevent_climate_change_here_s_how_we_adapt?language=en
Hi,
Skepticism usually arises from lack of enough knowledge. Once we can overcome this hurdle, skepticism could be reduced.
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