Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand

ISBN-13: 9781849713351 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 192 str.

Haydn Washington; Hadyn Washington; John Cook

Opis

Humans have always used denial. When we are afraid, guilty, confused, or when something interferes with our self-image, we tend to deny it. Yet denial is a delusion. When it impacts on the health of oneself, or society, or the world it becomes a pathology. Climate change denial is such a case. Paradoxically, as the climate science has become more certain, denial about the issue has increased. The paradox lies in the denial. There is a denial industry funded by the fossil fuel companies that literally denies the science, and seeks to confuse the public. There is denial within governments, where spin-doctors use 'weasel words' to pretend they are taking action. However there is also denial within most of us, the citizenry. We let denial prosper and we resist the science. Climate Change Denial explains the social science behind denial. It contains a detailed examination of the principal climate change denial arguments, from attacks on the integrity of scientists, to impossible expectations of proof and certainty to the cherry picking of data. Climate change can be solved - but only when we cease to deny that it exists. This book shows how we can break through denial, accept reality, and thus solve the climate crisis. It will engage scientists, university students, climate change activists as well as the general public seeking to roll back denial and act.

Spis treści

1. Denial and the Nature of Science. What is Denial? Science– Uncertainty and the 'Preponderance of Evidence' 2. Climate Science. Probability. 'Forcing'. Natural and Human-caused Greenhouse Effect. The Carbon Cycle. Feedback. Runaway Climate Change. Is there a Safe Level of CO2? The Spinning 'Greenhouse Gamble' Roulette Wheel. So What? Is There Really a Problem? New Factors Emerging 3. The Five Types of Climate ChangeDenial Arguments. Conspiracy Theories. 'Climategate'. Fake Experts. 'There is No Scientific Consensus'. Impossible Expectations. 'Climate Models are Unreliable'. Misrepresentationsand Logical Fallacies. 'Climate's Changed in the Past'. Cherry Picking. 'Temperature Measurements are Unreliable'. 'Global Warming Stopped in 1998'. 'The Hockey Stick was Broken'. 'It's the Sun'. 'Global Warming is Good' 4. The History of Denial. The Long History of Denial. Heaven and Earth 5. Do We Let Denial Prosper? Fear of Change. Failure in Values. Fixation on Economics and Society. Ignorance about Ecology and Exponential Growth. Gambling on the Future. The Media Despair, Apathy and Confusion. Denial within our Governments. Psychological Types of Denial 6. Rolling Back Denial– the Big Picture. Because We Let it. What Stops us Accepting Reality? Population. The Tragedy of the Commons Continues. How do you Go About Solving Climate Change? Changing our Economy. Getting the Message Across. Adapt or Mitigate? Sustainability Market and Civic Environmentalism Approaches. A Farewell to Coal 7. Rolling Back Denial– the Technological Solutions. Technologies– Appropriate and Inappropriate. Renewable Energy. Is Nuclear Power the Way Out? Is Carbon Capture and Storage the Solution? Summary and Conclusion