Anti-global heating claims - a reasonably thorough debunking

[Squigglenob]

The Earth is heating up, and human beings burning fossil fuels are the cause. It's not ocean warming that's causing it, it's not cosmic rays, it's not variations in the Earth's orbit and tilt toward the sun (Milankovitch cycles), it's not solar irradiance - it's us. But there is a very vocal minority that refuses to believe global heating (the severity of the problem requires more urgent language, and besides, 105 degrees isn't warmer than 100, it’s hotter) is real.

Global heating deniers fall back on a variety of claims in order to buttress their position. These claims vary from logical fallacies to pseudoscience to poor math to scientifically valid but disproved hypotheses. Yet every single claim against global heating I've found has been debunked at one time or another, and at this point, the only hypothesis that fits all the data is that human civilization is heating up the planet.

I've gathered the top anti-global heating claims into the following list and provided a reasonably thorough debunking for every one. I've focused only on the scientific claims because they can be addressed with data, and there are probably a few I've missed that I'll happily tackle in the comments as needed. There were a number of claims that tied together, so I addressed them all at once rather than independently. And if I could quote references that weren't the IPCC Working Group I: The Physical Basis for Climate Change detailed report (not the summary for policymakers), I did - too many people reject the IPCC out of hand and it's always better to use the original source if it's available...

(Read the rest of Brian Angliss' post at Scholars & Rogues)

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Thanks for the effort, but it's over the heads of the deniers.

Their denial of the evidence is based on "our leaders said so", not facts or even arguments.

Sorry for such a gloomy greeting, but welcome to DU!:hi:

[angliss]

2. Not entirely accurate, I'm afraid

Some of the deniers are serious about using science to try and contest human-caused global heating, and it's those folks that matter - bring the smart and serious deniers along, and they'll drag their acolytes along with them.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Hard to know which possibility is the more depressing. nt

:(

[TheWraith]

3. Recced, looks like good stuff.

Didn't have time to read it all, but worth seeing.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. EXCELLENT article!

And many thanks to you for finding it.

This is literally the best synopsis of AGW I have ever read, and I've read a lot of them.

:thumbsup: to Angliss. The blog has now entered the rotation.

--p!