Category Archives: Scepticism

A brief history of climate change ‘scepticism’

Posted on September 26, 2015 by

Here is my attempt to make sense of the academic literature categorising the rhetorical positions adopted by climate change ‘sceptics’. However, please note that the term ‘sceptic’ is used solely for convenience: Given that the totality of post-industrial climate change … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Cognitive Dissonance, Denial, Environment, Scepticism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The art of being misleading (or maybe just mistaken)

Posted on April 30, 2015 by

I recently became aware of an article published on The Conversation website over a year ago, written by James Painter, author of Poles Apart: the reporting of international scepticism. The article, entitled Enough scientific certainty exists on climate change to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Denial, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Scepticism | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Climate change denial IS conspiracy theory

Posted on April 6, 2014 by

I am growing increasingly tired of the circular nature of arguments about climate change. People who are supposedly ‘sceptical’ only have four arguments, which are as follows: (1) It ain’t happening; (2) It ain’t us; (3) It ain’t bad; and … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Denial, Environment, Ethics, IPCC, Politics, Psychology, Scepticism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 50 Comments

The imprudence of being earnestly Oakwood

Posted on October 27, 2013 by

I concluded yesterday’s post, entitled ‘The importance of being earnestly wrong’, by quoting a wonderfully circular argument from Oakwood. This was the assertion that “…you cannot show any one of these [opinions] to be inaccurate, except by appealing to ‘the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Cognitive Dissonance, Denial, Economics, Environment, Fossil Fuels, IPCC, Junk Science, Maketplace of Ideas, Politics, Religion, Scepticism | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

The importance of being earnestly wrong

Posted on October 26, 2013 by

I began my previous post by asking the question: “Must the World Bank now be added to the supposed list of environmentally-alarmist institutions seeking to use the perceived threat of climate change as a pretext for imposing global authoritarian government … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Cognitive Dissonance, Denial, Economics, Environment, Fossil Fuels, IPCC, Maketplace of Ideas, Merchants of Doubt, Politics, Scepticism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How NOT to be sceptical

Posted on August 26, 2013 by

In the process of compiling my previous post, I was reminded of this one; and decided it warranted being re-posted in its own right… Originally posted on 7 September 2011, as How to be a climate change “sceptic”, this is … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Cognitive Dissonance, Confirmation Bias, Denial, Environment, Junk Science, Politics, Pseudo science, Psychology, Scepticism | Leave a comment

Obama: ‘Climate change sceptics = Flat Earth Society’

Posted on June 26, 2013 by

This did not make the news today in the UK but clearly should have done. Analysis by Brenden DeMelle is re-posted here from the DeSmog Blog: President Obama Pegs Fate of Keystone XL On Climate Change Impact; Slams Climate Denial … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Politics, Scepticism | Tagged , , | 8 Comments