Some people believe global warming is a hoax; a conspiracy cooked up by politicians to control our lives. Are they right? Or, are we on the edge of an imminent climate change disaster?
Is global warming a conspiracy or imminent climate change disaster?
Here’s a simple way to look at the issue. Every year, our cars, power plants and factories emit around 38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air.1 As the amount of CO2 emitted increases each decade, the number of trees available to absorb carbon reduces. This is because deforestation is on the rise. There is no doubt that these greenhouse gases have an impact on the atmosphere.2
In fact, they have a huge impact. Greenhouse gases trap heat from the earth and keep it locked in. This raises temperatures over time. Scientists can clearly show that average global temperatures have risen every year, and at a more rapid rate since the turn of the century.3
Does it matter if temperatures rise a little bit? Isn’t it better to have a warmer climate? The problem is that the earth’s climate is delicately balanced. A stable climate is essential for predictable weather patterns. As temperatures rise, these weather patterns are disrupted and cause extreme swings in weather. This leads to flooding, droughts, heatwaves, forest fires and extreme cold weather. It disrupts our food supplies, floods our homes and wildfires consume our towns. Scientists have drawn a clear link between rising temperatures and extreme climate events.4
Why do people think global warming is a hoax?
So, why do some people still believe global warming is a hoax? Firstly, there has been a concerted effort by fossil fuel companies to misrepresent or deny evidence of global warming. For example, Exxon was one of these companies. “What they [Exxon] did was immoral. They spread doubt about the dangers of climate change when their own researchers were confirming how serious a threat it was”, one scientist told the BBC.5
Many people also believe global warming is a hoax due to unconscious bias – they dislike the politics of people worried about climate change, or they have concerns around claims that it would lead to rising taxes or loss of freedom. In other words, people may believe global warming is a socialist viewpoint and disregard the scientific facts entirely.6
For example, Jerry Taylor, a well known American commentator, told the BBC, “For 25 years, climate sceptics like me made it a core matter of ideological identity that if you believe in climate change, then you are by definition a socialist. That is what climate sceptics have done.”BBC.7 He has now realised he was wrong, and he is trying to make amends.
But, many others continue to wrongly believe that global warming is a hoax – we must change that. Global warming is the defining crisis of our time.8
Sources
- Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2017). CO2 emissions. [online] Our World in Data. Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions.
- Nunez, C. (2019). Greenhouse gases, explained. [online] Nationalgeographic.com. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/greenhouse-gases/.
- NASA (2019). Global surface temperature | NASA Global Climate Change. [online] Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/.
- Lindsey, R. and Dahlman, L. (2020). Climate Change: Global Temperature | NOAA Climate.gov. [online] Climate.gov. Available at: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature.
- How the oil industry made us doubt climate change. (2020). BBC News. [online] 19 Sep. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-53640382.
- Hall, D. (2019). Climate explained: why some people still think climate change isn’t real.[online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-why-some-people-still-think-climate-change-isnt-real-124763.
- How the oil industry made us doubt climate change. (2020). BBC News. [online] 19 Sep. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-53640382.
- Refugees, U.N.H.C. for (n.d.). “Climate change is the defining crisis of our time and it particularly impacts the displaced.” [online] UNHCR. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/latest/2020/11/5fbf73384/climate-change-defining-crisis-time-particularly-impacts-displaced.html#:~:text=most%20vulnerable%20people%3F- [Accessed 16 Feb. 2021].