Intellectual Climate Debate: The Alarmists are Alarmed

“… the self-professed expert class and many who call themselves journalists dismiss anyone who questions their Covid vaccine orthodoxy as an ‘anti-vaxxer’—a label as sneering as ‘climate denier’.” [“‘Experts’ Are Fueling Distrust in Vaccines,” Allysia Finley, Wall Street Journal (January 9, 2023)

Everyone likes competition for the things they buy but not for the things they sell. Climate alarmists are selling, and many of us are urging the public not to buy—with success. That has caused an uptick in censorship tricks by the activist Left.

Witness YouTube censoring an interview by the Heartland Institute with esteemed climatologist Judith Curry. Both sides understand that a fair and open debate on climate change exposes the exaggeration and neuters the alarmism–and debate over wind/solar/batteries exposes the hypocrisy of those claiming to have the green, living space in mind.

Last month, a few disgruntled climate activists were given voice in The Guardian about an alleged rise of pushback on social media, particularly on Twitter under its new ownership. Some quotations from #ClimateScam: denialism claims flooding Twitter have scientists worried (December 2, 2022)follow.

Twila Moon, National Snow and Ice Data Center:

“Folks noticing a rise in climate denialism and disinformation is particularly worrying and I am concerned that it could slow climate action in ways that are devastating to economies, communities and health.”

Jennie King, Institute for Strategic Dialogue:

“There’s no evidence there are more posts with ‘climate scam’ than ‘climate emergency’ or other terms, or that they are getting more engagement, so it’s a bit perplexing why it’s the top search term, we are scratching our heads at it.”

“I can understand climate scientists saying this is not a productive place for conversations with each other any more. They’ve become lightening rods for hate speech and death threats, we are seeing a real escalation of threats against them, intended to drive them off the platform.”

“[Jordan] Peterson is a big one because his brand extends beyond the environment but now he’s doubling down on climate. We’ve seen time and again these accounts that espouse climate denial and delay also spread misinformation on other topics, such as electoral fraud, racial politics or reproductive rights.

Notice the term “climate denial,” the claim of “hate speech and death threats” (also experienced by critics of climate exaggeration), and the inclusion of unrelated climate issues to create victims of association. Ms. King does not want to debate but assume. That’s religion, that’s The Church of Climate.

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Last November, Inside Climate News titled a story, Climate Disinformation Campaigns Threaten COP27 Progress, a New Report Concludes. It began:

On Tuesday, the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition released a new analysis of efforts to undermine climate action and found that false and misleading claims made by right-wing media outlets about global warming and clean energy continue to affect public perception about the climate crisis. The fossil fuel industry, the authors said, is riding that wave of disinformation into the climate talks to promote false solutions.

“Misinformation has sowed uncertainty and impeded the recognition of risk … and the rise of climate misinformation is undermining climate action here at COP27,” Jacob Dubbins, a coauthor of the new report, said here at a press conference.  

NRDC headlined a story, “Climate Misinformation on Social Media Is Undermining Climate Action,” using the tobacco analogy and a fossil-fuel conspiracy.

“A Wintery Avalanche of Climate Disinformation,” stated the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment last month.

And it goes on. There is the Climate Disinformation Coalition , DeSmog, and other groups trying to keep up with all of the ‘disinformation’. If only they would turn the spotlight on themselves with a look at the real data on weather extremes and consider the benefits of the human influence on climate and CO2 itself…. And wind, solar, and batteries: are you sure ever bigger machines running at low capacity factors are ‘environmental’?

Open up the debate, don’t close it. Real or imagined cases of ‘climate anxiety’ deserve no less.

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