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Invalid Arguments: Climate Change

2013-09-27 · list · Hank · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Advocacy & fundraising

Hank says humanity must first agree that climate change is a real, human-caused problem, rebuts ten common arguments against it, and argues for using fossil fuels less while expressing faith that humanity can solve the problem.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank will be alive in 2060, when population peaks and climate effects bite; problems stay unsolved, but first we must agree there is a problem

  • ★★ Hank says he will probably still be alive in 2060, which is when world population will probably peak at around 10 billion. (hedged) — 00:00:01
  • ★★ Hank says 2060 is probably when the really significant effects of global climate change start to be felt, a problem that will not be solved in the next 50 years. (hedged) — 00:00:09 · climate change
  • ★★ Hank says many problems will remain unsolved when he and John die, and that is okay: no one has ever died having solved all the problems; there is still a path toward solving them. — 00:00:15
  • ★★★ Hank feels that before walking that path we have to agree there is a problem, which apparently has not happened yet. (hedged) — 00:00:30 · climate change

00:00:37 — Rebuttals 1-5: climate change is natural; CO2 follows temperature; the sun; urban thermometers; the Earth is cooling

  • ★★ Hank sets out the top 10 arguments people use to say global warming is not real or not caused by humans, with his responses. — 00:00:37
  • ★★★ To "climate change is natural", Hank says the climate did change in the past, often because of rising carbon dioxide, which clearly indicates more carbon dioxide raises temperatures. — 00:00:43 · climate change
  • ★★★ To "CO2 rose only because temperatures rose", Hank says many past warmings began without CO2, but CO2 then rose and amplified them; 90% of the warming came after CO2 increased. — 00:01:00
  • ★★ To "the sun's been getting hotter", Hank simply answers no. — 00:01:15
  • ★★★ To "thermometers sit in hot cities", Hank says warming shows up in urban and rural weather stations, satellite data and deep-ocean thermometers; scientists are not stupid. — 00:01:24
  • ★★★ To "the Earth is cooling", Hank says it is not at all: 2000 to 2010 was the hottest decade on record. — 00:01:36

00:01:44 — Rebuttals 6-9: warming is slowing; the 1970s ice age; cherry-picking; more Antarctic ice

  • ★★ To "it's not warming as fast", Hank grants that the trend since 2009 is less steep, but says climate does not change on a scale of years; it must be read over decades and centuries. — 00:01:46
  • ★★★ To "they predicted an ice age in the 70s", Hank says a small research team did and the media covered it for about two weeks, but most peer-reviewed 1970s science said the climate was warming because of CO2 emissions. — 00:02:02
  • ★★ To "you're cherry-picking", Hank says evidence for warming comes from nearly every branch of science: animal and disease ranges, crop yields, water temperatures, snowfall, snowmelt and sea levels. — 00:02:17
  • ★★★ To "Antarctica has more ice", Hank says it has more sea ice, which forms and melts seasonally, but its land ice, the glaciers, is melting at an alarming rate. — 00:02:37

00:03:04 — Fossil fuels are great, but have costs: use less, develop alternatives, be efficient; faith in humanity solving problems; sign-off

  • ★★ On "fossil fuels are great", Hank agrees: he thinks they are miraculous and precious, and he will not rag on people who work hard providing inexpensive energy. (hedged) — 00:03:04
  • ★★★ Hank says burning fossil fuels has costs, so we must use them less, develop alternatives, be more efficient and change how we live. — 00:03:18
  • ★★★ Hank says that as long as we agree there is a problem, he has complete faith in humanity's ability to solve it, because solving problems is what we do best. — 00:03:30 · optimism

In the description and comments

  • ★★★ In the description Hank says climate change is here, happening, caused by humanity, and one of the largest problems humanity will ever face. — video description · climate change
  • ★★ In the description Hank asks that people finally agree climate change is not a conspiracy theory made up to annoy the rich and powerful. — video description · climate change
  • ★★ In the description Hank says he believes humanity will face climate change with the desperate ingenuity and bravado of its whole history, and survive it. (hedged) — video description · climate change, optimism
  • ★★ Answering the claim that the sun is getting hotter, Hank adds that after 1975 there was little connection between solar activity and the Earth's temperature. — video description
  • ★★ Explaining Antarctica's growing sea ice, Hank says melting land ice results in an increase in sea ice. — video description
  • ★★ Hank lists sources for each rebuttal in the video and recommends Skeptical Science as a great resource on the subject. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: climate change · climate change denial · fossil fuel

Also: Concepts: carbon dioxide · cherry picking · energy transition · glacier · global cooling · optimism · peer review · scientific consensus · sea ice · Sea level rise · urban heat island

Places: Antarctica · Sun (star)

fact: world population

Only in the description or credits: conspiracy theory · Skeptical Science

Also centred on fossil fuel: The Paris Accord: What is it? And What Does it All Mean? · The Biggest Climate Bill of Your Life - But What does it DO!?

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