How to Argue with a Climate Skeptic (and Win)

When arguing with a climate skeptic who claims the climate has always changed, start by asking a simple question. Are you telling me that you know something that over 99% of climate scientists have missed?Then ask them about the last time they had a fever. We know our healthy body temperature is 98.6 degrees. An increase of just 1 or 2 degrees and we’re sick. Ask them how they felt when they had a temperature over 100 degrees.The earth is just like the human body. An increase of just 1.5 degrees means our earth is running a fever. We already know that a small temperature shift can completely upend human civilization.Between 1300 and 1850 the global temperature dropped by .5 to 1 degree which was caused by massive volcanic eruptions blocking sunlight and a dip in solar activity. This is the same amount of temperature changes we’re seeing today, but in the opposite direction. It resulted in massive food shortages and famine. Glaciers grew and swallowed up entire farms and villages. That cold triggered crop failures, mass starvation, the French Revolution, and a spike in European witch trials. So, a drop of just 1 degree was enough to freeze oceans, wipe out villages and trigger revolutions.If we turn the thermostat up 1-2 degrees, it would be just as catastrophic, only this time we’ll have rising seas, blistering heatwaves, catastrophic forest fires, and historic droughts.For the skeptics who say that the climate has always changed, remind them that the speed of change is like a moving glacier. Historically it took 1000 years for the temperature to rise just 1 degree. But in just the last 150 years, temperature rose 1.2 degrees. That’s 10 times faster than natural global warming.There’s absolutely no doubt that humans are causing this rapid warming by releasing so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses act like piling on a heavy winter coat. The room doesn’t have to be hotter, but your body heat can’t escape. The earth is trapping solar energy right at the surface. Our oceans act like a giant sponge, absorbing over ninety per cent of this trapped heat. This massive volume of stored energy is melting polar ice sheets at an accelerating rate.The melting ice causes global sea levels to rise every year, directly threatening coastal communities. Everywhere, mountain glaciers are shrinking, birds are nesting earlier, and marine life is migrating north looking for colder water.And we’re about to get hit with the strongest El Nino on record. This means heat from the Pacific Ocean is now going to be dumped into the atmosphere, making global temperatures even hotter. There’s a 90% chance that 2027 is going to be the warmest year on record around the world. The last super El Nino we saw was in 2015 and this meant 2016 was the warmest year on record that year. Scientists think that in 2027 we might see the first single month where global temperatures temporarily cross the terrifying 2 degree threshold. This is the warmest we’ve ever seen. That is some serious heat. And the countries most affected by this are going to be India, China and Canada.Next year’s weather is going to be even more unstable. The peak of this El Nino is going to be around January or February next year, right when winter happens and the biggest snowstorms happen. Even though Canada and the Arctic are going to be warmer than average in the winter, this means more snow possibly for places in the Northeast US. So, we might see huge Nor’easters this coming winter.And no, El Ninos are not caused by climate change. But climate change combined with El Ninos can cause devastating consequences. And yes, humans are currently the ones causing climate change right now. Yes, maybe in the past, millions of years ago, it was natural, but now it’s human made because of all the carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses we’re dumping into the atmosphere.If none of this convinces your friend, you might need new friends.What are your favorite lines from climate skeptics? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit quietcanines.substack.com/subscribe