Metaphors & SoundbitesTags:denial
"Rising greenhouse gas emissions pose significant risks to society and ecosystems." — Exxon Mobil.
"It is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant, and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting."
"People used to think the world was flat. Then others said it was a perfect sphere. Once we could accurately measure, it turns out they are ...
"The evidence for climate change is not a house of cards, where you take one piece out and the whole theory falls apart. It's more like a mo ...
Some skeptics view climate science as a house of cards. You pull one card from the bottom and the whole thing collapses. But science is mo ...
Who amongst us hasn't delayed opening a bill or bank statement, because we want to postpone reading the unpleasant news?
"Do you consult your dentist about your heart condition? In science, as in any area, reputations are based on knowledge and expertise in ...
"When I was six years old, there were conflicting theories about how babies were born. Somebody said a stork brought them. Another guy said ...
Saying 'I hate government regulation, therefore global warming is a hoax,' is akin to saying 'I hate shots, therefore the flu doesn't exist. ...
"I am a pilot. I love flying in bad weather because you must trust the cockpit instruments. Up here, if you do not accept science, you die.— ...
"When it comes to climate change, true skepticism is two-sided. One-sided skepticism is no skepticism at all." —Michael Mann. ...
"Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics. That's all she is. You cannot sweet-talk her. You cannot spin her. You cannot tell he ...
"'Coal = Jobs.' Yes, for lung doctors."—Thomas Friedman, New York Times Columnist
"Global warming will very probably unleash unstoppable planetary forces. And they will not be gradual. The history of our planet’s climate s ...
97 of 100 doctors recommend quick action to correct your child's serious abnormalities revealed by tests. One doctor says the child seems ...
"We desperately want to believe that big problems are overblown or nonexistent. Whenever a group of people 'desperately wants to believe' s ...
If aliens came and damaged our planet, would you declare them 'persons' and give them money, or would you mobilize to fight them?
Suppose you saw a dead body in a crime scene. Would you believe a police detective who says, 'A ghost did it!' when there's evidence everyw ...
Some people say ‘When you are sure about climate change, then we will do something about it.’ Suppose your doctor says ‘Well, I am very ...
Climate change is like one of those Hollywood disaster movies that pit obstructionists against ordinary people who become heroes. Those movi ...
“The prospect of extreme climate change and its potentially devastating economic and social consequences are of great concern to the insuran ...
Climate change is "a significant investment risk for the foreseeable future".
Human's aren't the first species to alter the atmosphere; that distinction belongs to cyanobacteria, (blue-green algae) which, some two bill ...
"To do nothing when the situation is changing rapidly is not a conservative thing to do." — Spencer R. Weart from his book, The Discovery of ...
"To my free enterprise colleagues -- especially conservatives here -- (if) you think it's all a bunch of hooey, the Chinese don't." — conser ...
"I really, really deplore the politicisation and polarisation of this issue" [global warming]. "There are these increasingly unprincipled at ...
Fossil fuel industry is the only industry on earth throwing its waste out for free. If you run a restaurant, you have to pay someone to car ...
Just as bad as wearing outdated disco clothes is believing this outdated idea: 'scientists still disagree if humans are causing climate chan ...
Skepticism = looking at all the evidence before drawing a conclusion. Denial = rejecting any evidence that does not support your preferred, ...
I am skeptical we can keep burning fossil fuels with a business as usual mentality without harming the planet.
Galileo championed the idea that Earth revolves around the sun, but some of his evidence was later proven wrong. Today, peer review and co ...
"Science is so powerful that it drags us kicking and screaming towards the truth, despite our best efforts to avoid it."
Science denial and politicization occurs whenever some influential group sees a new discovery as threatening to their worldview, values, st ...
"Are we going to go down in history as the people who saved the bankers and let the biosphere go down?" —George Monbiot
"Don't look now, but that hoax just ate New Jersey."— Melinda Henneberger, Washington Post.
"Responsibility is a big Republican theme. Why should we not take responsibility for what we are collectively doing to the climate system?" ...
'(Contrarians) seem “certain” the world’s scientists are wrong, and spewing 90 million tons per day of man-made (CO2) pollution into the atm ...
Reject climate change? "Make sure to say that very publicly, because I want our grandchildren to read what you said and what I said." - Bob ...
'If you dismiss all climate science as a hoax, I can’t help you. That’s between you & your beach house — and your kids, whose future you’re ...
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." -- James Baldwin
'No warming in 15 years' is like arguing your car is broken down because it hasn't moved in the 15 seconds while you stopped at a red light. ...
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If there is, you might get food poisoning.
"This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through...a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burn ...
"The last time climate change happened this fast was the Cretaceous (time of the dinosaurs) and the oil was being made then." - Stephanie C ...
No doctor can tell us exactly how and when we'll die. But that doesn't invalidate the reality of mortality. We can be quite certain tha ...
We burn fossil fuels a million times faster than nature created them. Sooner or later, we will run out. — inspired by Dr. Richard Alley on ...
Have you ever stood on a beach and watched the tide coming in? The long-term trend (the water level steadily rising) is hidden behind sh ...
Calling him [an oil lobbyist] a serious source on climate is like calling a fox a "serious" protector of the hen house.
(With climate change) “we will see a shorter snow season, but more intense individual snowfall events. – Dr. Michael Mann, Climatologist at ...
Some people ignore a suspicious lump in their body, hoping it will go away. When they eventually go to the doctor -- because of night sweat ...
“Think of climate change as something that increases our risks of being unlucky. We need to prepare up front as we move into a warmer, hott ...
To declare that the warming has not yet appeared and therefore the theory is wrong is like arguing that "a woman hasn't yet given birth and ...
"It may not be common sense, but if common sense were good enough, we wouldn't need science."
Oh really, what is your evidence? Many people are confused about the definition of the word 'theory,' especially with climate change.
"If (Hurricane Sandy) was a criminal case, detectives would be treating global warming as a likely accomplice in the crime. - writer Andrew ...
Alarmed by Hurricane Sandy’s destruction and the current drought? Warning: Mother Nature is now imposing ‘an extreme weather tax.’
'First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.'
“Climate change is a threat to our freedoms. If you're a Great Plains rancher or a farmer, your freedom is enormously constrained by the fa ...
"Under pressure from climate stress even the most robust constitutional democracy may find its character threatened. Faced with more stress ...
"Congressman, set aside climate change, you realize that...things I suggested will help us be a lot more resilient against terrorism or oil ...
"I do not want the government telling me what to do. But, the longer we wait, the worse this problem gets...then you are going to see a lot ...
It is easier to argue for the existence of Santa Claus than argue against all the evidence of climate change.— a scientist at Washington Uni ...
It's hard to change habits, especially when the most harmful consequences lie in the distant future. Try convincing a teenager to stop smok ...
Who amongst us has not delayed opening a bank or credit card statement because we don't want to be reminded of the unpleasant news it contai ...
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." -- Mark Twain
"Call Me Cleopatra, 'Cause I'm the Queen of Denial" -- country-wes ...
Debate is a contest of orators; Science is a contest of evidence.
Telling the inhabitants of a coral that island that they're safe because sea level won't rise, is like a doctor telling a smoker, "stop worr ...
"...97–98% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field support the tenets of ACC [anthropogenic climate change] outline ...
Some skeptics conflate 'uncertainty' with 'ignorance'. This is the idea that because scientists are uncertain about some aspect [of climate ...
"It's very easy right now to talk about climate change as... theoretical, to talk about the dirtiness caused by coal plants as...aesthetic" ...
"Let me address the argument that CO2 is benign because we exhale it. That's about as good an argument as saying a tsunami isn't dangerous ...
Saying ‘we won’t do anything until China does’ is like saying ’We won’t protect free speech until China does.’ — Senator Barbara Boxer, Cali ...
"People often ask if I believe in global warming. I now just reply with the question: 'Do you believe in gravity.'" — Neil deGrasse Tyson, ...
“Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful” — George E. P. Box
"When we look at the last 4 decades, we've seen 0.5°C global warming. Some people say, 'well that's not much!' Then I tell them to think o ...
"(Climate Change) is ultimately an argument of humans vs. physics. It is not Republicans vs. Democrats, liberals vs conservatives, or envir ...
"It's getting warmer. Storms are getting stronger...and it's getting harder to say this is an accident of nature" — Dr. Stephen Schneider.
When you've built a great wall of evidence it takes more than a brick coming loose to bring the whole lot down.
"Blaming La Nina for the record drought is like blaming the car engine for the speeding ticket. See what happens when the driver steps on th ...
"You never have 100% certainty in anything. If you wait for 100% certainty on the battlefield, something bad is going to happen." — Vice Ad ...
'You can't wake a person who is pretending to sleep'—Oromo saying, Ethiopia
"A wait and see policy may mean waiting until it is too late." — 1979 National Academy of Sciences report, Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Sc ...
'Or if the sun revolves around the earth?' Climate Scientist Michael E. Mann's response to the statement that climate change is a hoax.
Humans have overrun the planet to live in every ecosphere. We have had a dramatic impact on natural resources in every land we have colonise ...
Imagine your radiologist pointing to a spot on your lung x-ray, which several top oncologists have agreed shows cancer.. Would you say, 'I ...
" 'Clean coal' represents a breakthrough —in the marketing of coal. But it does not represent a breakthrough in the burning of coal." ...
In 1931, a book was published, "100 Authors Against Einstein." Albert Einstein's response: "If I were wrong, then one would be enough."
Sure, the climate always changes—just like asteroids have always hit the Earth. But does that mean that a big asteroid hitting the Earth tod ...
"To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy." — Jon Huntsman
As the Arctic warms, so the northern continents at higher latitudes experience cold winters with heavy snow falls. It's rather like the frid ...