Anti-science types love to read journal reports and pick out just what they like while ignoring the summary or conclusion. One of the biggest examples today is how deniers treat the disagreements between climate scientists. Those who don’t want to conserve energy or switch to a less wasteful lifestyle always jump on the latest disagreements or changes in the scientific field and those who only read the denier's analysis of course agree with them that climate change is a hoax.
For example, a recent report showed that land temperatures were lower this year, especially in North America which is already setting new records for the last decade with early snow and cold temperatures.
Deniers pointed to these results while ignoring that the change was predicted as a result of la ninia. They also misled their followers by conveniently ignoring that the earth is NOT mostly North America, or even mostly land. In fact, 70% of the earth is water covered and sea temperatures continue to rise every year.
The deniers often ignore the difference between climate and weather. One cold year, or a cold decade, is weather. A steadily increasing CO2 level, shrinking glaciers, and growing zones moving steadily northward are climate. A famous (infamous) televangelist Pat Robertson once famously carried a snowball on stage and flatly stated that snow proved climate change was a myth. Perhaps the fact that they are fighting to keep their private jets (air travel is the greatest contributor to climate change) might influence televangelist's attitude since the Bible says nothing about climate change - if you ignore the story of Noah.
What do scientists agree on?
Scientists disagree a lot, they always disagree when new theories are being developed - that’s what makes science work, hundreds of experts arguing and trying to prove the other person wrong. So it’s best to start by looking at what they agree on - it may surprise you if you have any doubts about climate change.
First only one prominent scientist disputes climate change, Freeman Dyson, but he doesn’t say climate change isn’t happening, he doesn’t say CO2 isn’t causing it, nor does he say human actions don't cause climate change. All he does say is that the climate models need to be tweaked.
Science also agree the current level of CO2 is the highest in hundreds of thousands of years and that this increase began with the industrial revolution.
Experts also agree climate change will cause drastic changes in the planet and kill millions or billions of people as land surfaces shrink and sea levels rise.
What is the real disagreement?
So, if all real scientists agree on so much, what is it they disagree on? Deniers will say they disagree on climate change and leave it at that, shaking their heads and then asking for donations to their church, to "fight the false scientific propaganda" but the real disagreement is only the degree of climate change.
Many think the average global temperature will be about 1.8 degrees C higher by 2100. Others say it will rise 2 degrees C by 2050. Some predict a 6 degree C rise by 2100. So they certainly disagree, but a 1.8 degree C rise would be catastrophic.
A 6 degree C rise would kill billions and trigger wars around the world as Immigration peaks as people escape starvation and drowning.
There is a university course at EdX "Making Sense of Climate Change Denial,” from the U. of Queensland. The free online course looks at the economic, social, and psychological reasons for denying scientific fact.
So what climate scientists disagree about isn't climate change, but the degree of climate change and just how many will die.
If you have any doubt that religion can "Trump" science, even obvious science and continue to do so for longer than you could believe, it is instructive to recall that The Catholic Church "officially" denied Galileo's contention that the earth orbits the sun until October 1992 when, after 350 years the Pope finally acknowledged “officially” that Galileo was correct.
