Rise of Global Warming scepticism and its debate

Rise of Global Warming scepticism and its debate

Nowadays, global warming is a big stake for our planet and all its inhabitants. This corpus is composed of four documents. The first one is a cartoon dealing with the fact that skeptics ignore the reality of global warming until the end. The others documents are all articles. The second document, about the global rise of scepticism, is taken from The Economist dated November 5, 2009 when global warming started to become the main issue of the century. The third document is taken from The Independent dated December 6, 2010, when a new gallery opened at London’s Science Museum to let people make their own opinion. The last document is taken from New Scientist dated February 22, 2012, period of extremely high temperatures. For the journalist, we should teach to the youngest the real impact of climate change. How skeptics make people doubt, why and what are the solutions?

There is more and more scepticism. Indeed, the journalist of document 2 explains that, in 2009, 57 % of US citizens think there is solid evidence of rising global temperatures from 71 % in 2008. Nevertheless, there are many natural disasters due to global warming such as tsunamis or storms according to the cartoon. However, the skeptic still ignore irrefutable evidence and the reality of this main issue.

Those skeptics make people doubt and yet, global warming is not anymore the number one problem of people. They still want for example to use less fossil energy, not for climate reason but to save money. This controversy has created a real opposition between the opposing camps, we could call it a war. But, how does it happened?

We had a global rise of scepticism a few years ago, when most scientists and politicians “showed us how the world was dying” according to document 3, and it was due to the human race. So, skeptics argue that “climate change had been wildly exaggerated”. Moreover, people are not ready to make sacrifices to stop climate change.

Furthermore, skeptics argue that human being is not the main cause of global warming. But, according to document 4, most scientists say there is no doubt about it. We can notice that skeptics use the same methods as the tobacco industry or creationists by saying there is a scientific conspiracy, they believe in their truth until the end.

The corpus offers several solutions. For example, the gallery of document 3 helps people to make their own opinion by being neutral. Moreover, according to document 4, we should teach to children climate change’s real impact and delete lies.

But, “climate change is not […] black or white anymore”. Similarly, the debate should not be only political but also civic.

Overall, global warming is a real source of tension and division in our society.

...