Climate Change

Paper8 (first half): Read Christy’s article in EE, pp.567-69 (remember that a copy of the book should be available at the KCC library, under textbooks for courses—inquire at the library; I also have a pdf version of the article in Laulima). What is the overall conclusion that he draws regarding measures to stop global warming? What worldview might he be working within the background? What does he recommend to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?

Now go to the video in Laulima by James Hansen, one of the most highly respected climate scientists in the climate science community.

Paper8, second half: To complete your paper8, recall that the first half briefly looked at someone in the climate science community who apparently falls in the 3% (thus far your paper should be just a few sentences at most). Now we raise the following questions, moving outside of the science to the intersecting realms of politics, ethics, and so on. For the second half of the paper, address each of the following in separate paragraphs, each of which should also contain just a few sentences (try to keep the whole paper to a page if you can):

1. Revisit the fallacy of “appeal to emotion.” In the Frontline video, what might be the predominant emotion that is being exploited to change public opinion about climate change? In a sentence or two, briefly explain how this works according to the video.

2. Now google the fallacy of “composition.” In the Frontline video, explain how this fallacy fits with the selection of time starting-and-end points to argue for temperature decline (or non-rising levels). How do scientists in the video respond
to this selection? (Again, keep this paragraph to a couple of sentences.)

3. From our lecture on fallacies, what fallacies might Climate-Gate be guilty of? Explain and justify your answer in a few sentences.

4. From the Oreskes video, what does she identify as the main reason for resistance to the findings of the climate science community? Explain in a few sentences.

 

Websites needed for the videos:

–

–

–

–