We’ve all encountered them, shuffling across the cultural landscape like desiccated zombies: arguments about climate change that have been bludgeoned with a thousand rebuttals, but keep lurching to life, attacking again and again. Each time they appear, the search begins again for the same rebuttals, the same citations and resources. In the face of this kind of undead onslaught, even Buffy might lose her perk.
Coby Beck wants to help. Over the course of 2006, he’s written a series of posts called “How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic.” He wanted to …
… provide a layman’s guide to defending against the assorted specious attacks that are out there, both by pointing out the basic logical fallacies they are based on and providing some appropriate reference material to avoid the typical “is too, is not” exchanges these things frequently devolve into.
Mission accomplished, as they say, almost 60 carefully argued posts and hundreds of citations later.
I’m very happy to report that Coby has agreed to join us here at Gristmill, and happier yet to report that he’ll be bringing his series with him. Each entry will be updated, improved, or polished as necessary and then published on Gristmill, one per day.
Your one-stop shop for the series is this cross-referenced index of all the posts. Right now, most of the links point back to Coby’s blog. As time goes on, the links will shift over to Gristmill.
This is a fantastic resource, and we’re going to make it even better and more useful in the coming year. We’ve got some big plans around the series, but we’ll save those announcements for when the time is right.
And while I’m discussing good news, I’d also like to welcome climate scientist Andrew Dessler to Gristmill. Nobody tackles issues around climate and climate politics with more clarity and insight than Andrew. You’ll find him a breath of fresh air amidst the hype and rhetoric that so often cloud discussions of global warming.
Welcome, Coby and Andrew!
