How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic: Responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming
Talking to climate change deniers and skeptics can tricky. Here are handy responses to some of the most frequent arguments climate deniers use.
In This Series
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‘There is no evidence’ — Yes, there is
(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide)
Objection: Despite what the computer models tell us, there is actually no evidence of significant global warming.
Answer: Global warming is not an output of computer models; it is a conclusion based on observations of a great many global indicators. By far the most straightforward evidence is the actual surface temperature record. While there are places -- in England, for example -- that have records going back several centuries, the two major global temperature analyses can only go back around 150 years due to their requirements for both quantity and distribution of temperature recording stations.
These are the two most reputable globally and seasonally averaged temperature trend analyses:
