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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

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To-do Skeptic Arguments

Here all all the skeptic arguments. Greyed out arguments have already been answered. Bold arguments are yet to be answered. Note: the focus is on the science-based arguments towards the top of the list. More policy-based arguments towards the bottom are not yet the focus of this website.

  • It's not happening
    • Scientists falsified data
      • Phil Jones hid flaws in UHI study
        • Chinese station data is missing
      • NASA emails show corruption
      • New Zealand data was fudged
        • Australian BOM Data Fudged
      • Darwin temperature adjustments
      • CRU lost temperature data
      • NASA blew up their own satellite
      • Mid-century cooling was rewritten
      • Ben Santer rewrote the 1995 IPCC report
      • Scientists withheld data
    • Temp record is unreliable
      • Hockey stick is broken
        • Briffa's hockey stick was broken
        • Tiljander was flipped upside down
        • Tree-rings diverge from temperature after 1960
        • Temperature proxies are unreliable
        • Russian Kola data refutes hockey stick
        • McShane and Walters debunk the hockey stick
        • Ljungqvist broke the hockey stick
        • Principal components disprove hockey stick
        • Marcott's hockey stick is broken
      • Dropped stations introduce warming bias
        • NASA exclude Arctic stations
        • Russian data was not included
      • It's Urban Heat Island effect
        • Spencer finds less warming in US than CRU
        • Airports inflate warming trend
      • Global temperature does not exist
        • Regional climate change is more important than global temperature change
      • 1934 - hottest year on record
      • It's microsite influences
      • NASA GISS adjustments introduce warming bias
      • IPR restriction invalidate climate research
      • Increase in temperature is less than instrument error
      • Mercury thermometers can't measure within tenths of a degree
      • 3 of 4 temperature datasets are interdependent
      • There's not enough weather stations
      • Satellite error inflated Great Lakes temperatures
      • Satellite temperature measurements are degrading
      • Thermometer measurements are uncertain
      • Satellite record is more reliable than thermometers
    • It's cooling
      • We're heading into an ice age
        • Solar cycle 24 will stop global warming
        • Without CO2 emissions, we'd be in an ice age
      • It's freaking cold!
        • It snowed somewhere
        • 2009-2010 winter saw record cold spells
        • Record snowfall disproves global warming
          • Record high snow cover was set in winter 2008/2009
      • Oceans are cooling
      • It hasn't warmed since 1998
      • The southern hemisphere hasn't warmed as much
      • Phil Jones says no global warming since 1995
      • Radiative imbalance is negative
      • Global warming stopped in 1998, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2010, ????
        • BEST hides the decline in global temperature
        • No warming in 16 years
      • DMI show cooling Arctic
      • We're heading into cooling
      • There's been statistically-significant cooling since 2001
      • Global warming has stopped so can't be causing Arctic warming
    • Ice isn't melting
      • Antarctica is gaining ice
        • Antarctica is cooling
        • Antarctica is too cold to lose ice
        • Antarctic ice melt is falling
      • Glaciers are growing
      • Greenland is gaining ice
        • Ice Sheet losses are overestimated
        • Greenland has lost ice before
        • Greenland ice loss is slowing down
      • Antarctica snowfall hasn't risen
      • Arctic icemelt is a natural cycle
        • Arctic sea ice has recovered
          • Arctic sea ice loss is matched by Antarctic sea ice gain
          • Arctic sea ice loss in the 1940s was similar to today's
          • Arctic sea ice extent was lower in the past
        • Wind is causing Arctic sea ice loss
        • North Pole has been ice free before
        • Arctic ice melt is caused by underwater volcanoes
        • Northwest passage has been navigated in the past
        • Arctic Storm Caused the 2012 Record Sea Ice Minimum
      • Global sea ice is increasing
      • Southern sea ice is increasing
    • Climategate CRU emails suggest conspiracy
      • Trenberth can't account for the lack of warming
      • Scientists tried to 'hide the decline' in global temperature
      • Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were ignored
      • Peer review process was corrupted
        • Climate science peer review is pal review
      • Climategate was whitewashed
        • Oxburgh's trick to hide the trick
        • Muir Russell lied about deleted emails
      • CRU tampered with temperature data
      • Skeptics were kept out of the IPCC?
      • Principal source of predictions is CRU
    • Sea level rise is exaggerated
      • Pacific Islands are not drowning
        • Pacific Islanders aren't evacuating due to rising sea levels
      • Maldives is not sinking
      • Bangladesh sea levels aren't rising
      • Arctic sea level is falling
      • Sea level was high 81,000 years ago in Mallorca
      • New Zealand sea level rise is not accelerating
      • Sea level rise is decelerating
        • Sea level fell in 2010
      • Sea level is not rising
        • New data sets on sea levels not rising
        • Scientists admitted faking sea level rise
      • Tuvalu sea level isn't rising
    • There is no consensus
      • IPCC is alarmist
        • IPCC were wrong about Dutch sea levels
        • IPCC were wrong about Himalayan glaciers
          • Himalayan glaciers are not shrinking
        • IPCC overstated link to extreme storms
        • IPCC were wrong about Amazon rainforests
        • IPCC exagerated African agriculture impact
        • IPCC overestimate temperature rise
          • Monckton shows the IPCC overestimated warming
        • Pachauri labelled Himalayagate as 'voodoo science'
        • IPCC were wrong about Antarctic sea ice
        • IPCC ‘disappeared’ the Medieval Warm Period
        • 1/3 of IPCC is not peer-reviewed
        • The IPCC consensus is phoney
        • IPCC relied on one solar physicist
        • IAC review of IPCC is devastating
        • IPCC overpredicts CO2 rise
        • UN predicted 50 million climate refugees
        • Uncertainties have been underestimated
        • IPCC graph showing accelerating trends is misleading
        • 28% of IPCC arguments are incorrect
        • IPCC edited out natural causes of climate change
        • IPCC admit they got it wrong
          • IPCC admits global warming has paused
        • IPCC human-caused global warming attribution confidence is unfounded
        • IPCC global warming projections were wrong
      • Al Gore got it wrong
        • Al Gore is a hypocrite
        • Al Gore overestimated sea level rise by factor of 100
      • Less than half of published scientists endorse global warming
      • 500 scientists refute the consensus
      • APS reversed its stance on climate change
      • Naomi Oreskes' study on consensus was flawed
      • The science isn't settled
        • Proponents don't attempt to falsify AGW
          • AGW is an argument from authority
            • Mainsream Media is biased against climate skepticism
        • It's not 100% certain
        • Statistics makes science like a crapshoot
        • AGW advocates wont debate with skeptics
      • They changed the name from 'global warming' to 'climate change'
      • 900+ peer reviewed papers are skeptical of AGW
        • The Science Is Not Settled
      • Over 31,000 scientists signed the OISM Petition Project
      • Institute of Physics doesn't support AGW
      • Climate 'Skeptics' are like Galileo
      • PNAS study publishes black list of skeptics
      • Royal Society embraces skepticism
      • The 97% of Scientists is a small sample
      • US Senate Minority Report Debunks Concensus
      • Consensus is not science
      • Calling skeptics 'deniers' is equating them to Holocaust deniers
      • The consensus is crumbling
      • The 97% consensus on human-caused global warming is a robust result
      • 97% consensus on human-caused global warming has been disproven
      • Cook et al consensus study is flawed
        • Less than 1% of papers agree with consensus
        • 67% of 12,000 papers have no position on AGW
        • Deniers are part of the 97%
        • Many authors claim misrepresentation
        • Cook didn't release his data
        • Cook et al paper was a PR exercise
        • Self-raters are not representative sample
        • Cook et al used an unquantified definition of consensus
        • Classification asymmetry biased against rejection papers
        • Cook et al search parameters were too restrictive
      • AMS survey found 52% consensus
    • Climate scientists are in it for the money
      • It's all a socialist plot
      • Global warming is money motivated
        • Climate scientists are manipulated by funding threats and promises
        • AGW science has been polticized
      • It's an anti-capitalist political myth
        • It's environmentalist propaganda
        • It's a plot to set up a one world government
        • Nazis invented global warming
      • Grants are awarded to consensus scientists
    • Deserts are retreating
    • Springs aren't advancing
    • Global warming theory isn't falsifiable
    • AGW is religion
    • Global warming does not cause volcanic eruptions
    • Melting ice isn't warming the Arctic
    • The stratosphere isn't cooling as predicted
    • Hurricane activity was low in 2010
    • Opinion polls suggest the public don't believe in Global Warming
    • Global warming is a hoax
    • IPCC needs improvement
    • European heat wave exaggerated
  • It's not us
    • There's no empirical evidence
      • AGW is an argument from ignorance
      • Warm nights are due to urbanisation
      • Any warming will increase downward radiation
      • Many forcings could explain stratospheric cooling
    • Increasing CO2 has little to no effect
      • CO2 is just a trace gas
      • Outgoing longwave radiation hasn't changed
      • CO2 has a short residence time
      • CO2 effect is saturated
        • Postma disproved the greenhouse effect
      • Greenhouse effect has been falsified
        • Moon is warmer than expected
        • Robert Wood 1908 experiment disproved greenhouse effect
      • CO2 is heavier than air
      • 2nd law of thermodynamics contradicts greenhouse theory
      • CO2 cools as well as heats
        • CO2 cools according to adiabatic theory
      • CO2 effect is logarithmic
      • Venus doesn't have a runaway greenhouse effect
      • CO2 only causes 35% of global warming
      • LWIR back radiation does not heat the oceans but causes evaporation and cooling
      • Removing all CO2 would make little difference
      • Water vapor masks CO2 effect
      • CO2 is invisible, odourless, weightless, tasteless
    • Climate's changed before
      • Medieval Warm Period was warmer
        • Boreholes show strong Medieval Warm Period
      • Was Greenland really green in the past?
        • Greenland was warmer in 1940
      • We're coming out of the Little Ice Age
        • We're coming out of an ice age
          • Sea level has been rising for millennia
        • Central England warmed more in the 18th century
        • Akasofu Proved Global Warming is Just a Recovery from the Little Ice Age
      • CO2 was higher in the past
        • CO2 levels were high during Snowball Earth
        • CO2 was higher in the 1800s
        • CO2 was higher in the late Ordovician
        • Plant stomata show higher and more variable CO2 levels
      • Glaciers have been receding since the 1800's
        • Glacier melt is natural
      • Lake Chad has emptied before
      • Arctic was warmer in 1940
      • It's a 1500 year cycle
      • It's a climate regime shift
        • It's a climate shift step function caused by natural cycles
      • Wine grew in England in Roman times
      • It's a natural cycle
        • It's internal variability
        • It's natural variability
        • Loehle and Scafetta find a 60 year cycle causing global warming
      • Holocene Optimum was warmer
        • Holistic Management can reverse Climate Change
      • Global temperatures have risen as fast in the past
      • Thomas Jefferson wrote about warming winters
      • It was warmer in the Roman Warm Period
      • It warmed just as fast in 1860-1880 and 1910-1940
      • Most of the last 10,000 years were warmer
      • Droughts and floods have happened before
      • Earth was warmer in past interglacials
      • The Earth warmed 11 degrees in the last 10,000 years
      • Humans survived past climate changes
      • Heatwaves have happened before
      • Bushfires have happened in the past
    • There's no correlation between CO2 and temperature
      • Polynomial cointegration refutes AGW
      • It cooled mid-century
      • CO2 lags temperature
        • Deglaciations ended while CO2 was rising
        • Warming causes CO2 rise
        • CO2 increase is natural, not human-caused
      • It warmed before 1940 when CO2 was low
      • Temperature has fallen while CO2 was rising
      • Constructal Law disproves global warming
      • We didn't have global warming during the Industrial Revolution
      • Soares finds lack of correlation between CO2 and temperature
      • An exponential increase in CO2 will result in a linear increase in temperature
    • It's the sun
      • It's cosmic rays
        • It's cosmic-ray-driven ozone depletion
        • CERN CLOUD experiment proved cosmic rays are causing global warming
      • Solar Cycle Length proves its the sun
      • It's SSCs
      • The sun is getting hotter
      • Water levels correlate with sunspots
      • Solar cycles cause global warming
      • It's the solar system
        • It's planetary movements
      • Ultraviolet light increased since 1979
      • Solar flare index and temperature are linked
      • Low solar activity causes cold European winters
      • IPCC's AR5 admitted it's the sun
      • A grand solar minimum could trigger another ice age
    • Other planets are warming
      • Neptune is warming
      • Mars is warming
        • Mars is colder despite all the CO2
      • Jupiter is warming
      • Triton is warming
      • Saturn is warming
      • Pluto is warming
      • Encaladus is warming
      • Iapetus is warming
      • Venus is hot due to internal heating
      • Methane on Mars disproves AGW on Earth
      • Venus is hot from a collision
    • It's the ocean
      • It's El Niño
        • McLean's reply to Foster 2010 was censored
      • It's ocean salinity
      • It's the gulf stream
      • It's Pacific Decadal Oscillation
      • It's Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)
    • CO2 is not the only driver of climate
      • It's clouds
      • It's soot
      • It's the earth's orbit
        • It's Milankovitch cycles
        • The earth’s orbit is decaying
      • It's dust
      • It's aerosols
        • A drop in volcanic activity caused warming
        • Aerosols should mean more warming in the south
      • It's ozone
      • It's methane
        • Animal agriculture and eating meat are the biggest causes of global warming
          • Veganism is the best way to reduce carbon emissions
      • It's magnetic poles
        • Magnetic Polar Shifts Cause Global Superstorms
      • It's ice crystals
      • It's the Milky Way
      • It's land use
      • It's forests
      • It's geothermal
      • It's albedo
      • It's God
        • God won't allow it.
      • It's magma
        • Underground temperatures control climate
      • It's Internal Radiative Forcing
      • It's satellite microwave transmissions
      • It's the moon
      • It's wind
      • It's waste heat
      • It's overpopulation
      • It's CFCs
      • Water vapor is the most powerful greenhouse gas
        • Water vapor in the stratosphere stopped global warming
      • It's heat from combustion
      • It's latent heat flux from increased plant water use efficiency
      • It's gravity
      • It's interstellar dust
      • It's Nibiru/Planet X
      • It's global brightening
      • It's something we haven't thought of
        • Gravity causes global warming
      • Kudzu causes global warming
    • Humans are too insignificant to affect global climate
      • Human CO2 is a tiny % of CO2 emissions
        • It's bushfires
        • It's earthquakes
        • It's bacteria
        • CO2 is coming from the ocean
          • Hemispheric timing show oceans are source of CO2
        • Volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans
          • Underwater volcanoes are warming the oceans
          • Ocean acidification is caused by underwater volcanoes
          • Mt Pinatubo eruption emitted more CO2 than all human CO2 emissions in history
        • CO2 emissions do not correlate with CO2 concentration
        • Breathing contributes to CO2 buildup
        • Murry Salby finds CO2 rise is natural
      • CO2 is not increasing
        • CO2 measurements are suspect
          • Mauna Loa is a volcano
          • Ice core CO2 measurements are uncertain
          • CO2 trajectory is uncertain
          • Carbon cycle uncertainty is high
          • Carbon isotope ratios are inaccurate
    • Models are unreliable
      • Climate is chaotic and cannot be predicted
      • The upper troposphere is drier than the models had predicted
      • Ice age predicted in the 70s
      • Scientists can't even predict weather
      • Aerosols provide too much uncertainty
      • Models exagerate projected temperature rise
      • There's no tropospheric hot spot
        • Satellites show no warming in the troposphere
        • Weather balloons show tropospheric cooling
        • The upper troposphere should warm 2 to 3 times faster than the surface
      • Ozone theory is uncertain
      • Increasing snowfall in Northern Hemisphere invalidates models
      • Hansen's 1988 prediction was wrong
        • Hansen predicted the West Side Highway would be underwater
      • Errors in model projections accumulate over time
      • Clouds provide too much uncertainty
      • Global warming is based on modelling
      • Computer code isn't included in peer-review process
      • There's too much uncertainty
      • Models are rigged to produce desired results
      • Finite-difference solving method don't work with a grid this large
      • UAH atmospheric temperatures prove climate models and/or surface temperature data sets are wrong
    • Extreme weather isn't caused by global warming
      • Hurricanes aren't linked to global warming
        • Global warming doesn't affect tropical cyclones
          • AGW doesn't increase hurricane intensity or frequency
      • The 2003 heat wave was not caused by global warming
      • Drought is not caused by global warming
      • Pakistan flood was nothing special
      • One-in-1,000-year events happen all the time
      • Linking extreme weather to AGW is political opportunism
      • There's no link between global warming and extreme weather
      • 2010 Russian heatwave
      • The connection between Hurricane Sandy and global warming
      • Climate change isn't increasing extreme weather damage costs
    • Sea level rise preceded temperature rise in the past
    • Wildfires are not caused by global warming
    • Diurnal Temperature Range is not decreasing
    • Mt. Kilimanjaro's ice loss is due to land use
    • It's geomagnetic activity
    • It's the clearing stratosphere
    • Hot Water Bottle Effect regulates temperature
    • It's wobble theory
    • Magnetic polar shift correlates to climate change
    • It's nuclear bombs
    • Nuclear testing is causing global warming
    • It's insects
  • It's not bad
    • Climate sensitivity is low
      • Earth hasn't warmed as much as expected
      • Infrared Iris will reduce global warming
      • Negative feedbacks will stabilise climate
        • Growing forests can offset our CO2 emissions
          • Planting a trillion trees will solve global warming
        • Natural weathering will remove excess CO2
        • Early Faint Sun Paradox proves negative feedback
        • Extra plant transpiration-cooling negates CO2 warming
        • Thunderstorms regulate Earth's temperature
        • Negative feedback from vegetation will cancel out global warming
      • Carbon cycle amplification less than thought
        • Ferenc Miskolczi proved that CO2 cannot cause runaway climate change
        • Soil microbes provide negative feedback
        • Permafrost feedback won't happen
      • Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
      • Monckton finds low climate sensitivity
      • Chylek finds low climate sensitivity
      • We don't need to cut CO2 emissions
      • Positive feedback means runaway warming
      • Humidity is falling
      • Clouds provide negative feedback
      • Warming in pipeline is small
      • Non-CO2 forcings have higher efficacy
      • Spectroscopic study finds low climate sensitivity
      • Water vapour levels have fallen since the 1950s hence water vapour does not increase with temperature
      • Roy Spencer finds negative feedback
      • Schmittner finds low climate sensitivity
      • Tropical thermostat limits sea surface temperature to 30°C
      • No long tail means climate sensitivity is low
    • Animals and plants can adapt
      • Mosquito migration is unrelated to global warming
      • Polar bear numbers are increasing
      • Extinctions have always happened and are natural
      • Warming will bring more species diversity
      • Global warming is actually good for rainforests
    • There's no such thing as an ideal climate
      • Earth was warmer for most of its history
    • Greenland ice sheet won't collapse
    • CO2 is not a pollutant
      • CO2 is plant food
        • CO2 increases vegetation
        • CO2 is good for plants
      • Ocean acidification isn't serious
        • Corals are resilient to bleaching
    • Gulf stream is stable
    • Coral reef threat is exaggerated
      • Corals survived during past periods of high CO2
      • More CO2 increases coral calcification
      • Great Barrier Reef is in good shape
    • Technological breakthroughs will fix global warming
      • Better to innovate than mitigate
      • Clean coal will save us
    • Cold spells kill more people than heat waves
    • Sea level rise predictions are exaggerated
      • Scientists retracted claim that sea levels are rising
      • Coral atolls grow as sea levels rise
    • Amazon is not vulnerable to drought
    • Daily temperature change is much greater than long-term climate change
    • Major climate change only occurs over geologic time
    • Heat waves won't become more intense or frequent
    • Greenland has only lost a tiny fraction of its ice mass
    • It's only a few degrees
    • Glacier melt doesn't affect many people
    • God promised Noah no floods
    • Melting permafrost is a good thing
    • Diseases won't spread because of global warming
    • There is no tipping point
    • 300,000 climate deaths estimate is flawed
    • Global warming is beneficial
    • Warmer is better
  • It's too hard
    • CO2 limits will harm the economy
      • Climate change solutions are too expensive
      • Mitigation costs too much
        • Mitigating would cost more than the damages it would prevent
          • Stern used low discount rate
      • A carbon price would raise electricity prices
      • Renewable energy is too expensive
        • Renewable energy investment kills jobs
        • Productivity Commission says renewables aren't cost-efficient
    • CO2 limits will hurt the poor
    • CO2 limits will make little difference
      • Kyoto is useless
      • CO2 limits won't cool the planet
      • CO2 limits will move jobs overseas to less efficient countries
    • Renewables can't provide baseload power
      • Solar panels contribute to global warming
      • Wind turbines kill birds
      • Nuclear power is the cleanest form of energy
      • Gas emissions are 50% better than coal emissions
    • Efficiency leads to more energy use
    • Peak oil will make us reduce emissions anyway
    • Science should keep out of politics
    • It's not urgent
    • Electric cars accelerate global warming
    • Fukushima means fossil fuels are here to stay
    • Humanity needs energy
    • Our country shouldn't go first
      • Europe pay less carbon tax than us
      • Australia emits only 1.5% of global CO2 emissions
    • Can't accurately measure CO2 emissions
    • Electromagnetic fields from solar farms are harmful to human health
    • Toxic heavy metals leach out from solar panels and pose a threat to human health
    • Solar panels generate too much waste and will overwhelm landfills
    • Clearing trees for solar panels negates any climate change benefits
    • Solar energy is worse for the climate than burning fossil fuels
    • Solar projects harm biodiversity
    • Solar projects will hurt farmers and rural communities
    • Solar development will destroy jobs
    • Reliance on solar will make the United States dependent on China and other countries
    • Utility-scale solar farms destroy the value of nearby homes
    • Solar energy is more expensive than fossil fuels and completely dependent on subsidies
    • Solar panels don’t work in cold or cloudy climates
    • Solar energy is unreliable
    • We do not have sufficient mineral resources for [large-scale] solar development
    • Electromagnetic radiation from wind turbines poses a threat to human health
    • Wind turbines are error prone and a threat to human health and safety
    • Low-frequency noise from wind turbines harms human health and causes
    • Shadow flicker from wind turbines can trigger seizures in people with epilepsy
    • Wind turbines are a major threat to birds, bats, and other wildlife.
    • Offshore wind development is harmful to whales and other marine life
    • Producing and transporting wind turbine components releases more carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels
    • Wind turbines will generate an unsustainable amount of waste
    • Wind turbines take up too much land
    • Wind power - particularly offshore wind power - is too expensive
    • Wind turbines are bad for farmers and rural communities
    • Wind energy is bad for U.S. jobs
    • Wind turbines destroy nearby property values
    • Wind energy is unreliable
    • Wind turbines are very noisy
    • Electric vehicles have a net harmful effect on climate change
    • Electric vehicles will cost the United States many automobile industry jobs
    • Electric vehicles are impractical due to range restrictions
    • Electric vehicles cannot function in hot or cold weather
  • It's too late
    • Better to adapt than mitigate
      • Famine and disease are a higher priority
      • CO2 limits take money away from real threats
    • China pollutes more
    • Better to geoengineer
    • It's unstoppable


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