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To win the climate debate, we must use the same tools that were used to defeat science and common sense

By Tom Harris - posted Monday, 20 January 2025


So, whenever conservatives have the chance to publicly question climate alarmists, be they from government, the press or any other institution that promotes climate fears, we must ask:

What science are you using to support your claims of climate catastrophe?

The answer will usually be, "We follow the science of the UN IPCC," or words to that effect. Then we must say, loud and clear so that everyone in the audience can hear, "The IPCC does not support your claims about x," where x could be any one of their excited statements about items listed above. You could also add:

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...the terms 'climate emergency' or 'climate crisis' are only mentioned once in the latest IPCC assessment reports, and that is merely with regard to media coverage, not what the IPCC actually says is real.

And then you could quote the IPCC directly as follows:

Some media outlets have recently adopted and promoted terms and phrases stronger than the more neutral 'climate change' and 'global warming,' including 'climate crisis,' 'global heating,' and 'climate emergency' (Zeldin-O'Neill, 2019).

Few climate alarmists have even read the IPCC reports, relying almost entirely on mainstream media coverage of what is in the reports, so your response will take the wind out of their sails entirely. So it must be done every time they bring up problems with precipitation, drought, fire weather, cyclones, hurricanes, snow and ice, sea levels, coastal erosion, and ocean acidity.

Progressives' supposed support for "social justice" can also be used against them effectively. After all, the overwhelming focus of the world on climate change "mitigation," namely attempts to control the climate, is robbing people who actually need help adapting to real world climate change from the funds they need to survive whatever nature throws at them next. Note in the following figure from the San Francisco-based Climate Policy Initiative that roughly 90% of the 1.27 trillion USD dedicated to "climate finance" in 2021/2022 went to mitigation. Only a paltry 5% went exclusively to adaptation.

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"Is this Social Justice?" conservatives must ask progressives.

Similarly, conservatives need to point out the human rights abuses that accompany the production of electric vehicle batteries as well as wind and solar power. Click on the following image to show an excellent example of someone doing just that - Danielle Maillot, former Ottawa chapter lead for Action4Canada - questioning candidates for mayor about their support for batteries made with cobalt mined by children in the Congo in mines owned and operated by Chinese companies. The answer from the leading candidate for mayor exposed her as completely uninformed about the issue.

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About the Author

Tom Harris is an Ottawa-based mechanical engineer and Executive Director of the International Climate Science Coalition.

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All articles by Tom Harris

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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