Climate Denial Crock of the Week

John Cook’s Skeptical Science team has put together a Massive Open Online Course on climate denial.
Video above is the intro.

It will include all of the historic interviews that we did in San Franciso in December, at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting.

Sign up here.

Collin Maessen at RealSkeptic:

That climate change is real and that we’re causing it is the conclusion scientists have come to based on the evidence. The very same evidence is what makes scientists also very concerned about what the consequences will be if we continue adding greenhouse gasses to our planet’s atmosphere.

If up to 97% of scientists agree on this why is there so much controversy and debate about climate change? Where does this gap between the public and scientists come from? Are there psychological and social drivers that explain this? How can we get around these effects to increase acceptance of well established science? What kind of role has climate science denial played in influencing public perceptions and attitudes towards climate change?

The course uses common climate science myths like “global warming stopped in 1998” to teach you how to debunk them. To teach critical thinking skills that you need to identify fallacies associated with the myth. You’ll learn both the science of climate change and the techniques that are used to distort the science.

This knowledge prepares you for the most important part of the course: learning the psychology of misinformation and science denial. This is the part of the course that will equip you with the tools needed to effectively respond to climate misinformation and debunk myths.

A great course for anyone who wants to learn more about the science of climate change and how to effectively communicate the science. It will also put into context recent content I released like the guest article Communicating Climate Change: Sometimes It’s Not about the Science (written by Scott Mandia who is an instructor for Denial101x), or the tidbit video of Katharine Hayhoe talking about science communication, or the tidbit video of Stephan Lewandowsky talking about ideological indicators for science denial, or the motivations behind the attacks on two papers written by Lewandowsky:

The course starts in April, runs for 7 weeks, and only takes 1 to 2 hours of your time per week. You can sign up for free if you want to “audit” the course and have complete access to all the materials, tests, and the discussion forum. You can also opt to pay for certification that you can use for job applications, career advancement, or school applications.

It’s well worth your time and I hope I’ll see you there.