Many people deny global warming, but interestingly, many of these also deny the efficacy of vaccines and Covid-19 generally. The conclusion may be that this group of people simply don’t trust governments, scientists or health professionals. This same group questions the motivation behind what we are being told. Are they right?

Overwhelming scientific evidence supports global warming

Scientists say that if left unchecked, the impact of global warming will spread and worsen, leading to greater loss of animals and biodiversity, water scarcity, and community disruption.

Rising sea levels also pose a threat to ecological resources. The inundation of coastal beaches, dunes and wetlands could degrade or destroy critical habitat for fish, plants, marine mammals and migratory birds. Rising sea levels will also allow salt water to enter and damage coastal estuaries, on which fish and wildlife currently depend on freshwater conditions.

Why would scientists say this if it’s not true?

This brings into question the motivation of scientists, not to mention doctors and general medical research. I suspect that most of our readers will speculate that these people are directed by politicians to say these things and put forward these opinions. The next question has to be why? In the case of vaccines, it’s highly likely that one response will be that it’s all to promote the profits of the pharmaceutical companies. When it comes to global warming, why would governments and politicians want to promote this, what would their agenda be?

I can’t see that global warming can benefit anyone. I also suspect that no government could achieve getting every scientist and researcher to say what they want them to say. Some might, and others will speak up and seek to discredit those who are just spouting government-based lies.

It’s China's fault

Donald Trump tweeted in 2012 “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”. You will find a fairly extreme article on a site known as The Intercept. It’s titled “A Brief History of China’s Global Warming Hoax, From 1863 to Right Now”. According to this publication, “The Civil War was raging in the United States; Abraham Lincoln was president. And the Irish physicist John Tyndall proposed in a paper for the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science that variations in atmospheric composition could cause changes in the climate”.

The World Wildlife Fund says there are ten myths about climate change. You can read them all on their site, search for ten myths about climate change. The most relevant are (and I quote from WWF):

The earth’s climate has always changed.

Over the course of the Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history, the climate has changed a lot. This is true. But the rapid warming we’re seeing now can't be explained by natural cycles of warming and cooling. The kind of changes that would normally happen over hundreds of thousands of years are happening in decades.

Plants need carbon dioxide

Plants do need carbon dioxide (CO2) to live. Plants and forests remove and store away huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. But the problem is, there’s only so much carbon dioxide they can absorb, and this amount is getting less, as more and more forests are cut down across the world, largely to produce our food. CO2 itself does not cause problems. It's part of the natural global ecosystem. The problem is the quantity of CO2 that’s being produced by us as humans; there hasn’t been this level of CO2 in the atmosphere for 800,000 years.

Renewable energy is just a money-making scheme

It's a commonly held belief that renewable energy is expensive, but this simply isn’t true! Solar power and onshore wind are the cheapest ways of generating electricity; meaning the energy they produce is cheaper than using nuclear, gas and fossil fuels.

China is the only country responsible for climate change

Despite being one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, China is currently one of the largest investors in renewables. The increase in investment has been in response to the rapid growth of green business and the need to clean up air pollution in its major cities.

If you are really interested in this subject, I would recommend reading the WWF site, it’s well-informed and not subject to governmental ‘oversight’.

Are you a Denier or a believer?

When it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, it’s a personal choice. What you choose to do won’t affect others. Global warming is another matter altogether. If you are in denial, you won’t take personal steps to reduce your own carbon footprint. Unlike vaccines, this affects others. I hope readers will take a moment to tell us their views, for or against. More important, if you are against the global warming scientists NGO’s (non-government organisations) and their views and advice. Who do you believe will benefit from what you see as basically untrue?

There is always a motive, good or bad. What’s your view?

Author

Resident in Portugal for 50 years, publishing and writing about Portugal since 1977. Privileged to have seen, firsthand, Portugal progress from a dictatorship (1974) into a stable democracy. 

Paul Luckman