“It has become fashionable in some parts of the UK media to portray the scientific evidence that has been collected about climate change and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities as an exaggeration. Some articles have claimed that scientists are ignoring uncertainties in our understanding of the climate and the factors that affect it. Some have questioned the motives of the scientists who have presented the most authoritative assessments of the science of climate change, claiming that they have a vested interest in ‘playing up’ the potential effects that climate change is likely to have.
This document examines twelve misleading arguments (presented in bold typeface) put forward by the opponents of urgent action on climate change and highlights the scientific evidence that exposes their flaws.”
This PDF from the Royal Society, A guide to facts and fictions about climate change, goes through the evidence (or lack of) for claims like ‘Many scientists do not think that climate change is a problem’, ‘There is little evidence that global warming is happening or, if it is happening, it is not very much’, ‘Even if climate change is occurring, it won’t be that dangerous’ and ‘There is no evidence that climate change will be bad for people. In fact, warmer weather will actually be good for those people who live in cold countries’.
So the next time someone says “there’s no point doing anything about global warming because…” you can point them to that document.