A 'Change Denialist' Is Gonna Come (To The Senate): Trying To Understand The Arguments Against Climate Change

Climate change and politics are always an interesting mix.

It can either go one way, ("Let's stop climate change") or the other ("Climate change who?").

Controversial One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, (aka Malcolm-Ieuan: Roberts.) recently introduced himself to the country with a curious maiden speech, during which he complained about the "reviled and dishonest" carbon tax and accused scientists of presenting "hyperbolic" (his words, not mine) climate change predictions.

His evident denial of climate change offers interesting insight into the minds of those I like to call the Change Denialists. So, let’s have a look into the brains of the Change Denialists and break down some of their arguments.

Who Doesn’t Love Warm Weather?

One of the most popular arguments against climate change involves statements accepting its existence, but denying the detrimental effects. This includes comments such as “[global] warming is beneficial” (thanks to Senator Roberts for that one), ignoring the statistics highlighting the effect climate change has on global temperatures, flora and fauna.

The Earth’s Just Doing What It Do.

Similarly, many Change Denialists share the common belief that climate change is just another aspect of Earth’s environmental cycle. While the science may not explicitly show otherwise, these ideas often spark controversial debates between Change Denialists and Change Believers (predominantly scientists and those who trust scientists).

Where’s The Evidence?

Senator Roberts stated the following in an interview: “There’s not one piece of empirical evidence anywhere, anywhere, showing that humans cause, through their carbon dioxide production, [climate change].” It’s a common cry from Change Denialists, relating to the lack of evidence proving the influence humans have on climate change. However, it demonstrates a misunderstanding of the phrase ‘insufficient evidence’, tarring the entirety of climate change science with this one suggestion.

Donald Trump Says There Isn’t Any, So…

Conspiracy theories are frequently used by Change Denialists. Now, government conspiracies and corruption in wide-scale businesses indicating knowledge abuse and deprivation are not unheard of, and are really quite plausible. However, when these conspiracy accusations come from someone like Donald Trump or Senator Roberts, I’m not convinced they’re entirely reliable.

Although 97 per cent of climate scientists insist climate change is caused by human actions, many people still deny the evidence and state otherwise.

It’s pretty clear that Change Denialists have a variety of beliefs, ranging from disagreements on the effects of climate change, to the influences of human actions, to conspiracy theories. The sources of these beliefs are just as vast.

There have been many psychological experiments conducted, investigating the reasoning behind Change Denialists’ beliefs. The biggest revelations have demonstrated a clear connection between financial incentives, distrust of experts and scientists, and Change Denial.

Change Denialists often find evidence supporting their arguments through bias research, often ignoring any evidence that may suggest otherwise. They also ignore scientists, due to the previously mentioned distrust, and instead pay attention to the information from notorious sceptics, resulting in a significant collection of denial-based information, instead of a variety of unbiased resources.

Despite the jokes and memes, the beliefs held by Change Denialists are genuine. And although we can laugh, the stances of those who hold political power can result in changes to government policies regarding the environment. If appropriate actions aren’t taken to protect the environment from human impacts, low-lying islands such as Kiribati may no longer exist in the near future, and the Great Barrier Reef will cease being the popular tourist attraction that it is, due to coral bleaching as a result of ocean warming.

Sarah Schofield is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. Learn more about the contributor program.

Photo: iStock.