Someone Denied Climate Change...

To be able to describe in detail the phenomenon of climate change due to global warming, with its causes (natural and anthropological) and effects, pages are needed, probably books. From a theme of such magnitude, complexity and cruciality an entire scientific branch has even been generated, which through its scholars carries out a constant, incessant research work to touch somewhat higher levels of understanding. In the near future, we will certainly be devoting a scientifically acute text on this topic, but this article will be limited to a brief analysis of the equally alarming and parallel phenomenon of the denial of climate change, and how it not only destabilizes the reasoning of public opinion, but complicates the achievement of the objectives set by scientific research.

It is essential to formulate an intransigent premise: global warming is underway, there are no two divergent opinions from the scientific world, which is anything but split: climatologists, geologists, chemists, biologists, astronomers, almost unanimously state that this phenomenon is taking place and that its process is mainly linked to human activities, more precisely 97% of the scientific community unanimously affirms its veracity. In fact, every proven scientific knowledge has behind it an intricate work, which includes first of all the collection of a large amount of data and information, which must subsequently be interpreted one by one with the help of the available technology and knowledge; only then are formulated hypothetical theories linked to hypothetical conclusions, which must necessarily pass through a large number of practical experiments in such a way as to confirm or deny their veracity. The time has come to publish the results of the experiments and to set out the new scientific knowledge.

1. The strange case of the newspaper "Libero", in Italy the founder together with "Il Giornale" of pseudo climatic information.

The emergence of a different point of view on global warming is primarily to be sought in the historical habit on the part of man (albeit urged by repeated warnings) to underestimate a future danger related to a current problem, as long as the danger does not materialise, or become aware of it too late, when the effects of this problem are already irreversible. A second philological explanation is the attitude not to face and to hide in front of an obstacle, in cases where its overcoming requires intellectual efforts or understandings that do not correspond to their field of study or, more simply, at their usual level of reasoning, just as ostriches seem to have a tendency to hide their heads underground when they are taken by the great fright due to something unknown around them.

However, pseudo-information based on unfounded theories is quite effective as in most cases it is simplified, easy to understand: "the planet is not experiencing a rise in average temperatures that will compromise the functioning of ecosystems and, even if it were, it would be a cyclical, natural process, the Earth has always alternated hot epochs with colder epochs." Speeches that are often accompanied by dark conspiracy suspicions. Unfortunately, this information penetrates the communicative fabric of the media (especially the web) and is easy for a sufficiently uninformed audience to accept its contents, even if they are not enunciated by the scientific community. A faithful ally of this communicative disorder are many newspapers which, it is supposed, should stick to reliable sources and, above all, not make information in bad faith: often the media submit the subject to the judgment of large industrial societies, oil and, more generally, to the capitalist world, which legitimately exposes its point of view inevitably linked to its own economic interests.

2. According to Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the oil market crisis of 2020 will be an excellent test of the seriousness of the climate policies of large oil companies, which could start to convert in renewable energy producers. It is however of little hours the news that the British colossus Shell has begun the perforations in the field "Saturn" in the territory of Santos, in Brazil, with the joint participation of other two heavyweights of the oil, Chevron and Ecopetrol (Sources of value nalitik.com & renewables.it)

The primary cause of global warming is greenhouse gas emissions (mainly carbon dioxide) due to the consumption of fossil fuels, namely oil, coal, methane. Solar energy is partly pushed back from our atmosphere to space, partly absorbed by soil and seas, and finally a good percentage is reflected from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere, where however it undergoes the action of greenhouse gases, which trap it, raising average temperatures. In fact a small percentage of greenhouse gases is the main factor in maintaining a mild climate, with annual averages of around 15 degrees, and without which we would live with an average of about 30 degrees lower. The contribution of this percentage of greenhouse gases is compensated by volcanic activity that allows an ideal amount of 280 ppm of greenhouse gases in the composition of the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, for 260 years now, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, this quantity has increased exponentially to the current 400 ppm of greenhouse gases, which are sufficient to compromise the energy balance between the Sun and the Earth.

If the journalists leave the freedom to make judgments on the merits of oil companies or capitalists closely connected to such activities, it is as if at a trial the court gave the defendant the opportunity to decree the sentence.Speaking with certainty about climate warming supposes categorically (as stated earlier) the scientific intervention of climatologists and, more specifically, those who devote themselves to the study of climate change.

3. News regarding the "Climategate" in the winter of 2009

Many of the "journalistic errors" are unfortunately intentional, turning information in disinformation that reaches the audience that follows it. Between 2009 and 2011 a scandal happened that can be summarized with a series of e-mails stolen from climatologists, reformulated so as to distort the contents and sent to US skeptics and climate change deniers. During the so-called "Climategate" the news media took the story and used it to print the main headlines on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Later numerous investigations of the case, including one by the U.S. Congress and one by the U.K. House of Commons, sanctioned the falsity of the emails, stating that "global warming is happening and is induced by human activities"; but the media left out the news of the results of the investigation, and the public remained uninformed.

In recent years, the media have noted a serious lack of leadership in reporting the truth about climate change, and this is mainly related to insufficient communication with the scientific community which has also a significant deficit in this matter:

frequently scientists are satisfied with doing science, leaving research updates and communication to third parties. Many scientific companies such as U.S. National Laboratories and many other companies in the field of chemistry, energy, agriculture or tobacco have a department consisting of a staff dedicated to public relations, within which, however, a scientist directly involved in current research hardly ever finds space; the result is a mass of scientific information lost among scientists and communication departments or between departments and media or between the media and the public.

4. The astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist Carl Sagan, pillar of modern scientific disclosure, in particular with his television program "Cosmos", aired for the first time in the United States in 1980, broadcast by the television network PBS.

However, scientists are now beginning to understand that they must assume the duty to communicate more frequently than in the past, more effectively and with more foresight with the media and with the public, especially climate change scholars.The number of scientific articles and contributions published in newspapers and megazines has increased in recent decades and with it the awareness of society on the seriousness of the problem. For the moment, the political repercussions of this growth of "responsible communication" have been felt at least in the debates and major international meetings, especially during the events organized by the United Nations; policies (especially European) are drawing up directives and guidelines on the requirements and methods of energy conversion both for industry and for private individuals. Nevertheless, the contributions and economic benefits for those who produce or use "clean" energy and more generally fight global warming is almost nil.

- Source: Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis, volume1-The Physical Climate.

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