Countering Climate Skepticism

By ccspod

Ever get annoyed by denial of climate science?

You know that 97%+ of climate scientists agree that climate change is human caused yet you still hear people arguing that:

- “Climate has always chang... more

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FAQs about Countering Climate Skepticism:

How many episodes does Countering Climate Skepticism have?

The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.

Countering Climate Skepticism episodes:

June 20, 2025 Ep18 - Q&A3 - Climate bodycount?
Welcome back to our (very tardy) final Q&A and FINAL!! episode in this podcast series!

Today we deal with a couple of outstanding listener questions.

Listener Josh wants to know how many people have and will die from climate change and Rob is interested in knowing whether a carbon tax will save the day!
Both very difficult questions, but thought provoking nevertheless!

Since the podcast will cease to exist at the end of July, please find an archive of past episodes of the show on Youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/@CounteringClimateSkepticism

It's not impossible that we could be tempted out of retirement, so please keep in touch via the show's email:
[email protected]

Once again, thank you for listening to the show. Both John and I enjoyed making it.
We hope you have a better understanding of the climate system, climate denial and that you aren't completely demoralised!

I mean it will take an awful lot to stop the by now well underway global energy transition.
Somehow I don't think any amount or form of climate denial is going to be enough! 😊

TIMESTAMPS: AVAILABLE

SHOWNOTES:

@10:09
IPCC WG2 Summary for policymakers (climate change impacts)

@26.50
What impacts are we likely to see with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6°C of global warming? (~1600 words) - see also episode 9
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15mcbYoi1_-uBiAFb3G9VdivpjlWWFqSYb3FnhOboM2Q/edit

@41:40
We talk about Solar Geoengineering in more detail in this episode
https://ccspod.podbean.com/e/ep11-but-technology-will-save-us/

@42:10
Perennially optimistic Kurzgesagt (10 min youtube video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxgMdjyw8uw

@43:10
Word Economic Forum attempts to put a number on the climate bodycount by 2050
https://www.weforum.org/press/2024/01/wef24-climate-crisis-health/#:~:text=Climate-driven%20health%20effects&text=Floods%20were%20found%20to%20pose,an%20anticipated%203.2%20million%20deaths.
Full report here:
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Quantifying_the_Impact_of_Climate_Change_on_Human_Health_2024.pdf

...more
59min
January 26, 2025 Ep17 - SUMMARY of the ENTIRE SERIES!
A lot has been covered in the past 16 episodes, so many a climate hot take (excuse the pun) has been dealt with!

Surely it can't all be summarised in half an hour? Oh ye of little faith!

This will be the penultimate episode of the podcast, find us on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/@CounteringClimateSkepticism

TIMESTAMP AVAILABLE!

SHOWNOTES - COMING UP

@4.33 - Earth's atmosphere and oceans aren't as big as you might think!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dxa8a7CaVKQUtH6YwVZ2hhBo5HLnbdcbVoVwnLoyE6A/mobilebasic

@12.39 - XKCD - it's the rate stupid!
https://xkcd.com/1732/

@7.43: ”IT’S NOT CO2 IT’S WATER VAPOUR(H20)!”
Do you remember why the denier brings up water vapour (H20) John?
-1x H20 molecule is 5-10x more potent a warming gas than a CO2 one
-H20 is typically around 20x more abundant in the atmosphere, so with just this knowledge one might think, maybe the denier might have a point! Maybe CO2 isn’t our main problem?

Now in episode 3 I came up with a fairly convoluted explanation for how you can win in a fight with a skeptic brandishing this argument, however I have since seen a clearer explanation.

So in climate science, the understanding is that CO2 acts as a kind of thermostat. More CO2 in the atmosphere, higher global temperatures. But as the temperature rises, so does the amount of water vapour evaporated from the ocean. Okay they both seem to increase in tandem so why are we sure it’s increased CO2 causing increased H2O and not vice versa?

Well imagine you were a misguided super villain John and decided that you wanted to make global warming even worse! So you devise a machine to pump out extra H2O into the atmosphere, what would happen? Pretty quickly the extra bit you pumped in, would just rain out, because it is the temperature that sets the ceiling for how much H20/water vapour can be 'held' by the atmosphere before it falls out as rain.

Alternatively if you were a super hero and wanted to improve global warming, by sucking H2O out of the atmosphere, all that would happen is just that evaporation rates from the ocean would just increase to counter the change you are trying to make.

So essentially water vapour is buffered at a particular temperature dependant set-point in the atmosphere, so only by changing the temperature first can you change this set point.

CO2 on the other hand is not buffered. If we dump more in the atmosphere, the concentration does go and stays up. If we suck it out, concentrations do come down and stay down. Therefore H2O responds to CO2 not the other way round!

If that makes sense!
...more
32min
January 20, 2025 Ep16 - Q&A number2
APOLOGIES FOR THE SOUND ISSUES ON MARK'S SIDE!

6(b) - 'We're all doomed' part 2?

Who should be held responsible for climate change? Should it be China, should it be the USA or how about Germany or the UK?

Because OBVIOUSLY the entire blame/responsibility for fixing should all fall to one of them right?

We're on YouTube!
www.youtube.com/@CounteringClimateSkepticism

TIMESTAMPS AVAILABLE!

SHOWNOTES

@5.40 and @14.02 - Our world in data
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics

@20.35 - Kurzgesagt video on climate responsibility
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVxxxqwBQw
...more
35min
January 10, 2025 Ep15 - Ziggurat6(b) - But we're all doomed!
After a probably unforgivable 6 month cliff-hanger, we finally get round to part 2 of the sixth and final level of the ziggurat.

We're doomed!

Or are we? or what does doomed mean? Who's saying we're doomed? So many questions!

And are we sure this is even climate change denial in the first place?

Oh yes, and currently the most in vogue!

TIMESTAMPS AVAILABLE

SHOWNOTES

- Show now on Youtube (for when the POD comes off air)
www.youtube.com/@CounteringClimateSkepticism

- (@5.40) Temperature projection graph
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2023/making-sense-of-climate-change-projections

- (@12.20) The impacts of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5+ degrees of global warming
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15mcbYoi1_-uBiAFb3G9VdivpjlWWFqSYb3FnhOboM2Q/edit?tab=t.0

- (@15.20) Kurzgesagt on the progress we've already made with climate change
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxgMdjyw8uw

- (@26.15) Simon Clarke on the proliferation of 'doomist' arguments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XSG2Dw2mL8

...more
40min
July 11, 2024 Ep14 - Q&A number1
We asked for questions, we got them! Keep the coming! :)

Today we look at 3
- How we know what the Dinosaur climate was like (@7.06)
- What should governments be doing? (@17.35)
- Which more important? Knowledge or behavioural change(29.53)

SHOWNOTES!

3.33 - trump link
15.39 - link about zircons
https://www.facebook.com/SkepticalScience/posts/pfbid0DEUQegbGwagMQuJUPyRGFDMdF6JZfkY82hr7o14DB76BN1A9xUoaEMWeqeDnSbuBl
16.37 - wikipedia link
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1240577
18.40 - climate action tracker
https://climateactiontracker.org/
23.30 - climate change performance index
24.50 - heatpumps link
https://www.facebook.com/search/posts?q=pumps&filters=eyJycF9hdXRob3I6MCI6IntcIm5hbWVcIjpcImF1dGhvcl9tZVwiLFwiYXJnc1wiOlwiXCJ9In0%3D
29.12 - aviation stats
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/25/1-of-english-residents-take-one-fifth-of-overseas-flights-survey-shows

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/17/people-cause-global-aviation-emissions-study-covid-19?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco
...more
41min
April 29, 2024 Ep13 - Ziggurat6(a) - But we can't wreck the economy!
We've now reached the apex of the ziggurat (first of a two-parter!). Everything else the denialists have thrown at us hasn't worked and now the've resorted to fear-mongering.

But do they have a point?

Mark and John take a look.

TIMESTAMPS: AVAILABLE SOON!

SHOWNOTES:
@10.30 - Dieter Helm on why coordinated action between nations is a must.
"This is one of the reasons (domestic carbon tax without carbon border adjustments/tariffs) why despite everything that people in Europe and the UK have been doing, we haven't made an iota of difference to climate change....That's why we've had 30 wasted years in which the concentration of CO2 has gone up in the atmosphere every single year since ... 1990" - Dieter Helm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000613h
@1917 - 2406

@24.20 - How to terraform Mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpcTJW4ur54

@24.20 - How to terraform Venus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WO-z-QuWI

...more
37min
March 25, 2024 Ep12 - Ziggurat5 - But technology will save us!
Being a techno optimist is no bad thing, but can we sit back and let the relentless march of technology save us from our selves? Listen and find out!

TIMESTAMPS AVAILABLE

SHOWNOTES:
14.24 - Technological invention has slowed down dramatically, scientists warn | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/new-discoveries-breakthroughs-research-latest-b2256023.html

47.00 - waste heat from fusion on twitter
https://twitter.com/rahmstorf/status/1605967891928596481?t=2uDM_fCZ8YT4qx1U-dk1eQ&s=08

51.34 - John good news story
...more
59min
February 18, 2024 Ep11 - Jordan Peterson, climate contrarian or merely confused?
This week we decided to look at some content of the famous culture warrior Jordan Peterson. With his high levels of verbal fluency it all sounds very impressive, but is it? Mark and John take a closer look.

TIMESTAMPS - Available

SHOWNOTES
36.35 - pie chart on various env problems
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julian-Mcalpine/publication/275966760/figure/fig13/AS:294488397369354@1447222914141/Safe-operating-space-is-proposed-by-Rockstrom-et-al-2009-as-within-the-green-shaded.png
54.00 - deaths from falling off roofs installing solar (scroll to bar chart)
https://www.engineering.com/story/whats-the-death-toll-of-nuclear-vs-other-energy-sources
1.0750 - marble ocean
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dxa8a7CaVKQUtH6YwVZ2hhBo5HLnbdcbVoVwnLoyE6A/edit
1.0830 - decoding the gurus on Peterson
https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/recoding-jordan-peterson-think-again-sunshine

Jordan Peterson would not like this video! 😄
Compares deaths from fossil fuel (per unit of energy) with renewables and nuclear (video lined up, watch for 90 seconds)
https://youtu.be/Jzfpyo-q-RM?t=354
...more
1h 17min
January 28, 2024 Ep10 - Ziggurat4 - But the benefits of a warming climate....
Now you heard it here first folks! A warmer world may have some benefits, but if that's what you're focusing on, then what the hell is wrong with you?! you Ziggurat Denier Level 4!

TIMESTAMPS - Available
SHOW NOTES - Available

@2.57 - daybreak climate change board game
https://www.daybreakgame.org/
@7.20 - 3 min video summarising 2023 global weather
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/av/67618623

@7.40 - ‘uninsurable planet’ episode
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0h0r5kg

@18.50 - Bjorn Lomborg debunking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nqSnNhIQlI

@? - Bjorn's tactical retreat over the years https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bjorn_Lomborg#Shift_in_views_over_time

@22.11 - Transcript of Roger Harrabin interview with Matt Ridley.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/scientists-respond-to-matt-ridleys-climate-change-claims/

...more
38min
January 14, 2024 Ep9 - Ziggurat3 - But the impacts will be minimal!
So now our denier friends have convinced themselves that climate is changing and it is us that is changing it, but guess what? Impacts will be minimal! Err what? and they were doing so well!

Strap in to learn about the impacts we have already seen, those we might well see and those we sure as hell hopefully won't end up seeing and hopefully we'll demonstrate to you that this breed of deniers/skeptics are just as detached from reality as those 'climate change isn't happening' more basic types!

TIMESTAMPS: AVAILABLE

SHOWNOTES:

@34.26 - What impacts are we likely to see with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6°C of global warming? (~1600 words)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15mcbYoi1_-uBiAFb3G9VdivpjlWWFqSYb3FnhOboM2Q/edit
...more
1h 20min

FAQs about Countering Climate Skepticism:

How many episodes does Countering Climate Skepticism have?

The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.