SPEAKING OPPOSING VIEWS 3 D ivide the class into two groups: climate change believers and climate change deniers. The members of each group should try to persuade the members of the other group to change their opinion by defending, giving reasons or evidence for their position. You can utilize the arguments and counterarguments below and add more of your own. CLIMATE CHANGE BELIEVERS CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS I raise doubts about the truth of global warming and anyhow climate change is not high priority. Climate change is happening because the Earth is warming. That will have a negative impact on human and natural systems. No significant climate change is occurring and anyway the warming will do no harm. There is no scientific evidence about the effects of climate change on the world and our society. I think global warming is harming us today Global warming will never hurt me personally; it is a problem distant in time and space. The planet is warming and humans are largely responsible. Planetary warming is mostly natural, human activity isn t significantly responsible. We must dramatically reduce the heat-trapping emissions we are putting into the atmosphere. Sure, we could do something about global warming, but the cost would be too great and we need to wait for sound science and new technologies. We have problems that are more pressing. ACTIVITIES I m worried about the climate change caused by global warming. Anthropogenic CO2 can t be changing climate, because CO2 remains the main driver of the greenhouse effect. Anthropogenic CO2 amounts to more than 130 times as CO2 is only a trace gas in the atmosphere and the much as volcanoes produce amount produced by humans is dwarfed by the amount from volcanoes and other natural sources. More carbon dioxide will actually be beneficial. More crops will grow. We can help by reducing our personal carbon emissions Humans can t take significant actions to reduce or mitigate the impact of climate change I trust climate scientists. Some large corporations that profit from fossil fuel consumption are trying to undermine public trust in climate science. Climatologists have an interest in raising the alarm because it brings them money and prestige. I support climate policies to address the problem: clean I challenge the need for protective environmental energy, carbon taxes, and strict pollution regulations. policy by questioning the seriousness of environmental problems and the validity of environmental science. TAKING CARE OF OUR PLANET Module 5 209