Climate Accountability

This Daily Show investigation of science will make you lolsob

I learned a lot from this Daily Show video where Aasif Mandvi tries to figure out what science is really up to. I learned that Republican strategist Noelle Nikpour is some kind of reverse zombie who can't stand to be around brains. I learned that Stephen Colbert's on-air persona is not as much of a […]

Climate deniers refuse to accept skeptical scientists’ results

So you know how we kind of use "climate change deniers" and "climate change skeptics" interchangeably, because news stories get super boring if you don't mix it up? We're not wild about doing that, because skepticism is in fact a great scientific value that people should embrace, whereas denialism is just sticking your fingers in […]

Is this outrageous climate denier secretly Borat?

Well, no. He's not. But that's the beauty of this clip, where Australian comedian Craig Reucassel interviews completely over-the-top climate denier Lord Monckton as though he were a Sascha Baron Cohen creation. It's a masterpiece of layered irony — Reucassel gives a deadpan interview worthy of Ali G while pretending that Monckton is doing the same. […]

WSJ: We can't trust climate science because neutrinos might go faster than light

Someone at the Wall Street Journal read a press release about a scientific finding! And then decided that since people are evidently still discovering things, climate science is probably going to turn out bullshit.

Last month, scientists at CERN, the prestigious high-energy physics lab in Switzerland, reported that neutrinos might—repeat, might—travel faster than the speed of light. If serious scientists can question Einstein's theory of relativity, then there must be room for debate about the workings and complexities of the Earth's atmosphere. 

How climate change denial lets the fuel industry run politics, in one handy chart

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the climate change denial machine.

How Inhofe turns balloon animals into 'news'

Sen. James Inhofe blows so much hot air about climate change, he should work children's parties.

Talking to the Tea Party about climate?

Is talking to Tea Partiers about climate that different from talking to your eco-friendly, politically savvy friends?

Watch comedian David Mitchell take the piss out of climate deniers

I am obsessed with David Mitchell. (The comedian, not the dishy author, but really both of them.) Okay, mostly I'm obsessed with Robert Webb because he's the cute one who takes his pants off sometimes, but the point is they are both spectacularly funny and I will basically listen to David Mitchell talk about anything. So it's particularly delightful when he's going yard on climate deniers.

Best way to convince deniers: Butter them up

Well, it turns out Dave Roberts has been going about this talking to climate skeptics thing all wrong. If you want to get people to consider data that doesn't fit with their pet worldview, you should make them think really hard about how great they are. Then they'll be putty in your hands! And if you don't believe me, have I mentioned how fetching you look today?

Even Tea Partiers don't think environmental protection kills jobs

Yale University and George Mason University took a deep dive into the relationships between political identity and views on climate change. In other words, they tried to figure out what the hell is going on in the minds of Tea Partiers. Godspeed, brave souls.

Here's what sets Tea Partiers off from the rest of us:

• They do not believe global warming is happening. Duh. Only 34 percent of Tea Partiers believe in global warming, vs. 53 percent of Republicans. 53 percent of Tea Partiers aren't even wavering: they know global warming's not happening.


• Those snowstorms last winter made them wonder if global warming was real at all.


• They seriously believe there's disagreement about the science behind this stuff.


• They're so damn sure of themselves!