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Module 7: Fact or Fallacy?
Quick questions on Climate denial and the scientific consensus: HSC Investigating Science Module 7
13short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is how scientific consensus is built?Show answer
1. Peer-reviewed publication. Researchers report findings in journals. 2. Replication. Independent teams test the findings.
What is the climate consensus?Show answer
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a UN body that synthesises climate science across thousands of papers every 5 to 7 years. Each assessment report is peer reviewed by hundreds of scientists and reviewed by governments. The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, 2021 to 2023) concluded:
What is organised denial?Show answer
Denial of the climate consensus has been organised and funded primarily by fossil-fuel-related interests since the 1980s. Documented examples:
What is why denial succeeds despite evidence?Show answer
1. Asymmetric burden. Climate scientists must explain complex evidence; deniers need only seed doubt. 2. Funding asymmetry. Industry-funded denial campaigns far outspent public communication.
What is why this is not a failure of science?Show answer
The scientific process has worked: it has produced a robust consensus, communicated it, and updated it as evidence accumulated. The failure is at the science-policy and science-public interface.
What is comparison with smoking and tobacco?Show answer
The climate denial playbook closely parallels the earlier tobacco industry playbook (Doubt is Our Product, by Big Tobacco's lawyers). Both:
What is exxonMobil internal documents?Show answer
ExxonMobil scientists privately concluded that anthropogenic warming was real and serious. The company publicly funded denial campaigns through the 1990s and 2000s.
What is industry-funded think tanks?Show answer
The George C. Marshall Institute, Heartland Institute, and in Australia the Institute of Public Affairs have produced reports questioning climate science.
What is front organisations?Show answer
The Global Climate Coalition (1989 to 2002) opposed climate policy. Its industry funders later abandoned the body, but its rhetorical strategies persisted.
What is australian context?Show answer
The Murdoch press (especially The Australian) has consistently published columns questioning climate science. Both the Liberal-National Coalition and Labor have at various times responded to denial pressure by weakening policy.
What is citing "97 per cent" without context?Show answer
It is 97 per cent of climate scientists publishing on the question, not 97 per cent of all scientists or 97 per cent of the population.
What is confusing climate variability with climate change?Show answer
Year-to-year variability is normal; the underlying long-term trend is what is at issue.
What is ignoring the Australian role?Show answer
Cape Grim, BoM, CSIRO and Australian Antarctic Division produce key southern-hemisphere data. :::