Climate change denial

A note from the editor

Dinyar Godrej

Getting to grips with the climate deniers

To those who need no convincing on the matter of human-induced climate change, encountering deniers can be baffling and tiring in equal measure. It’s not just the spurious arguments, it’s the passionate conviction with which they are voiced that can wrong-foot one. Deniers also have a pesky habit of switching from one charge to the next, rather than staying the course of the argument.

So this edition offers an article to hold them still for a while. It had been our intention for some time to present a guide to rebutting the arguments most commonly used by the deniers, including some that have a degree of scientific credibility. And in writer and climate activist Danny Chivers we found the perfect person to do the job.

Danny has been on the frontline of such exchanges long enough to have the arguments, wit and facts to hand – but, as he was keen to point out, the psychology of denial plays an important role and knowing how to talk to a denier is perhaps as important as what you say. He is also the author of our brand new book The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change: The science, the solutions, the way forward.

The flipside – the absurd and dangerous lengths we go to in pursuing fossil fuels – is revealed in our piece on fracking – a term, I fear, we will be seeing in headlines more and more. Not sure what it is? Find out the, literally, earthshaking truth on page 24.

Finally, Morwari Zafar’s compelling report from Afghanistan demonstrates yet again why the West’s crazy war on drugs fails the real victims every time.

Dinyar Godrej for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Switching off denial: a guide

How do you respond to people in climate denial? Danny Chivers offers a step-by-step guide to rebutting the most common arguments against climate change.

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Features

Warning: drink at your peril! Tap water drawn from aquifers that have been contaminated by fracking is so full of toxic chemicals that it can be set alight.www.gaslandthemovie.com

Fracking the world

Hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ – Big Oil’s newest way to extract natural gas from an exhausted planet – comes with a terrible environmental price tag. Joyce Nelson digs deeper.

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Alternatives

Sharing the bounty Balaji.B under a CC Licence

Sharing the bounty

Anna Weston discovers that urban landscapes can provide an abundance of free fruit.

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Opinion

Is talking to the Taliban a betrayal of Afghanistan’s women?

Is talking to the Taliban a betrayal of Afghanistan’s women?

Orzala Ashraf and Michael Semple, both passionate workers for peace, have very differing points of view. Comment on our debate.

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Class war Jason Scragz under a CC Licence

Class war

Are the rich winning the class war?

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Agenda

Protesters at an anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo, 27 March 2011. The signs read: ‘Change energy policy’ and ‘Do not sprinkle radioactive material’.
jeanbaptisteparis under a CC Licence

Nuclear debate intensifies post-Fukushima

An item from the Agenda section of our magazine.

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Regulars

Tree time: an Avaaz activist at 2009’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.Bob Strong/Reuters

Applause: Avaaz

Avaaz, the largest global movement on the web, is giving the world a voice.

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As I walked out... Idil Sukan

As I walked out...

Compulsive rambler Mark Thomas walks the line along the notorious Israeli Separation Barrier in an extract from his new book.

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Ramzan Kadyrov AP Photo / Musa Sadulayev

Ramzan Kadyrov

A profile of the President of Chechnya.

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Monica Ali

Monica Ali

Award-winning author Monica Ali reveals why feminism and Princess Diana are on her mind just now.

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Neighbours but strangers: rich and poor usually know little of each other’s lives.IRRI Images / under CC Licence

How do the other four-fifths live?

Danny Dorling and Anna Barford consider the gaps that divide us.

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India Tariq Thekaekara

India

South Asia's giant, from the Country Profile series in our New Internationalist magazine.

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A rooftop view Illustration: Sarah John

A rooftop view

After the euphoria, reality is beginning to bite, says Maria Golia.

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