Thousands of scientific papers about climate change are published in journals each year. Far fewer discuss how skepticism toward mainstream climate science spreads.
A group of scientists has now plunged into one of the habitats where so-called climate change skeptics have prospered -- the blogosphere. They found that climate science-doubting blogs cite a small cast of alternative “experts” rather than those with views aligning with the scientific consensus, and seek to undermine all of climate science by casting doubt around limited, hot-button issues.
Nearly all climate scientists agree that Earth’s climate is rapidly warming, that humans are causing it and that if nothing is done, climate change could have catastrophic consequences in the coming decades.
A lively countercurrent of thought exists, however, on internet blogs. Many blogs question how much Earth is warming, how much humans are causing it and whether the warming warrants a major societal response. These blogs are read by millions of people each month, and are often cited by conventional media outlets and by policymakers. So persuasive have climate doubters been that between a third and a half of Americans believe the globe is not warming, or that it is but humans are not the primary cause, according to recent surveys.
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