Table of Contents
Introduction
Climate change is described as the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that changes lasts for an extended period of time (Boykoff, 2013). Climate change has mainly been associated with the extreme weather conditions that are currently affecting the earth. The scientific information about climate change has led to a number of arguments in support and against the concepts. A number of people have rejected the scientific evidence as well as the arguments supporting the existence of climate change as a result of human activities. A number of politicians as well as scientist have rejected the arguments that climate change is accelerated by the human activities. One notable politician is the President of the United States of America (Tol, 2017). A popular professor Richard Lindzen based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a recipient of the Jule Chaney award also rejects the arguments that climate change is accelerated by the human activities. The paper is thus a rhetorical analysis of climate change based on the arguments of Richard Lindzen.
Discussion
According to Richard, there is no catastrophic increase in temperature which has been highlighted by most of the scientists supporting climate change theories. He instead believes that the earth usually undergoes a natural phase of warming and cooling. This is an argument that is supported by the President of the United States of America Donald Trump. The president has gone further and described climate change as hoax meant to financially benefit some companies (Tol, 2017). In his works, Richard has examined the existing evidence and arguments leading to his conclusions that the concepts of climate change is false. In his argument, he has categorically stated that there no static unchanging climates on the planets with fluid envelopes. To support his arguments, he has raised the question of why the alarm on climate change has only been active in the last few years. He insists that climate change is falsely placed as the climate has been constantly changing over time. Richard has supported his arguments with evidence which indicates that climate change has been taking place over the centuries where the human activities had no little or no impact on the environment (Boykoff, 2013). An example being at the ice age where changes in weather appears and climate led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. At the time, there were no human activities that could affect or accelerate the climate change in any way. Richard is critical on the findings of climate change and he indicates that they are problematic. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the findings are based on computer models.
The level of corruption in climate science is also one of the issues that have been raised by Richard (Tol, 2017). The corruption in climate science has contributed to the exaggeration of the figures and data related to climate change. Richard considers this as a scum created by those in power and authority in order to gain financially. In his works, Richard has cited a number of issues that the readers should take note of when analyzing the information about climate change. The problem with the works of Richard and some of his arguments is the high emphasis on personal beliefs. Delving too much on personal beliefs makes some of the arguments unrealistic as it are not supported by credible evidence (Kraft, et al, 2015). The focus on personal believes as opposed to scientific facts makes it difficult to provoke arguments related to his reasoning. The availability of credible and concrete evidence is important in terms of enabling the readers to make their own analysis and conclusions about a topic. The arguments by Richard have greatly influenced the political statements on climate change. It has strengthened the voices of those who are not in support of the climate change narrative and theories (Boykoff, 2013). Richard may have chosen the arguments in order to influence the political class as well as the business people who do not support the climate change theories. In the recent past, there have been a lot of controversies related to climate change leading to a number of mega projects being halted. In his opinion, such actions are not constructive as it hinders economic development.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that climate change is currently one of the most contentious issues. It has attracted opinions from different people including the scientists as well as the politicians. The works of Richard is totally against the theories of climate change. It is evident that he views the issue as a man made problem aimed at influencing decision making in order to benefit a few people. It is evident that the president of the United States of America is in support of most of the arguments raised by Richard concerning climate change. It is evident that the main problem associated with arguments made by Richard is the high emphasis on personal beliefs. This has created challenges in terms of making his arguments reliable.
- Tol, R. S. (2017). The structure of climate change debate. Energy policy.
- Boykoff, M. T. (2013). Public enemy number 1? Understanding media representations of outlier views on climate change. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(6), 796-817.
- Kraft, P. W., et al. (2015). Why people don’t trust the evidence motivated reasoning and scientific beliefs. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 658(1), 121-133.