Those who question the scientific consensus that climate change is happening as a result of human actions include a range of voices and perspectives:
- Respected scientists (often estimated at approximately 3%) who have expressed skepticism that current data is sufficient for making conclusive decisions.
- Some fossil fuel industry representatives, and researchers whose studies are designed and funded by these groups
- Some conservative, small government advocates who are opposed in principle to the large scale governmental actions that climate activists call for to respond to the threat.
- Individuals who receive their information from misleading/uninformed news and social media sources
- Individuals who respond to frightening or unpleasant news with defense strategies such as denial
- Conspiracy theorists who maintain that "global warming hysteria" is a hoax designed to forward the goals of a "deep state" clandestine network.
Survey data from Yale Program on Climate Communication indicates that as of Sept. 2021, 10% of the American public is "doubtful" about climate change and 9% is "dismissive."
To find web sites representing the more extreme views of climate change denial or skepticism, search for the terminology used by these groups:
- global warming (or climate change) scam
- global warming (or climate change) hysteria
- global warming (or climate change) alarmist
- global warming (or climate change) myth
- global warming (or climate change) hoax
- global warming (or climate change) junk science
See below: the politics of climate denial; the psychology of climate denial; academic studies on climate denial; and resources for debunking climate denial myths.
