John Cook: How people are using "The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism"

How people are using The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism

by John Cook, Skeptical Science, May 14, 2011

The Worcester Polytechnic Institute have invited ExxonMobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson to be their Commencement speaker for the Class of 2011. Considering Exxon’s disinformation campaign on climate science, this choice of speaker didn't sit well with many of the students and faculty. Consequently, the Students for a Just and Stable Future have organised a Counterpoint Commencement later today with Richard Heinberg speaking. The reason I'm bringing this up here is because as part of the event, they'll be handing out free copies of The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism.

This got me thinking about various comments, reports and reviews about The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism that I've received since we launched it last December. The Guide has been downloaded around 600,000 times from the Skeptical Science website (it's also hosted on numerous other sites but I don't have stats for those sites). It's been translated into 10 languages (with a few others on the way -- apologies to the translators, I'm getting to it as soon as I can)! So here are a few anecdotes, requests and reviews I've received on how the Guide is being used or received:

The Alliance of Climate Education have promoted the Guide to their network of teachers:

We at ACE would like to post your resource on our Teacher Resources section of our website and write about it in our next teacher newsletter.

We have presented to approximately 3,000 teachers nationwide, and have approximately 10,000 teachers on our radar for outreach.

Matthew Lappé | Program Officer
Alliance for Climate Education
www.acespace.org

Janine Kitson published a review of the Guide in Education, a journal by the NSW Teachers Federation:

"This is an important booklet for teachers. It explains and challenges climate deniers. John Cook, an Australian physicist, wrote it for American science teachers to debunk sceptics' arguments in an easy and rational manner. It explains how sceptics cherry pick scientific papers and thus undermine some aspects of climate change. It is also a useful reference for Australian teachers involved in teaching the science of climate change."

The German museum Klimahaus Bremerhaven has used the Guide to inform their tour guides:

I am member of the science division of a big exhibition on the world's climate and climate change (Klimahaus Bremerhaven). We opened last year in late June, and we already had more than 1.2 million visitors. Our aim is to make people aware of climate change and tell them what they can do personally to reduce their carbon footprint.

I already distributed your guide to our tour guides. My vision would be to provide it for our visitors as well.

Michael Theusner

The website Aquariums and Climate posted the Guide on their website:

I manage a website Aquariums and Climate focused on helping informal educators at aquariums, zoos, and science research centers communicate climate change to their guests and colleagues. I would like to post your "The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism" on the site, and use the report's front cover as an image.

Scott MacKenzie

The Association for Science Teacher Education have shared the Guide with their network of teachers:

Thanks so much for sharing this with me.  This is an excellent publication.

I'll be sure to share this with others. We have an active EE forum at ASTE (Association for Science Teacher Education) who will be quite interested in reading your publication and sharing it with other educators.

As discussed in the opening paragraph above, the WPI chapter of 'Students for a Just and Stable Future will distribute the Guide at their Counterpoint Commencement. They have also used the Guide for incoming members:

We are the WPI chapter of 'Students for a Just and Stable Future.' We hand out printed copies of The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism to incoming members who need a quick primer on the science.

We are organizing the "Counterpoint Speaker Against Exxon" event, whose website is http://wpi2011.wordpress.com. We are thinking of handing out copies of your book to visiting parents during commencement.

Transition Towns posted the Guide on their website.

The Rural Committee Assistance Corporation used the Carbon Cycle graphic from page 2 of the Guide in their brochure "Why Conserve Water and Energy?"

I'd be interested in hearing other ways the Guide has been useful to people -- please share your stories here or email me directly.

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