Cook - Cranky Uncle Vs. Climate Change

i Praise fo r Cranky Uncle v s. Climate Ch ange People are always asking me, What s the best sourc e for debunking the claims o f climate change deniers? Now I have an easy answer: buy a cop y o f John Cook s new book, Cranky Uncle vs . Climate Change . Prof. Michael Mann Author of The Madhouse Effect and The Hockey Stick and the Climate W ars Prof. Naomi Oreskes Author of Merchants o f Doubt and The Collapse of Western Civilization Prof.

Michael Oppenheimer Princeton University Prof. Katharine Hayhoe Author of A Climate for Change: Global Warm ing Fa cts fo r Fa ith-Based Decisions This funny and fac tual wa lk through climate scienc e and its impactsand common arguments agains t themwill leave you inf ormed, rechar ged, and excited to see the sequel: Cranky Uncle vs . Climate Solutions. I can t wait! This rare book answers many of you r pressing questions, such as what to tell yo ur crazy Uncle Joe when he insists at Thanksgiving dinner that climate change is a liberal hoax. Thank goodness for this book! Cranky Uncle vs . Prof. Prof.

Andrew Dessler Tex as A&M University Dana Nuccitelli Author of Climatology vs. Pseudo science Because the book is so humorous and well w ritten, its easy to f orge t that youre learning a lot o f climate science as you read it. I highly recommend it. Cranky Uncle vs . Climate Change is a fun way t o learn about climate science and the psycholog y of denial. Come for the cart oons; stay f or the science!

ii John Cooks new book helps us all laugh and learn, and in doing so transf orms hard conversations into opportunities to communicate and connect.

Ill be talking with my own uncle after reading this book. Prof. Max Boyk off Author of Who Speaks for the Climate? Sarah Myhre University of W ash ington Through thi s illustrate d guide, John Cook capably pokes, pr ods, and dr aws attention to incongruous, mythical, false, and contradict ory claims made by a prov erbial cr anky uncle in all our lives. This Cook book provi des a recipe for bo th laughing and learning. Another engaging contribution from Joh n Cook for helping people understand the nuances of the climate change dialogue. But using Legos to explain ocean acidification, that s just brilliant! Seriously funny! A phenomenal amalgam of clearly presented science and laugh-out-loud humor.

Cooks cartoons will help you inoculate y our fa vorite curmudgeon while off ering enough inside jokes t o tickle climate science aficionados. I lo ve this book. Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg Director , The Glob al Institute Prof. Stephan Lew andowsk y University of Bris tol Susan Hassol Director , Climate Communication Aaron McCright Author of The Risk Society Revisited John Cook harnesses the power o f light- hearted humor and engaging illustra tions to help even the most novice among us better understand how and why climate change denial gets the science wrong.

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Climate Cranky Change Uncle How to Underst and and Respond to Climate Science Deniers DR. JOHN COOK Foun der of Ske pticalScience.com Kensing ton Publishing Corp. www. kensigntonbooks.c om

CITADEL PRESS BOOKS are published by
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New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2020 John Cook Graphic design by John Cook and Wendy Cook. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

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119 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018, attn: Sales Department; phone 1-800-221-2647. ISBN-13: 978-0-8065-4027-6
ISBN-10: 0-8065-4027-3 First trade paperback printing: March 2020 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America Electronic edition: ISBN-13: 978-0-8065-4028-3 (e-book)
ISBN-10: 0-8065-4028-1 (e-book) For references and more information, see http://crankyuncle.com. iV

v To my dearest Wendy , whose editing, design, support, and lo ve made this book possible. what f ossil fu el did The tobacco playbook o f selling doub t If Donald Tr ump were a climate communicator The telltale charac teristic s of sci ence denial What a global climate conspirac y wou ld look like The stages (or state s) of climate denia l Contents N t Why so contro versial? Evidence f or global warming P E T I T I O p r o j e c easy . its a hoa x! wha t eviden ce? Denying reality Ten s of thousands o f warmi ng indicators Obamas brow- mopping speech Global warming at fo ur atomic bombs per second Does cold weather mean the sun doesn t e xist? Our planet is thinning on top Glaciers are melting Greenland: The wors t bait and switc h in history Confusing Antarc tic sea ice and land ice Shifting the goalposts on sea level rise The sun is not our get-out-o f-jail-free car d Climate conspiracy : The temperature recor d

viii Denying consequences Climate change has impact on nearly every aspec t of society Climate goes extreme! Heatwaves are getting h otter and more frequent Hurricanes are getting intense Plants need food and water CO is a hard- core pollutant Polar b ear survival depends on sea ice Ocean acidification: Global w arming s evil twin Fee dbacks are not our get-out-o f-jail-free car d Species can t keep up with climate change Denying responsibility We are causing all of global w arming... and then some! The overheated climate: A scientific whodunnit Why is the K eeling Curve so curvy? Weve upset the natura l balance We win the belching contest Its a trap! The greenhouse effec t in three easy steps Climate science: A brief history Climate conspiracy : The time machine A small amount can go a long way Other myths downplay ing the greenhouse effec t History s first global warming my th Wat er vapor is an amplifier , not a control k nob Climate and sun moving in oppo site direct ions We are unique in the solar sys tem War ning from the past: Climate is a cra nky beast! Climate and CO: A reinfor cing f eedback Human fingerprints rule out the usual suspects How is global warming affecti ng us? Human fingerprints who , me? why should i care?