For nearly two decades Skeptical Science has been publishing rebuttals to #ClimateMyths, always following best understanding of how to honestly and most effectively communicate facts in an environment crowded with confusing misinformation.

Undoing harm caused to a human intellect isn't easy. Is Skeptical Science doing any good with this effort?

Having concluded a multi-year experiment with the cooperation of our readers, now we have some information on "how are we doing?". By formal assessment it appears we're not wasting our time.

You can see our results in our freshly published paper. Visit the link to read all about it.

Full disclosure: we're also asking for help with our publication fee (European Geosciences Union journals are 100% open-access but that does not mean they magically have no operational expenses).

#ClimateCognition

https://skepticalscience.com/published-research-experiment-paper.html

Continuing our collaboration with GigaFact, here's a new Fact Brief: "Is the greenhouse effect still debated among climate scientists?"

Given that social networks produce a distillation effect, it may be hard to believe such a fact check is even necessary at this juncture in our unfolding climate blunder; we may not realize that while those in our own circles are up to speed, other communities may be in a state of harmful confusion-- victims of synthetic ignorance.

GigaFact selects and prioritizes topics for treatment based on surveillance and input from users needing assistance. Hence while it may beggar belief, this explanation is something newsrooms and others encountering #ClimateBunk actually do require.

So here's an explanation, compressed for easy deployment.

#ClimateMyths

https://skepticalscience.com/fact-brief-settled.html

We've added Catalan, Croatian and Indonesian to our free and unencumbered-by-hidden-ambitions Cranky Uncle game, which can now be played in 16 languages!

Cranky Uncle is a fun way to develop useful habits of #CriticalThinking. It's centered on #ClimateMyths, but as with socket wrenches and machinery the same basic mental tooling may be used in many contexts.

Polish is in testing ; we hope to announce its availibility in the next version. Cekać na dalsze informacje!

https://skepticalscience.com/cranky-uncle-game-multilingual.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

"Stronger together!"

Having just launched our collaboration with the #SabinCenterForClimateChangeLaw, we continue our work with #Gigafact.

"Are most glaciers growing?" Obviously not, but how is the average person to know, in an information environment crowded by fossil fuel funded #ClimateBunk?

One way is by providing news providers and consumers with concise, factual #ClimateMythDebunkings.

Here's the latest ready-to-serve treatment for newsrooms.

#ClimateMyths

https://skepticalscience.com/fact-brief-glacier.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-source=sks

Communicators may become too close to a topic, leave behind the vast bulk of our intended beneficiaries.

Old soldier trope: "I can strip and clean my weapon in a muddy trench in pitch dark."

But these are learned skills.

Our esteemed volunteer Bärbel Winkler created a primer on identifying online malefactors, how they may be damped-down if not improved:

"Of red flags and warning signs in comments on social media."

Handy tip sheet for more than only #ClimateMyths!

https://skepticalscience.com/social-media-warning-signs-wording-in-posts-and-comments.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

Happy (not sure that's _quite_ the right sentiment) to see @SkepticalScience's recent revamp of our #ClimateMythDebunking for the Medieval Warm Period cited in this Guardian fact check.

Along with two others.

We do volcanoes as well, but no complaints. :-)

Those of us too close to this topic think of these #ClimateMyths as old and harmless, but here's Reform UK breathing new life into 'em. Ignore at our peril.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/31/factcheck-no-richard-tice-volcanoes-are-not-to-blame-for-climate-change

What's #FLICC?

It's a taxonomical system for classifying different forms of bunk, allowing us to identify which particular cognitive weapons are being targeted at our psychological susceptibilities.

Some familiarity and practice with FLICC helps us to deal with the firehose of #ClimateMyths, #VaccineDisinformation and other rubbish lobbed into our brains on a daily basis.

How are your bunk detection skills right now? Try this fun little quiz!

https://skepticalscience.com/mastering-flicc-a-cranky-uncle-themed-quiz.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

"Gigafact is a nonprofit that equips newsrooms to counter misinformation and protect the democratic process."

And we're proud to be partnering with #Gigafact, another organization focused on filling a particular gap. Here, layout-friendly drop-in debunking content, consistently treated and conveniently to hand for editors and reporters.

We're sharing our expertise on #ClimateMyths with Gigafact.

The tight 150-word budget makes each a puzzle for authors to solve.

https://skepticalscience.com/fact-brief-breath.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

"It's all about us!"

Well, no, no really. Too-rapid #AnthropogenicClimateChange is the topic here. Our beat is combating #SyntheticIgnorance about climate science, swatting down #ClimateMyths.

We treated the recently excreted carnival of #ClimateBunk "Climate: The Movie." We're delighted with the performance of our #debunking. So, we're dancing in the end zone with this as our Story of the Week in our latest #ClimateNews roundup.

35 other stories in this roundup!

https://skepticalscience.com/2024-SkS-Weekly-News-Roundup_12.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

"What you said was so confused that one could not tell whether it was nonsense or not." --- Wolfgang Pauli.

That's how a lot of #ClimateMyths classify. But some _could_ be more meaty.

Correlation of CO2 concentration and atmospheric temperature is truly interesting but climate bunko artists understand how superficial treatment is catchy like "hooks" in pop music. We end up hearing extra rubbishy misinformation.

Revised: CO2's correlation with temperature.

https://skepticalscience.com/co2-temperature-correlation-basic.htm?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks