Don't judge a book by its cover!

The different websites discussing climate change really made me think about the ways in which people are getting their information about climate change.

The "Friends of Science" website definitely had the better aesthetics: the spinning globe, the beautiful images of nature underneath the descriptions of the different scientists working on the website, the blue background--all of these images combined to create something which looks very official, scientific and pretty. I can definitely understand how someone who is interested in finding out more information about global warming could stumble upon this site and be persuaded by its argument against the idea of global warming, because for each global warming argument, the website had an argument against the phenomenon which could sound plausible if you do not know much about global warming. I had never heard before of the argument that the sun, and not human induced change, is the main factor in climate change.

I was interested to learn more about this organization, "Friends of Science," because it is always a good idea to know where information is coming from, who the people are who have created this site, and what there agenda is in order to make well-informed decisions about what information to listen to and what information is slanted towards a particular goal. I googled "Friends of Science" to see what I could learn. I was glad I did. According to sourcewatch.org, "Friends of Science," which is an organization in Calgary, Canada, recieves funding from oil companies indirectly, so it seems from this information that "Friends of Science" probably has a particular slant towards denouncing global warming.

Since today I feel like most scientists have come to the conclusion that global warming is a legitimate phenomenon which is occurring, "Friends of Science" must find itself on the opposite end of mainstream scientific thought. The website's purpose is most likely to look like a non-biased group of scientists who have come together to try and change perceptions that global warming is occuring, when in reality it is a distinctly anti-global warming organization whose interests come from groups which want to continue the harmful human impacts on the environment which have been occuring.

The Grist website has a much less appealing look. The website is very stark and requires clicking on many links in order to get the information you need. The way in which each myth is addressed is similar to the ways in which the questions are addressed by "Friends of Science," by putting up the objection and then discussing why the objection is not reality. I found this site harder to peruse, however. Although the site is organized and clearly provides interesting points about the reality of global warming, it is less inviting than the "Friends of Science" site.

I think most of us like to think that we don't judge a book by its cover. In terms of looking at these two websites, however, I found that although I believe strongly that global warming is a real phenomenon and am distraught that there are people out there who still deny that it is occurring, I spent more time on the "Friends of Science" website. This is due to a couple of reasons:
1) I was curious about the kinds of reasoning that goes into denying global warming, since I have always asserted belief in global warming and have read about all of the evidence behind global warming, and was interested to see how a group could go about saying that global warming does not exist.
2) Plain and simple, the "Friends of Science" website seemed more organized and was more enjoyable to peruse, even though I don't agree with the science.

The point of these websites is to put out evidence supporting or refuting the fact that global warming is occuring. I find it distressing that the website which refutes global warming is a more inviting site, because people might spend more time on that site. Also, since the "Friends of Science" website does not explain its ties to the oil industry it would not be clear to someone happening upon the site that the scientists involved have these connections. That is why it is always good to try and find out further information about certain websites and whether or not they might have a particular bias. Another important point is that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover!

Global warming is occuring, and I think that the science has proven that. The Grist website had countering points to a multitude of objections that global warming disbelievers have put forth. Al Gore's interesting movie, An Inconvenient Truth also explains a lot about the phenomenon of global warming. A lot will need to be done to try and slow down global warming in the next decade or so, and websites such as "Friends of Science" are changing the debate from thinking through the best ways to combat climate change to debating whether or not global warming is actually occuring. I feel like the debate should have moved past deciding on whether or not the phenomenon is occuring to working on how we can deal with the coming problems, and websites such as "Friends of Science" are perpetuating the "There is no climate change" myth.