It’s common for climate deniers to make statements like: “Warming since 1900 has coincided with improvements in human well-being,” this from the Hoover Institution.
There is no question the last 125 years have brought humankind a great deal of prosperity, and it’s also true that fossil fuels powered a great deal of the increase in our longevity, health, and productivity.
But mightn’t it also be true that, while fossil fuels were terrific for our survival in the 20th Century, they may also be bringing us considerable harm in the 21st?
When I’m called upon to argue with those who reject science in any of its forms, my main tactic is to use logic. Things that “coincide” with one another do not necessarily cause one another. That which added value to our civilization when the Wright Brothers were working on our first airplane may not be helping us more than 100 years later.
