This initiative was stimulated by the department of Climate Change issuing a response to Ian Plimer’s 101 climate questions. In late 2011, Professor Ian Plimer, a geology professor and expert mineralogist with no background in climate science, released his latest book How to get expelled from school: a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters.
The conservative think-tank The Institute of Public Affairs paid for hundreds of copies and distributed them to schools. This action was reminiscent of a situation in the US where climate science and indeed science in general, school curricula and teaching are under sustained attack from climate deniers and some religious interests
The purpose of this article is not to draw any attention to Professor Plimer’s views for deniers are best ignored, but to detail the positive outcomes that have emerged.
The Department of Climate Change has issued Accurate Answers in response to Professor Ian Plimer’s 101 questions on climate change science. The department said “Many of the questions and answers in Professor Plimer’s book are misleading and are based on inaccurate or selective interpretation of the science. The Accurate Answers are based on up-to-date peer-reviewed science and have been reviewed by a number of Australian climate scientists”.
The Department of Climate Change lists the following as good resources on
climate change science.
• The Australian Academy of Science’s report The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers
• The Climate Commission’s report The Critical Decade
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report
• The CSIRO’s climate change website, and
• The Bureau of Meteorology’s climate change website.
DEA recommends the Australian Academy of Science’s report as the first report for students.
We also recommend the following additional resources
• The Royal Society, Climate change; a summary of the science –
• Explaining climate change science & rebutting global warming misinformation. Skeptical Science website
• For a beginner’s guide to the health aspects of climate change, the book“ the health practitioner’s guide to climate change”, edited by Jenny Griffiths et al
DEA will work on a list of more detailed key references