Saturday, 26 May 2018

NASA Claps Back After Climate Change Deniers Make False Claims On Facebook

Climate change is absolutely a real thing, one that demands our immediate attention. If we don't make big changes, many of the world's coastlines will be underwater in a few decades.

That's why it's more important than ever to spread the truth, rather than conspiracy theories.

All of this started with a challenge from Bill Nye.

Bill Nye, who I hear is some sort of science guy, is a defender of scientific truths. He offered a big chunk of cash to a prominent climate change denier to put his money where his mouth is.

Unsurprisingly, the challenge wasn't accepted.

Unable to prove that climate change is false, the denier bailed on the challenge.

Bill Nye posted the story to his Facebook page, where it got more than 2,700 shares. It also ignited a good deal of controversy.

Many of the commenters were committed to the idea that climate change is some kind of hoax.

Ignoring a massive stack of empirical data, commenters went all-in on the conspiracy, which is kind of weird considering they were doing it on a science-based Facebook page.

Eventually, NASA's page for Climate Change waded in.

They started off pretty gently, helping to guide some commenters on what exactly was being debated.

It wasn't long before they brought their claws out, though. And the glorious results speak for themselves.

The trolls mounted their arguments.

Based on hearsay, willful misreading of the existing literature and some kind of bias against the facts, several commenters tried to argue that climate change is bogus.

NASA eventually brought out the big guns.

It's important when mounting an argument to make sure that you fully understand how to interpret the data. NASA clearly takes its role in education pretty seriously.

The scientists are right, the trolls are wrong. Who'd have thought?

It's strange that climate change has become such a politicized issue when the stakes are high enough to affect virtually everybody.

NASA's climate change scientists are pretty committed to calling out trolls.

Sometimes they help keep the conversation on track, like a caring but stern schoolteacher.

Other times, they can be pretty savage.

STAY. ON. TOPIC.

Once again, NASA has to politely but firmly tell people to stick to the point and to read the terms of service. They're not just sticklers for the truth — they're sticklers for rules, too.

Even when people are on the side of science, rules are rules.

I think Mauro's on the side of science here, but NASA isn't going to tolerate anything off-topic all the same.

Keep on educating, NASA scientists.

Whenever they're correcting someone, they point them to the proper set of rules or evidence to help guide them in the right direction. Facts only, please!