University of Queensland starts Massive Open Online Course for Climate Change
A new University of Queensland course is meant to help understand why the topic of climate change is so controversial. Researchers from around the world have made it possible to have a course that could explode a number of climate myths along the way.
Renowned researchers from Universities in Canada, USA and the UK have contributed to the free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The course is one of the strongest steps taken to tackle climate myths and will uncover techniques that were deployed to mislead the public.
"About 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming, however, less than half of Australians are aware of humanity's role in climate change, while half of the US Senate has voted that humans weren't causing global warming", UQ Global Change Institute Climate Communication Fellow and MOOC coordinator John Cook said.
The free course also shows why a huge gap exists between the scientific community and the public. According to him, it was very important to remove this gap so as to have policy development that is supported by science. This is vital for providing maximum benefit for communities, economies and the environment, he added.
Mr. Cook said the science of science denial needs to be understood carefully to gain insight into the controversy. The course brilliantly serves the purpose of determining what is driving climate science denial and the most common myths about climate change.
It will also be examined that what's the best response that could be given to science denial by using science. Climate science and the psychology of climate change are being incorporated in the course to explain the most common climate myths and to detail how to respond to them.