The general consensus in the academic world is that the rate of climate change happening at an alarmingly fast pace and serious repercussions would result if nothing is to be done to change this trend.

This is supported by several key institutions including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In fact, a simple google search of the words ?climate change? and ?alarming? would yield more than enough articles, studies and evidences to support this notion.

Nevertheless, there are still several organizations that lobby against the severity of climate change. One such organization is Prager U, who claims that climate change is anything but ?alarming? through one of its video ?Climate Change: What?s So Alarming?.

At a first glance, the video seems to be successful in how it argues its case, using various research citations and scenarios as proof. However, the facts and studies mentioned in the video are manipulated to suit the interest of Prager U and thus, the video can be argued to be anything but a deceptive tool to evoke confusion and doubt on the subject of climate change which really is everything they need to hamper progress in this matter.

This article will dive into the specific arguments used in the video and prove that the assumptions formed are both deceptive and flawed.

The video starts by conceding the presence of climate change but denying its urgency this again contrary to the academic consensus. The speaker argues that most of the data reported have actually been more encouraging, pointing out that ?while the Arctic sea ice has been decreasing, the Antarctic sea ice has actually been increasing.?. This argument?s thesis is that climate change is no longer that serious due to recent gains in the Antarctic. However, the flaw of this argument is best captured by the words of climate scientist Claire Parkinson:

?Even though Antarctic sea ice reached a new record maximum this past September, global sea ice is still decreasing, the decreases in Arctic sea ice far exceed the increases in Antarctic sea ice.?

In its first argument, the video relies solely on cherry picked facts that are very biased in its representation and if anything misleading.

The video does not stop its deception there though. It continues to point out that ice melting is no longer accelerating, implying that climate change is improving. However, scientific knowledge about the ice sheets could easily take down this example: the rate of ice sheet melting over the past years has been faster due to the fact that only the outer layers have been damaged and the deeper layers are only starting to melt which accounts for the slower rate but is nonetheless even more alarming. Perhaps some knowledge regarding basic science would serve the speaker well.

Next, the speaker argues that typhoon severity over the past years has actually been decreasing, using US Hurricane Damage Data over the past century. He points out that the damage has actually decreased slightly with respect to the overstretched graph he uses. This analysis is absolutely flawed because it assumes that the decrease in Hurricane Damage can be attributed to the decrease of hurricane severity caused by climate change. But that is not the case!

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-study-shows-global-sea-ice-diminishing-despite-antarctic-gains

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/21/global-warming-taking-place-at-an-alarming-rate-un-climate-body-warns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PWtaackIJU