Informal Fallacies: Climate Change Advocacy (Research Paper Sample)

Informal Fallacies: Climate Change Advocacy Author Affiliation Course Instructor Due Date Informal Fallacies: Climate Change Advocacy Climate change is one of the most serious crises of the 21st century. Although its gradual effects prompt slow response and concern, climate change has attracted numerous advocacy campaigns from individuals, organizations, and nations. As scientists put it, climate change is a threat not only to human existence but to the existence of planet earth. Notably, the basis of the climate advocacy revolves around calling for climate justice since it is believed that the crisis is largely man-made through industrialization, cutting down of trees, world fires, the release of greenhouse gases through non-renewable energy, etc. (Kotcher et al., 2021). One of the prominent and perhaps the youngest to gain much public attention in her quest to advocate for climate justice is Greta Thunberg, a teen from Sweden. Born on January 3, 2003, Greta Thunberg shot to fame at 15 when she staged a protest dubbed "School Strike for Climate outside the Swedish parliamentary buildings in 2018 (UNEP, 2019). The aim of this protest and others that followed after that was to pressure or persuade governments, organizations, and even individuals to meet carbon emission targets that result in global warming and handle climate change with the urgency it requires. In her most famous speech in 2019, Greta emotionally challenged world leaders attending a UN climate conference in New York to stop doing the bare minimum about climate change, setting targets that they do not meet. These efforts have seen Greta win several Nobel awards due to her advocacy for climate justice. Climate change is a critical social issue that many ignore because its effects are gradual but, unfortunately, lethal. Scientists and researchers suggest that today's earth is hotter than it was more than 1000 years ago, with the oceans absorbing 90% of heat from confined greenhouse gases. Ideally, between 1997 and 2015, the ocean has absorbed more heat than it dit in 130 years previously (NASA, 2021). This is alarming, and its effects are evident, including melting glaciers, rising sea levels, loss of Arctic ice, spring snows now melting faster, world fires, floods, and other extreme climatic conditions. Unfortunately, humans are the cause of climate change. Even as experts argue that there are only less than two decades for the world to stop climate change beyond which there will be no turning back. Notably, climate change advocacy is surrounded by logical controversies sometimes due to the use of informal fallacies. Informal fallacies occur primarily due to reasoning errors. Unlike formal fallacies, which lie in the form or structure of argument, informal fallacies lie in the context of the argument, in this case, climate change (Pine, 2018). There are different Informal fallacies, including Accidental or generalization, ad hominem, Ambiguity, the fallacy of appeal, and appeal to authority or ad vericundiam. Accidental or generalization fallacies involve making a valid but unsound conclusion without considering exceptions. For instance, Greta and most climate change campaigners believe that the world leaders and governments benefit from climate change and hence do nothing to stop it. While this is correct, it is not entirely true because there other parties to the issue. The ad homen fallacy, otherwise known as the genetics fallacy, occurs due to focusing on an individual rather than the argument they represent. For example, at one point, President Trump and President Putin personally attacked Greta, terming her as a misinformed teenager who should focus on books. Other anti-climate change individuals also direct their attacks on climate organizations and conferences, accusing them of not doing their duties. Next, the ambiguity fallacy occurs due to ambiguous or controversial phrases or words. An example is when Greta and other climate advocates claim that human activities are...