query: Miami Congressman Carlos "Curbelo supports drilling offshore" and "repeatedly voted against President Obama's ability to fight pollution and combat climate change."

positive: Carlos Curbelo Carlos Curbelo may refer to :   Carlos Curbelo ( politician ) ( born 1980 ) , American politician  Carlos Curbelo ( footballer ) ( born 1954 ) , former naturalized French footballer

negative: United States presidential election in Connecticut, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Connecticut voters chose seven electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Obama and Biden carried Connecticut with 58.1 % of the popular vote to Romney 's and Ryan 's 40.7 % , thus winning the state 's seven electoral votes .

negative: United States presidential election in Nebraska, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Nebraska voters chose five electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   On election day , Mitt Romney carried the state of Nebraska , taking 59.80 % of the vote to Barack Obama 's 38.03 % , a margin of 21.77 % . Nebraska is one of two states ( along with Maine ) which splits its electoral votes based on the winner in each congressional district . In 2012 , Romney won all 3 congressional districts , thus winning all 5 of the state 's electoral votes . This was a change from 2008 , when the state as a whole had voted for Republican John McCain but Democrat Barack Obama still won an electoral vote from the state . Nebraska 's 2nd congressional district , home to Omaha , had split with the rest of the state and awarded one of Nebraska 's electoral votes to a Democratic presidential nominee for the first time since 1964 . Nebraska 's 2nd congressional district , Indiana , and North Carolina were the only sources of electoral votes to change hands from Obama to the Republicans between 2008 and 2012 .

negative: Carlos Curbelo (footballer) Carlos Curbelo ( born 28 April 1954 in San José de Mayo , Uruguay ) is a former naturalized French footballer who played defender .   He is the father of AS Nancy 's Gaston Curbelo .

negative: United States presidential election in New Hampshire, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . New Hampshire voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   On election day , New Hampshire voters chose to re-elect President Barack Obama , giving Obama 51.98 % of the vote to Mitt Romney 's 46.40 % , a Democratic victory margin of 5.58 % .

negative: United States presidential election in Kansas, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Kansas voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney and Ryan carried Kansas with 59.66 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 38.05 % , thus winning the state 's six electoral votes .   Obama carried only two counties : Douglas , home to liberal Lawrence and the University of Kansas ; and Wyandotte , home to Kansas City and the state 's largest concentration of minority voters . In 2008 , Obama also carried Crawford County in southeast Kansas , but failed to do so this time .

negative: United States presidential election in Maine, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Maine voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Obama and Biden carried Maine with 55.37 % of the popular vote to Romney 's and Ryan 's 40.33 % , thus winning the state 's four electoral votes .

negative: Curbelo Curbelo is a Spanish surname . Notable people with the surname include :   Alejandro Curbelo ( born 1973 ) Uruguayan soccer player  Carlos Curbelo  Carlos Curbelo ( politician ) ( born 1980 ) , American politician  Carlos Curbelo ( footballer ) ( born 1954 ) , former naturalized French soccer player  Cecilia Curbelo ( born 1975 ) Uruguayan journalist  Gaston Curbelo ( born 1976 ) is a French soccer player  Gonzalo Curbelo ( born 1987 ) Uruguayan soccer player  Jorge Curbelo ( born 1981 ) Uruguayan soccer player  José Curbelo ( 1917-2012 ) Cuban-born American pianist and manager  Juan Curbelo  Juan Ramón Curbelo ( born 1979 ) soccer player  Juan Curbelo ( 1680 - 1760 ) Spanish politician  Nestor Curbelo ( born 1952 ) Uruguayan historian  Silvia Álvarez Curbelo ( born 1940 ) Puerto Rican historian and writer  Silvia Curbelo Cuban-born , American poet and writer

negative: Climate Change Science Program The Climate Change Science Program ( CCSP ) was the program responsible for coordinating and integrating research on global warming by U.S. government agencies from February 2002 to June 2009 . Toward the end of that period , CCSP issued 21 separate climate assessment reports that addressed climate observations , changes in the atmosphere , expected climate change , impacts and adaptation , and risk management issues . Shortly after President Obama took office , the program 's name was changed to U.S. Global Change Research Program ( USGCRP ) which was also the program 's name before 2002 . Nevertheless , the Obama Administration generally embraced the CCSP products as sound science providing a basis for climate policy . Because those reports were mostly issued after the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , and in some cases focused specifically on the United States , they were generally viewed within the United States as having an importance and scientific credibility comparable to the IPCC assessments for the first few years of the Obama Administration .

negative: United States presidential election in Washington (state), 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Washington voters chose 12 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   President Obama won the state of Washington comfortably , taking 56.16 % to Mitt Romney 's 41.29 % , a 14.87 % margin of victory . The election continued the state 's blue trend ; Washington has not voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984 .

negative: United States presidential election in Montana, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Montana voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Romney carried Montana with 55.35 % of the vote to Obama 's 41.70 % , with a 14.64 % margin of victory . Montana was the second-best state performance for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson , carrying about 3 % of the vote .   Romney performed much better than John McCain had in 2008 , when he narrowly won over Obama .

negative: United States presidential election in Idaho, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Idaho voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Prior to the election , 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win , or otherwise considered as a safe red state . Romney and Ryan carried Idaho with 64.09 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 32.40 % , thus winning the state 's four electoral votes .

negative: United States presidential election in Mississippi, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Mississippi voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Romney and Ryan won Mississippi with 55.3 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 43.8 % , thus winning the state 's six electoral votes . Mississippi was one of just six states where Obama improved on his 2008 performance . According to exit polls , the black vote share in Mississippi increased from 33 % in 2008 to 36 % in 2012 , likely explaining Obama 's gains . This was the strongest showing for a Democratic presidential candidate in Mississippi since native Southerner Bill Clinton 's 44.08 % in 1996 . Obama carried Warren County , becoming the first Democrat to do so since John F. Kennedy in 1960 .

negative: United States presidential election in Arkansas, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Arkansas voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Romney and Ryan carried Arkansas with 60.57 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 36.88 % of the vote , winning the state 's six electoral votes . While Arkansas had been won by the Democrats as recently as 1996 by native son Bill Clinton , Barack Obama proved a poor fit for the state , and his 23.69 % loss was the worst defeat for a Democratic presidential candidate in Arkansas since 1972 .   The presidential primaries were held May 22 , 2012 , on the same day as the primaries in Kentucky .

negative: United States presidential election in Ohio, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Ohio voters chose 18 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . This continued the streak of having the winner of the overall election winning Ohio as the state has not voted for a losing candidate since Richard Nixon in 1960 .   President Obama won the popular vote in Ohio with 50.67 % of the vote over Mitt Romney in second place at 47.69 % , a Democratic victory margin of 2.98 % .

negative: Richard Fuller (environmentalist) Richard Fuller ( born 1960 ) is an Australian-born , U.S.-based engineer , entrepreneur and environmentalist best known for his work in global pollution remediation . He is founder and president of the nonprofit Blacksmith Institute , ( recently renamed Pure Earth ) dedicated to solving pollution problems in low and middle-income countries , where human health is at risk . He is also the founder and president of Great Forest , Inc. , a sustainability consultancy in the U.S. . In 2010 , he was profiled in Time magazine 's Power of One column about his efforts fighting global pollution . In 2014 , Bloomberg Businessweek chronicled the growth of Blacksmith Institute/Pure Earth and Fuller 's work on toxic pollution problems around the world , including a dangerous cleanup of a secret former Soviet arms site in the Ukraine .   In 2014 , the UN Dispatch profiled Fuller 's work helping to shape the Sustainable Development Goals . Working with Pure Earth and the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution , Fuller was part of a global team that successfully worked to broaden the scope of toxic pollution addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ) .   In 2015 , Santa Monica Press published `` The Brown Agenda : My Mission To Clean Up The World 's Most Life-Threatening Pollution '' , written by Fuller and Damon DiMarco . The book documents his adventures at some of the world 's most toxic locations , and introduces readers to the plight of the poisoned poor , suggesting specific ways in which anyone can help combat brown sites all over the world .   `` We 've already solved most of the pollution problems in the West . There are n't people dying in droves in the U.S. or in England - they 're all dying overseas , in low - and middle-income countries , '' the author of `` The Brown Agenda '' told the Thomson Reuters Foundation .   In a 2015 interview with John Hockenberry on The Takeaway on NPR , Fuller noted the differences in approaches to climate change and pollution : '' ... over the last couple of decades , climate change has taken over as the key environmental issue . So now we find that the agenda of these countries is biodiversity and climate change , and pollution has simply dropped off the map . This is an extraordinary result and one we really need to turn around . ''

negative: United States presidential election in Michigan, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Michigan voters chose 16 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Michigan was won by Democratic incumbent Barack Obama by a 9.5 % margin of victory . Obama received 54.21 % of the vote to Romney 's 44.71 % . It was the sixth presidential election in a row where Michigan voted in favor of the Democratic candidate , with Republicans last carrying the state in 1988 , when George H.W. Bush won in Michigan ; however , Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump did end up winning the state in 2016 .

negative: United States presidential election in Indiana, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Indiana voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney and Ryan carried Indiana with 54.1 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 43.9 % , thus winning the state 's 11 electoral votes .   Indiana was one of just two states ( along with North Carolina ) which had been won by Obama in 2008 but which flipped to the Republicans in 2012 . Although the state normally leans Republican , in 2008 Obama had been the first Democrat to win Indiana since 1964 , albeit by a narrow 1.03 % margin . However , unlike North Carolina , Indiana was not seriously contested again by the Obama campaign in 2012 , and consequently Romney was able to carry it by a relatively comfortable 10.20 % .   Obama also won in Vigo County , home to Terre Haute and a noted bellwether ; it has voted for the winner of every presidential election all but twice since 1892 .

negative: United States presidential election in Illinois, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Illinois voters chose 20 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . The Obama/Biden ticket won Illinois with 57.60 % of the popular vote to Romney/Ryan 's 40.73 % , thus winning the state 's 20 electoral votes by a margin of 16.87 % .   Obama 's victory in Illinois was due to an overwhelmingly strong vote total in Cook County , which includes Illinois ' largest city , Chicago . Obama won Cook County with 74 % , receiving 1,488,537 votes , compared to Romney who received only 24.6 % of the votes in Cook County , or 495,542 votes . The importance of the vote in Chicago and the rest of Cook County to Obama 's victory in Illinois can be illustrated by a hypothetical scenario in which its votes are not included in the overall state total . Many counties in Southern Illinois that had voted for then Senator Obama in 2008 , swung back to the GOP due to decreased enthusiasm for the Democratic incumbent . If one were to subtract all of the votes in Cook County from Illinois ' total votes cast , Romney would have actually won Illinois , having received 1,629,863 votes ( 50.62 % ) in the rest of the state , compared to Obama , who received 1,524,886 votes ( 47.36 % ) . This , despite Obama 's good performance in the suburban collar counties , which are considered swing counties .   Obama 's victory continued a Democratic winning streak in the state - the Democratic candidate has carried Illinois through the previous six election cycles . The last Republican to win Illinois in a Presidential Election was George H.W. Bush in 1988 .

negative: United States presidential election in Hawaii, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Hawaii voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Prior to the election , 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win , or otherwise considered as a safe blue state . The Hawaiian-born President handily won the state 's 4 electoral votes by a wide 42.71 percent margin of victory .

negative: United States presidential election in Oregon, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 6 , 2012 , as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Oregon voters chose seven electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   On election day , Obama carried Oregon with 54.24 % of the vote to Romney 's 42.15 % , a Democratic victory margin of 12.09 % . The Democrats have won the state in every presidential election since 1988 .

negative: United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . New Jersey voters chose 14 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Due to the difficulty of getting to polling places because of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy , voters who were displaced were allowed to vote electronically . Officials were not prepared for the 15 minutes that it took to validate each request , and were deluged by voters who were not displaced asking to vote electronically , so voting was extended until Friday , November 9 , at 8 PM . Requests had to be submitted by 5 PM .   New Jersey was won by President Obama with 58.38 % of the vote to Romney 's 40.59 % , a 17.79 % margin of victory . New Jersey was one of just six states to swing in President Obama 's favor between 2008 and 2012 , giving him the largest vote share for a Democratic presidential nominee in the state since the 1964 Democratic landslide .

negative: United States presidential election in the District of Columbia, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . D.C. voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Obama and Biden carried the District of Columbia with 90.9 % of the popular vote to Romney 's and Ryan 's 7.3 % , thus winning the district 's three electoral votes . As of 2017 , this is the only election since 1988 when the District failed to return a Democratic margin of victory higher than the district had then ever returned in any prior election .

negative: Republican and conservative support for Barack Obama in 2008 United States President Barack Obama , a member of the Democratic Party , was endorsed or supported by some members of the Republican Party and by some political figures holding conservative views in the 2008 election . Although the vast majority of Obama 's support came from liberal constituencies , some conservatives identified in him shared priorities or other positive attributes . As in any election , voters can and sometimes do cross party lines to vote for the other party 's nominee . Republican and conservative Obama supporters were often referred to as `` Obama Republicans '' , `` Obamacans '' or `` Obamacons '' .   Republican and conservative supporters of Obama included elected officials , former elected officials , academics , commentators , and retired military officers . According to exit polls on Election Day , 9 % of those who identified themselves as Republicans voted for Barack Obama , up slightly from the 6 % of self-identified Republicans who voted for John Kerry in 2004 .

negative: Generation Zero (organisation) Generation Zero is a youth-led organisation in New Zealand focused on transitioning society away from its dependency on fossil fuels and combating climate change .   Generation Zero `` was founded with the central purpose of providing solutions for New Zealand to cut carbon pollution through smarter transport , liveable cities & independence from fossil fuels . '' The group believes that young people must be at the forefront of tackling climate change , and that `` young people are the inheritors of humanity 's response '' .

negative: United States presidential election in Iowa, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6 , 2012 , as part of the 2012 general election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Iowa voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   On election day , Barack Obama won Iowa with 51.99 % of the vote to Mitt Romney 's 46.18 % , a Democratic victory margin of 5.81 % . The result being closer than 2008 , Romney picked up wins in several counties that Obama had won in 2008 , although one county flipped in the opposite direction , with Obama narrowly winning Woodbury County in 2012 after narrowly losing it in 2008 .

negative: Maldivian Youth Climate Network The Maldivian Youth Climate Network ( MYCN ) , founded on 29 August 2010 , is a Non-Governmental Organisation from Maldives which is primarily involved in raising awareness on and empowering youth to combat Climate Change . It is currently one of the leading organizations advocating against climate change in Maldives .

negative: Effects of climate change on island nations Climate change is producing drastic changes to Earth processes and changing Earth 's environmental status quo . Especially pertinent to human development is the threat of climate change on island nations . As sea levels continue to rise , island peoples and cultures are being threatened . As the former President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands , Christopher Loeak , noted `` In the last year alone , my country has suffered through unprecedented droughts in the north , and the biggest ever king tides in the south ; and we have watched the most devastating typhoons in history leave a trail of death and destruction across the region . '' Efforts to combat theses environmental changes are ongoing and multinational . Particularly notable is the adoption of the Paris agreement at the UN Climate Summit in Paris in 2015 , which by no means an unqualified success , is certainly a step in the right direction in regards to fighting the effects of climate by aiming to slow the pace of global warming .

negative: United States presidential election in Florida, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Florida voters chose 29 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Several counties in the state suffered delays in finalizing their votes . This was caused in part by a high turnout , as well as a large number of absentee ballots to count , though some ( international ) media responded that ` foul play ' might be involved .   As of November 8 , the voting had still not concluded . However , with much of the remaining vote still coming in from heavily Democratic areas , Mitt Romney 's Florida campaign acknowledged that Romney had lost the state to Barack Obama . In order to certify the election in Florida , the ballots continued to be counted . Both Miami-Dade and Broward County completed their ballot counts on November 8 , leaving Palm Beach and Duval counties as the only two that did not have a final count at the end of the day .   Florida required all counties to finish counting by noon Saturday , but would not announce an official winner until the votes were certified on November 20 . A recount is not done unless the difference is less than 0.5 % . At 11 PM EST on November 9 , the margin for Obama was 0.86 % , with all but one county finished with their counting . On November 10 , most major news sources projected Obama to be the winner of Florida 's 29 electoral votes . It was the last state to be called in the 2012 presidential election , and was also the closest .   Despite Tampa having been the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention , Barack Obama ultimately carried the state of Florida with 50.01 % of the vote , to Mitt Romney 's 49.13 % , a margin of 0.88 % . Having also won the state in 2008 , Obama 's 2012 victory made him the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to carry Florida for the Democrats in two consecutive presidential elections .

negative: United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Tennessee voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Mitt Romney received Tennessee 's 11 electoral votes after he garnered 59.48 % of the popular vote in Tennessee , to Barack Obama 's 39.08 % .   Much like in previous elections , larger metropolitan areas such as Memphis and Nashville were won by the Democratic Party , but rural areas overwhelmingly favored the Republican Party . Barack Obama proved especially unpopular among the state 's conservative electorate ; consequently , Mitt Romney 's 20.4 % margin of victory was the strongest Republican win in Tennessee since 1972 . Tennessee has not voted for a Democratic candidate since 1996 .

negative: Air pollution in Germany Air pollution in Germany has significantly decreased over the past decade . Air pollution occurs when harmful substances are released into the Earth 's atmosphere . These pollutants are released through human activity and natural sources . Germany took interest in reducing its greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions by switching to renewable energy sources . Renewable energy use rose from 6.3 % in 2000 to 34 % in 2016 . Through the transition to renewable energy sources , Germany has become the climate change policy leader and renewable energy leader in the European Union ( EU ) and in the world with ambitious climate change programs . The current goal of the German government was approved on 14 November 2016 in the German Climate Action Plan 2050 , which outlines measures by which Germany can meet its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 . By 2050 , Germany wants to reduce their GHGs by 80 to 95 % and by 2030 they want to reduce it by 55 % , compared to the EU target of 40 % .   In order to achieve these goals , a variety of strategies and policies are used rather than legislation . The four strategies the German government bases air pollution control on are laying down environmental quality standards , emission reduction requirements according to the best available technology , production regulations , and laying down emission ceilings . Through these strategies , policy instruments have been put in place that have contributed to the success of the significant air pollution reduction in Germany . These instruments include the Federal Emission Control Act and Implementing Ordinances , Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control ( TA Luft ) , Amendment to Ordinance on Small Firing Installations , Implementation of the directive on industrial emissions , and Transboundary air pollution control policy . The German Feed-in-Tariff policy introduced in 2000 led to the significant increase in renewable energy use and decreasing air pollution . They have been introduced in Germany to increase the use of renewables , such as wind power , biomass , hydropower , geothermal power , and photovoltaics , thereby reducing GHG emissions causing air pollution and combating climate change .   The German government has been an agenda setter in international climate policy negotiations since the late 1980s . However , national and global climate policies have become a top priority since the conservative-social democratic government came into power in 2005 , pushing both European and international climate negotiations . Positive path dependency in Germany 's climate and energy policies has occurred over the past 20 years . There are three main triggers that put Germany on this positive path dependency and what led them to becoming a climate change policy leader . The first being the widespread damages to health , due to smog , and to nature , due to acid rain , caused by air pollution . The second being the shock of the two oil price crises , in 1973 and 1979 , that highlighted the problem of the German economy 's strong dependence on unsure foreign sources . The third being the growing opposition to the country 's growing reliance on nuclear energy . Air pollution began to be seen as a problem in Germany due to these three triggers , causing Germany to put policies into place to control air pollution . This has now developed from controlling air pollution to being a leader in climate change politics .   __ TOC __

negative: Virginia's 9th congressional district Virginia 's ninth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia , covering much of the southwestern part of the state . The 9th is Virginia 's second-largest district in area , covering 8800.24 square miles ( slightly larger than the whole state of New Jersey ) . The current representative is Morgan Griffith ( R ) .   Despite the fact that the district had been in Democratic hands for nearly three decades , it has always had a strong social conservative bent , one that turned it towards the Republicans starting in the 1990s . It last supported a Democrat for president in 1996 , and has only supported a Democrat in two statewide contests since then . Republican presidential candidate John McCain received 59 % of the vote in the 9th district in 2008 , his best performance in any of Virginia 's eleven congressional districts . The 9th District is the only district in Virginia that cast more votes for Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary . Clinton won more than 60 % of the vote here despite Congressman Rick Boucher 's endorsement of Obama .

negative: United States presidential election in Minnesota, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Minnesota voters chose 10 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan .   Minnesota backed incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama for re-election , giving him 52.65 % of the vote , while Republican challenger Mitt Romney took 44.96 % , a victory margin of 7.69 % . With ten Democratic wins in a row , Minnesota has the longest current streak of voting for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections of any state , having not voted Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972 . This is also the longest streak for the Democrats in history amongst non-Southern States .


query: Claims have recently surfaced in the blogosphere that an increasing number of scientists are warning of an imminent global cooling, some even going so far as to call it a "growing consensus".

positive: Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .

positive: Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally .   Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be .   Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .

positive: Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years .   In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing .   Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years .   Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) ,  whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change .   Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .

negative: Expanding Earth The expanding Earth or growing Earth hypothesis asserts that the position and relative movement of continents is at least partially due to the volume of Earth increasing . Conversely , geophysical global cooling was the hypothesis that various features could be explained by Earth contracting .   Although it was suggested historically , since the recognition of plate tectonics in the 1970s , scientific consensus has rejected any significant expansion or contraction of Earth .

negative: Climatic Research Unit documents Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e-mails and other computer files were stolen from a server at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in a hacking incident in November 2009 . The documents were redistributed first through several blogs of global warming skeptics , and allegations were made that they indicated misconduct by leading climate scientists . A series of investigations rejected these allegations , while concluding that CRU scientists should have been more open with distributing data and methods on request . Precisely six committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged by the end of the investigations .   The incident occurred shortly before the opening December 2009 Copenhagen global climate summit . It has prompted general discussion about increasing the openness of scientific data ( though the majority of climate data have always been freely available ) . Scientists , scientific organisations , and government officials have stated that the incident does not affect the overall scientific case for climate change . Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that `` The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument . ''

negative: An Appeal to Reason An Appeal to Reason : A Cool Look at Global Warming is a 2008 book by Nigel Lawson . In it , Lawson argues that global warming is happening , but that the science is far from settled . He opposes the scientific consensus as summarized by the IPCC . He also argues that warming will bring both benefits and negative consequences , and that the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic . He criticizes politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken , and he calls for gradual adaptation instead . The book has been criticized by some climatologists , including IPCC authors Jean Palutikof and Robert Watson .

negative: Surveys of scientists' views on climate change Surveys of scientists ' views on climate change - with a focus on human-caused or anthropogenic global warming ( AGW ) - have been undertaken since the 1990s . A 2016 paper ( which was co-authored by Naomi Oreskes , Peter Doran , William Anderegg , Bart Verheggen , Ed Maibach , J. Stuart Carlton and John Cook , and which was based on a half a dozen independent studies by the authors ) concluded that `` the finding of 97 % consensus -LSB- that humans are causing recent global warming -RSB- in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies . ''

negative: Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are :  increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases  global changes to land surface , such as deforestation  increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols .   There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity .   According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence .   Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities :  A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established .  Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual .  Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included .  Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming .   The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .

negative: Iris hypothesis The iris hypothesis is a hypothesis proposed by Richard Lindzen et al. in 2001 that suggested increased sea surface temperature in the tropics would result in reduced cirrus clouds and thus more infrared radiation leakage from Earth 's atmosphere . His study of observed changes in cloud coverage and modeled effects on infrared radiation released to space as a result supported the hypothesis . This suggested infrared radiation leakage was hypothesized to be a negative feedback in which an initial warming would result in an overall cooling of the surface . The consensus view is that increased sea surface temperature would result in increased cirrus clouds and reduced infrared radiation leakage and therefore a positive feedback .   Other scientists subsequently tested the hypothesis . Some concluded that there was no evidence supporting the hypothesis . Others found evidence suggesting that increased sea surface temperature in the tropics did indeed reduce cirrus clouds but found that the effect was nonetheless a positive feedback rather than the negative feedback that Lindzen had hypothesized . A later 2007 study conducted by Roy Spencer et al. using updated satellite data potentially supported the iris hypothesis . In 2011 , Lindzen published a rebuttal to the main criticisms . In 2015 a paper was published which again suggested the possibility of an `` Iris Effect '' . It also proposed what it called a `` plausible physical mechanism for an iris effect . ''

negative: Leipzig Declaration The Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change is a statement made in 1995 , seeking to refute the claim there is a scientific consensus on the global warming issue .  It was issued in an updated form in 1997 and revised again in 2005 , claiming to have been signed by 80 scientists and 25 television news meteorologists while the posting of 33 additional signatories was pending verification that those 33 additional scientists still agreed with the statement .  All versions of the declaration , which opposes the global warming hypothesis and the Kyoto Protocol , were penned by Fred Singer 's Science and Environmental Policy Project ( SEPP ) .   The first declaration was based on a November 9 -- 10 , 1995 conference , organized by Helmut Metzner in Leipzig , Germany . The second declaration was additionally based on a successor conference in Bonn , Germany on November 10 -- 11 , 1997 . The conferences were cosponsored by SEPP and the European Academy for Environmental Affairs and titled International Symposium on the Greenhouse Controversy .

negative: Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change .   The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas .   The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . ''   Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations .

negative: Earthquake cloud Earthquake clouds are clouds claimed to be signs of imminent earthquakes . They have been described in antiquity : In chapter 32 of his work Brihat Samhita , Indian scholar Varahamihira ( 505 -- 587 ) discussed a number of signs warning of earthquakes , including extraordinary clouds occurring a week before the earthquake . In modern times , a few scientists claim to have observed clouds associated with a seismic event , sometimes more than 50 days in advance of the earthquake . Some have even claimed to accurately predict earthquake occurrences by observing clouds . However , these claims have very little support in the scientific community .

negative: Kato surface In mathematics , a Kato surface is a compact complex surface with positive first Betti number that has a global spherical shell . showed that Kato surfaces have small analytic deformations that are the blowups of primary Hopf surfaces at a finite number of points . In particular they have an infinite cyclic fundamental group , and are never Kähler manifolds . Examples of Kato surfaces include Inoue-Hirzebruch surfaces and Enoki surfaces . The global spherical shell conjecture claims that all class VII surfaces with positive second Betti number are Kato surfaces .

negative: Global dimming Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s . The effect varies by location , but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4 % reduction over the three decades from 1960 -- 1990 . However , after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed .   Global dimming is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action .   It has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas . Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming .

negative: Antarctica cooling controversy An apparent contradiction in the observed cooling behavior of Antarctica between 1966 and 2000 became part of the public debate in the global warming controversy , particularly between advocacy groups of both sides in the public arena including politicians , as well as the popular media . In his novel State of Fear , Michael Crichton asserted that the Antarctic data contradict global warming . The few scientists who have commented on the supposed controversy state that there is no contradiction , while the author of the paper whose work inspired Crichton 's remarks has said that Crichton `` misused '' his results . There is no similar controversy within the scientific community , as the small observed changes in Antarctica are consistent with the small changes predicted by climate models , and because the overall trend since comprehensive observations began is now known to be one of warming . At the South Pole , where some of the strongest cooling trends were observed between the 1950s and 1990s , the mean trend is flat from 1957 through 2013 .

negative: List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint .   The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows :  The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years .  `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane .  If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming .   These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science .   There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds .   For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations .   NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .

negative: Global cooling (disambiguation) Global cooling was a 1970s conjecture about global climate change .   Global cooling may also refer to :  In general , one of the means by which Earth can undergo climate change  Climate change denial , including contrarian views about global warming in the 20th and 21st centuries  Cooling periods on the multimillion-year scale in the geologic temperature record  Geophysical global cooling , a conjecture about the formation of natural features that was made obsolete by the theory of plate tectonics  Little Ice Age , a period from the 16th to 19th centuries characterized by cooling and coincident with below average sunspots frequency

negative: Cloud feedback Cloud feedback is the coupling between cloudiness and surface air temperature where a surface air temperature change leads to a change in clouds , which could then amplify or diminish the initial temperature perturbation . Cloud feedbacks can affect the magnitude of internally generated climate variability or they can affect the magnitude of climate change resulting from external radiative forcings .   Global warming is expected to change the distribution and type of clouds . Seen from below , clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface , and so exert a warming effect ; seen from above , clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space , and so exert a cooling effect . Cloud representations vary among global climate models , and small changes in cloud cover have a large impact on the climate . Differences in planetary boundary layer cloud modeling schemes can lead to large differences in derived values of climate sensitivity . A model that decreases boundary layer clouds in response to global warming has a climate sensitivity twice that of a model that does not include this feedback . However , satellite data show that cloud optical thickness actually increases with increasing temperature . Whether the net effect is warming or cooling depends on details such as the type and altitude of the cloud ; details that are difficult to represent in climate models .

negative: Public opinion on climate change Public opinion on climate change is the aggregate of attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population concerning the science , economics , and politics of global warming . It is affected by media coverage of climate change .

negative: Enoki surface In mathematics , an Enoki surface is compact complex surface with positive second Betti number that has a global spherical shell and a non-trivial divisor D with H0 ( O ( D ) ) ≠ 0 and ( D , D ) = 0 . constructed some examples . They are surfaces of class VII , so are non-Kähler and have Kodaira dimension − ∞ .

negative: Skeptical Science Skeptical Science ( occasionally abbreviated SkS ) is a climate science blog and information resource created in 2007 by Australian cognitive scientist John Cook . In addition to publishing articles on current events relating to climate science and climate policy , the site maintains a large database of articles analyzing the merit of arguments commonly put forth by those who oppose the mainstream scientific opinion on climate change .

negative: Earthquake prediction Earthquake prediction is a branch of the science of seismology concerned with the specification of the time , location , and magnitude of future earthquakes within stated limits , and particularly `` the determination of parameters for the next strong earthquake to occur in a region . Earthquake prediction is sometimes distinguished from earthquake forecasting , which can be defined as the probabilistic assessment of general earthquake hazard , including the frequency and magnitude of damaging earthquakes in a given area over years or decades . Prediction can be further distinguished from earthquake warning systems , which upon detection of an earthquake , provide a real-time warning of seconds to neighboring regions that might be affected .   In the 1970s , scientists were optimistic that a practical method for predicting earthquakes would soon be found , but by the 1990s continuing failure led many to question whether it was even possible . Demonstrably successful predictions of large earthquakes have not occurred and the few claims of success are controversial . For example , the most famous claim of a successful prediction is that alleged for the 1975 Haicheng earthquake . A later study said that there was no valid short-term prediction . Extensive searches have reported many possible earthquake precursors , but , so far , such precursors have not been reliably identified across significant spatial and temporal scales . While part of the scientific community hold that , taking into account non-seismic precursors and given enough resources to study them extensively , prediction might be possible , most scientists are pessimistic and some maintain that earthquake prediction is inherently impossible .

negative: History of climate change science The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified . In the late 19th century , scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate . Many other theories of climate change were advanced , involving forces from volcanism to solar variation . In the 1960s , the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing . Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols ( e.g. , `` pollution '' ) could have cooling effects as well . During the 1970s , scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint . By the 1990s , as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages , a consensus position formed : greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming . Since the 1990s , scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded . Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations , links with historic data and ability to model climate change numerically . Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change .   Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years . It may be a change in average weather conditions , or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions ( such as more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes ( such as oceanic circulation ) , biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions , and human-induced alterations of the natural world . The latter effect is currently causing global warming , and `` climate change '' is often used to describe human-specific impacts .

negative: Ex-gay movement The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships , to eliminate homosexual desires , to develop heterosexual desires , or to enter into a heterosexual relationship .   The ex-gay movement relies on the involvement of individuals who formerly identified as gay , lesbian , or bisexual but no longer do ; these individuals may either claim that they have eliminated their attraction to the same sex altogether or simply that they abstain from acting on such attraction .   There have been various scandals related to this movement , including some self-claimed ex-gays having been found in same-sex relationships despite having denied this , as well as controversies over gay minors being forced to go to ex-gay camps against their will , and overt admissions by organizations related to the movement that conversion therapy does not work .   A large body of research and global scientific consensus indicates that being gay , lesbian , or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment . Because of this , major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against attempting to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual , and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful .

negative: Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods .   Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system .   Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified .   Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .

negative: Heat transfer through fins Fins are extensions on exterior surfaces of objects that increase the rate of heat transfer to or from the object by increasing convection . This is achieved by increasing the surface area of the body , which in turn increases the heat transfer rate by a sufficient degree . This is an efficient way of increasing the rate , since the alternative way of doing so is by increasing either the heat transfer coefficient ( which depends on the nature of materials being used and the conditions of use ) or the temperature gradient ( which depends on the conditions of use ) . Clearly , changing the shape of the bodies is more convenient . Fins are therefore a very popular solution to increase the heat transfer from surfaces and are widely used in a number of objects . The fin material should preferably have high thermal conductivity .  In most applications the fin is surrounded by a fluid in motion , which heats or cools it quickly due to the large surface area , and subsequently the heat gets transferred to or from the body quickly due to the high thermal conductivity of the fin .  For optimal Heat transfer performance with minimal cost , the dimensions and shape of the fin have to be calculated for specific applications , and this is called design of a fin . A common way of doing so is by creating a model of the fin and then simulating it under required service conditions .

negative: The Deniers The Deniers is a 2008 book by Lawrence Solomon , a Canadian environmentalist and writer . Subtitled `` The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria , political persecution , and fraud , '' the book draws attention to a number of scientists and others who , according to Solomon , have advanced arguments against what he calls the `` alarmist '' view of global warming , as presented by Al Gore , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , the mainstream media , and others . The book is based on a series of columns Solomon wrote for Canada 's National Post .

negative: Color terminology for race In some societies and among some anthropologists , color terminology was used to label races , sometimes in addition to a non-color term for the same race . Identifying races in terms of their human skin color has been common since at least the Physiognomica falsely attributed to Aristotle .   Other scientists were more cautious about such categorization , and Charles Darwin argued that the number of categories , or in this case the number of different colors , is completely arbitrary and subjective . For example , some claimed three distinct colors , some four , and others have claimed even more . In contrast , Darwin argued that there are gradations , or degrees between the numbers of categories claimed , and not distinct categories , or colors .

negative: Watts Up With That? Watts Up With That ? ( or WUWT ) is a blog promoting climate change denial that was created by Anthony Watts in 2006 .   The blog predominantly discusses climate issues with a focus on anthropogenic climate change , generally accommodating beliefs that are in opposition to the scientific consensus on climate change . Contributors include Christopher Monckton and Fred Singer as guest authors . In November 2009 , the blog was one of the first websites to publish emails and documents from the Climatic Research Unit controversy , and a driving force behind its coverage .   In the early months of 2010 , it was reported the site might be `` the most read climate blog in the world , '' and in 2013 Michael E. Mann referred to it as the leading climate change denial blog .

negative: Environmental skepticism Environmental skepticism is the belief that claims by environmentalists , and the environmental scientists who support them , are false or exaggerated . The term is also applied to those who are critical of environmentalism in general . Environmental skepticism is closely linked with anti-environmentalism and climate change denial .   Environmental skeptics have argued that the extent of harm coming from human activities is less certain than some scientists and scientific bodies claim , or that it is too soon to be introducing curbs in these activities on the basis of existing evidence , or that further discussion is needed regarding who should pay for such environmental initiatives . One of the focus themes in the environmental skeptics movement is the idea that environmentalism is a growing threat to social and economic progress and the civil liberties .   The popularity of the term was enhanced by Bjørn Lomborg 's book The Skeptical Environmentalist . Lomborg approached environmental claims from a statistical and economic standpoint , and concluded that often the claims made by environmentalists were overstated . Lomborg argued , on the basis of cost -- benefit analysis , that few environmentalist claims warranted serious concern . However , in 2010 , Lomborg stated that he believes in the need for `` tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested in tackling climate change '' and declared global warming to be `` undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today '' and `` a challenge humanity must confront '' . He summarized his position , saying `` Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem . But it is not the end of the world . ''

negative: RealClimate RealClimate is a commentary site ( blog ) on climatology . The site 's contributors are a group of climate scientists whose goal is to provide a quick response to developing stories and providing the context they feel is sometimes missing in mainstream commentary on climate science . The forum is moderated , and is restricted to scientific topics to avoid discussion of political or economic implications of the science . RealClimate was launched on 10 December 2004 by nine climate scientists .

negative: World Scientists' Warning to Humanity In late 1992 , the late Henry W. Kendall , a former chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) board of directors , wrote `` World Scientists ' Warning to Humanity '' , which begins : `` Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course . '' A majority of the Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences signed the document ; about 1,700 of the world 's leading scientists appended their signature .   It is sometimes offered in opposition to the Heidelberg Appeal -- also signed by numerous scientists and Nobel laureates earlier in 1992 -- which begins by criticizing `` an irrational ideology which is opposed to scientific and industrial progress , and impedes economic and social development . '' This document is often cited by those who oppose theories relating to climate change .   However , the Heidelberg Appeal offers no specific recommendations and is not an indictment of environmental science : `` We fully subscribe to the objectives of a scientific ecology for a universe whose resources must be taken stock of , monitored and preserved . But we herewith demand that this stock-taking , monitoring and preservation be founded on scientific criteria and not on irrational pre-conceptions . ''   In contrast , the UCS-led petition contains specific recommendations : `` We must , for example , move away from fossil fuels to more benign , inexhaustible energy sources to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our air and water . ... We must stabilize population . ''

negative: The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King .   The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols .   The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . ''   Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film .

negative: Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive .   Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert :  `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . ''  Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri .   Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events .   Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' .   The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .