ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the debates surrounding climate change by looking at the science behind climate and weather and how scientific debates have become politicized. It defines weather, climate, climate change, and global warming to clarify how science conceptualizes each. The chapter provides a brief history of climate change science. Climate change encompasses many industry sectors that lie at the heart of the capitalist system. By the 1890s, the link between natural climate change and previous glaciation was well established, but there remained debate about its causes. The debates surrounding climate change illustrates the need for policy makers to understand how science works and to differentiate between actual science and voodoo science. Global failures to reach a consensus on climate change action rest primarily on differences between the richest and poorest countries. Even though achieving global political action on climate change has been a failure, policy action is taking place at other levels of government.
