Assignment - Climate vs Weather

For this assignment, you will be writing a dialogue between someone who is not sure that climate change is human-caused and someone who is informed about the science behind climate change. The purpose of the assignment is to provide a rebuttal to common misperceptions. 

The scenario

A young person, such as yourself, who has been studying climate science, finds him or herself at a dinner party seated across from someone who has strong opinions about human-caused climate change. This person's views have come mostly from popular media and hinge on a misunderstanding between weather and climate. This person understands that the world has experienced some extreme weather events lately, but isn't sure that the present fluctuations in climate have anything to do with human activities. 

Your assignment

Create a name for each character, making it clear who is who. Write an introduction that sets up the situation at a dinner party then show how the topic of climate change comes up. 

The character who has only been watching TV news for information, brings up at least four of the points below. The character who has been studying climate science counters each point with facts which are contained in this section of the course. The dialogue then wraps up, though neither person's point of view has to have changed. 

  • "Climate has changed before and will continue to change."
  • "There is no consensus. I heard this one scientist on the news say that the earth has started cooling."
  • "The temperature record is unreliable."
  • "This last winter was freezing. We could use a little global warming." 
  • "They were saying that there was a drought in California because of climate change, but now they just had a flood." 
  • "They used to say that we had to worry about global cooling but now it's global warming. They can't make up their minds."
  • "The guy who does the weather can't even tell me what it will do next week, never mind ten years from now." 

Give your assignment a title. Remember, that this is not a formal composition but a dialogue that should sound like two people talking to each other. It should be formatted like a play script. 

Bill: Well, I was watching the news and I heard ...

Susan: Well, actually, our professor just told us that ...

There is no required length, as long as your characters engage in at least four of the misconceptions listed above.