AGORA

Agora debate ·

UN warns world is certain to overshoot warming target

The question

Is climate change as serious a threat as scientists say it is?

Yes 72%No 28%

86 players picked a side before playing.

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The best arguments

Written by Agora players and ranked by Agora's AI reasoning score. Shown without names.

  • US Competition remains strong as ever, the cost of switching to green energy doesn’t affect these companies who rake in larger profit margins each year, and will help them save energy costs in the long run. New energy doesn’t affect the companies output or production, just makes the environment better. It’s affordable for these businesses as they can get Energy Savings Performance Contracts to lower monthly utility bills. And studies have found renewable energy to be low maintenance with cheap start up costs. Renewable energy generation globally helped avoid an estimated $480 billion in fossil fuel costs.

    A player · strong argument

  • This is not just an issue about pretty coral reefs and saving exotic birds. When these ecosystems deteriorate, the planet becomes less habitable. We’re talking about food supplies and people dying from extreme heat and catastrophic events. Scientists don’t usually scream at us but they’re trying to with this. We need to take this seriously.

    A player · strong argument

  • Honestly, no. I do believe climate change is an issue worth paying attention to, but realistically, my life has not changed at all because of it. When the only thing promoting climate action is non binding international law and so many of the future’s biggest polluters are developing now and will never be able to hit climate targets (India, China, Nigeria, etc), it makes no sense for western countries to bend over backwards to meet climate targets when it only hurts their place in the global order.

    A player · strong argument

  • The whole point of the subsidies is market distortion. The market, as it currently stands, has no way to address the climate crisis. We’ve seen this historically, since the 70s, our emissions have continued to rise. We need to take action to stop and reverse our emissions trajectory. The way it stands, we could reach a 2.8 C increase of global temperatures, destroying habitats and melting icebergs. These subsidies move the market in the right direction.

    A player · decent argument

  • Like many have pointed out, China and India contribute a much larger percentage of carbon emissions than the US. However, with the rise of data centers, the deforestation of millions of US acres could be a good place for us to make changes. The million/billionaires who cry global warming are the ones who fund data centers from their private jets.

    A player · decent argument

  • This is a very serious issue with many different causes. Overpopulation, lack of resources, modern day technology, Etc. on July 30, humanity as a whole used up the entire planets ecological budget. Every resource we are taking from the earth is now borrowed. If everyone were to live like you, the world humanity would need around an average of 5 earths to accommodate for your lifestyle. This is a very serious topic that needs action.

    A player · decent argument

  • No - we need to transfer our economy to green energy to save our planet and also plan towards the future. Be ahead of the curve. However it’s a transition we ain’t doing this cold turkey - we have to manage our economy. Look at the past, when 2008 crash happened - Obama transitioned his economy away to what he wants whilst also managing the crash - you need to manage transitions

    A player · decent argument

  • A majority of climate damage comes from countries other than our own, like India and china, do to their high industry and population. Realistically, these countries have not displayed actions that say they are working to combat climate change, meaning we would have to over-adjust to make a meaningful change to offset these other countries negligence. All the while, we kneecap ourselves by weakening our economy and defense by spending on climate change prevention, while other, adversarial nations, like china, grow stronger and gain a larger global foothold, potentially even worsening climate change with their disregard for it.

    A player · decent argument

In this game

  1. Two truths and a lie. Click the lie.
  2. Which NASA global temperature graph is real?
  3. Who said what?
  4. Immersive Command Mode
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