Selectively framed benefits let climate skeptics dismiss the harms of warming

Evidence

Myron Ebell (2006), one of the most prominent critics of climate science, extols the benefits of global warming. He argues that it makes life more pleasant for people in northern regions. Moreover, he claims, cold spells kill more people than do heat waves. For him, therefore, a bit of global warming not only saves lives but also makes life more pleasant. As he explains it somewhat self-centeredly, “Given our obvious preference for living in warmer climates as long as we have air-conditioning, I doubt that we’re going to go on the energy diet that the global warming doomsters urge us to undertake.” — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2788

Categorization

• XREF: Exemplifies how out-group harm denial works through selective attention to benefits, connecting to vault claims about rationalizing harmful policy.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2788