1/8 Last week, @DrShepherd2013 mentioned how he hears the denialist “if you care about climate change, stop breathing CO2” talking point. While we debunk the myth at @skepticscience, I haven’t deconstructed it using critical thinking yet.
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience 2/8 So how does critical thinking help you identify reasoning fallacies in misinformation? The entire process of deconstructing & analyzing misinformation is laid out in an @IOPenvironment paper I coauthored with @reasondisabled & @davekinkead sks.to/criticalclimate 
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience @IOPenvironment @Reasondisabled @davekinkead 3/8 First, deconstruct the argument into its premises and conclusion. Often arguments contain unstated assumptions & its crucial to include these. With the “breathing CO2”, the important hidden assumption is that breathing CO2 increases atmospheric CO2.
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience @IOPenvironment @Reasondisabled @davekinkead 4/8 Once you’ve laid out the entire argument, you can check whether it’s logically valid (does the conclusion follow from the premises). If it is logically valid, next question: are the premises all true? In this case, the premise “breathing increases atmospheric CO2” is false.
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience @IOPenvironment @Reasondisabled @davekinkead 5/8 The assumption that “breathing increases atmospheric CO2” commits the fallacy of oversimplification. It ignores the fact that the CO2 we breathe originates from plants which were formed from atmospheric CO2. In other words, our breathing is part of the carbon cycle.
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience @IOPenvironment @Reasondisabled @davekinkead 6/8 Breathing doesn’t add any CO2 to the atmosphere, it just cycles CO2 that was already in the air. This differs from burning fossil fuels, which come from the ground & add to atmospheric CO2 (which has increased over 40% since we started burning fossil fuels).
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience @IOPenvironment @Reasondisabled @davekinkead 7/8 How do you explain the fallacy in the “breathing increases atmospheric CO2” myth? One powerful technique for explaining reasoning fallacies is parallel arguments: transplanting the flawed logic into a parallel situation to make the flaw obvious. Bonus: it can be entertaining!
@DrShepherd2013 @skepticscience @IOPenvironment @Reasondisabled @davekinkead 8/8 The “breathing adds CO2 to the atmosphere” myth is like taking $20 from someone, then giving it back to them & stating “there, I gave you $20.” The person is no better off (and yes, that is @DrShepherd2013 in the cartoon as he inspired me to debunk this myth).
