|
Climate Myth |
vs |
What the Science Says |
2 |
"It's the sun" |
In the last 35 years of global warming, sun and climate have been going in opposite directions |
|
4 |
"There is no consensus" |
97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming. |
|
6 |
"Models are unreliable" |
Models successfully reproduce temperatures since 1900 globally, by land, in the air and the ocean. |
|
8 |
"Animals and plants can adapt" |
Global warming will cause mass extinctions of species that cannot adapt on short time scales. |
|
10 |
"Antarctica is gaining ice" |
Satellites measure Antarctica losing land ice at an accelerating rate. |
|
12 |
"Ice age predicted in the 70s" |
The vast majority of climate papers in the 1970s predicted warming. |
|
14 |
"We're heading into an ice age" |
Worry about global warming impacts in the next 100 years, not an ice age in over 10,000 years. |
|
16 |
"Hockey stick is broken" |
Recent studies agree that recent global temperatures are unprecedented in the last 1000 years. |
|
18 |
"Hurricanes aren't linked to global warming" |
There is increasing evidence that hurricanes are getting stronger due to global warming. |
|
20 |
"Al Gore got it wrong" |
Al Gore book is quite accurate, and far more accurate than contrarian books. |
|
22 |
"1934 - hottest year on record" |
1934 was one of the hottest years in the US, not globally. |
|
24 |
"Extreme weather isn't caused by global warming" |
Extreme weather events are being made more frequent and worse by global warming. |
|
26 |
"It's Urban Heat Island effect" |
Urban and rural regions show the same warming trend. |
|
28 |
"Mars is warming" |
Mars is not warming globally. |
|
30 |
"Increasing CO2 has little to no effect" |
The strong CO2 effect has been observed by many different measurements. |
|
32 |
"It's a 1500 year cycle" |
Ancient natural cycles are irrelevant for attributing recent global warming to humans. |
|
34 |
"IPCC is alarmist" |
Numerous papers have documented how IPCC predictions are more likely to underestimate the climate response. |
|
36 |
"Polar bear numbers are increasing" |
Polar bears are in danger of extinction as well as many other species. |
|
38 |
"It's not happening" |
There are many lines of evidence indicating global warming is unequivocal. |
|
40 |
"Greenland is gaining ice" |
Greenland on the whole is losing ice, as confirmed by satellite measurement. |
|
42 |
"Other planets are warming" |
Mars and Jupiter are not warming, and anyway the sun has recently been cooling slightly. |
|
44 |
"There's no empirical evidence" |
There are multiple lines of direct observations that humans are causing global warming. |
|
46 |
"We're coming out of the Little Ice Age" |
Scientists have determined that the factors which caused the Little Ice Age cooling are not currently causing global warming |
|
48 |
"It cooled mid-century" |
Mid-century cooling involved aerosols and is irrelevant for recent global warming. |
|
50 |
"It warmed before 1940 when CO2 was low" |
Early 20th century warming is due to several causes, including rising CO2. |
|
52 |
"Global warming stopped in 1998, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2010, ????" |
Global temperature is still rising and 2010 was the hottest recorded. |
|
54 |
"It's El Niño" |
El Nino has no trend and so is not responsible for the trend of global warming. |
|
56 |
"There's no tropospheric hot spot" |
We see a clear "short-term hot spot" - there's various evidence for a "long-term hot spot". |
|
58 |
"It's Pacific Decadal Oscillation" |
The PDO shows no trend, and therefore the PDO is not responsible for the trend of global warming. |
|
60 |
"It's not us" |
Multiple sets of independent observations find a human fingerprint on climate change. |
|
62 |
"Scientists can't even predict weather" |
Weather and climate are different; climate predictions do not need weather detail. |
|
64 |
"2nd law of thermodynamics contradicts greenhouse theory" |
The 2nd law of thermodynamics is consistent with the greenhouse effect which is directly observed. |
|
66 |
"CO2 limits will hurt the poor" |
Those who contribute the least greenhouse gases will be most impacted by climate change. |
|
68 |
"Sea level rise predictions are exaggerated" |
Sea level rise is now increasing faster than predicted due to unexpectedly rapid ice melting. |
|
70 |
"IPCC were wrong about Amazon rainforests" |
The IPCC statement on Amazon rainforests was correct, and was incorrectly reported in some media. |
|
72 |
"Volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans" |
Humans emit 100 times more CO2 than volcanoes. |
|
74 |
"Greenland ice sheet won't collapse" |
When Greenland was 3 to 5 degrees C warmer than today, a large portion of the Ice Sheet melted. |
|
76 |
"CO2 is just a trace gas" |
Many substances are dangerous even in trace amounts; what really matters is the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. |
|
78 |
"CO2 measurements are suspect" |
CO2 levels are measured by hundreds of stations across the globe, all reporting the same trend. |
|
80 |
"Neptune is warming" |
And the sun is cooling. |
|
82 |
"Springs aren't advancing" |
Hundreds of flowers across the UK are flowering earlier now than any time in 250 years. |
|
84 |
"It's land use" |
Land use plays a minor role in climate change, although carbon sequestration may help to mitigate. |
|
86 |
"CO2 is not increasing" |
CO2 is increasing rapidly, and is reaching levels not seen on the earth for millions of years. |
|
88 |
"They changed the name from global warming to climate change" |
'Global warming' and 'climate change' mean different things and have both been used for decades. |
|
90 |
"Pluto is warming" |
And the sun has been recently cooling. |
|
92 |
"CO2 is not the only driver of climate" |
Theory, models and direct measurement confirm CO2 is currently the main driver of climate change. |
|
94 |
"IPCC overestimate temperature rise" |
Monckton used the IPCC equation in an inappropriate manner. |
|
96 |
"Southern sea ice is increasing" |
Antarctic sea ice has grown in recent decades despite the Southern Ocean warming at the same time. |
|
98 |
"Sea level rise is decelerating" |
Global sea level data shows that sea level rise has been increasing since 1880 while future sea level rise predictions are based on physics, not statistics. |
|
100 |
"It's microsite influences" |
Microsite influences on temperature changes are minimal; good and bad sites show the same trend. |
|
102 |
"Humans are too insignificant to affect global climate" |
Humans are small but powerful, and human CO2 emissions are causing global warming. |
|
104 |
"Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity" |
Lindzen and Choi’s paper is viewed as unacceptably flawed by other climate scientists. |
|
106 |
"It's albedo" |
Albedo change in the Arctic, due to receding ice, is increasing global warming. |
|
108 |
"It's not urgent" |
A large amount of warming is delayed, and if we don’t act now we could pass tipping points. |
|
110 |
"Hansen's 1988 prediction was wrong" |
Jim Hansen had several possible scenarios; his mid-level scenario B was right. |
|
112 |
"It's global brightening" |
This is a complex aerosol effect with unclear temperature significance. |
|
114 |
"It's a climate regime shift" |
There is no evidence that climate has chaotic “regimes” on a long-term basis. |
|
116 |
"Solar cycles cause global warming" |
Over recent decades, the sun has been slightly cooling & is irrelevant to recent global warming. |
|
118 |
"Ice isn't melting" |
Arctic sea ice has shrunk by an area equal to Western Australia, and summer or multi-year sea ice might be all gone within a decade. |
|
120 |
"IPCC ‘disappeared’ the Medieval Warm Period" |
The IPCC simply updated their temperature history graphs to show the best data available at the time. |
|
122 |
"Climate is chaotic and cannot be predicted" |
Weather is chaotic but climate is driven by Earth's energy imbalance, which is more predictable. |
|
124 |
"The IPCC consensus is phoney" |
113 nations signed onto the 2007 IPCC report, which is simply a summary of the current body of climate science evidence |
|
126 |
"Tuvalu sea level isn't rising" |
Tuvalu sea level is rising 3 times larger than the global average. |
|
128 |
"Trenberth can't account for the lack of warming" |
Trenberth is talking about the details of energy flow, not whether global warming is happening. |
|
130 |
"Renewables can't provide baseload power" |
A number of renewable sources already do provide baseload power, and we don't need renewables to provide a large percentage of baseload power immediately. |
|
132 |
"CRU tampered with temperature data" |
An independent inquiry went back to primary data sources and were able to replicate CRU's results. |
|
134 |
"Melting ice isn't warming the Arctic" |
Melting ice leads to more sunlight being absorbed by water, thus heating the Arctic. |
|
136 |
"Satellite error inflated Great Lakes temperatures" |
Temperature errors in the Great Lakes region are not used in any global temperature records. |
|
138 |
"We're heading into cooling" |
There is no scientific basis for claims that the planet will begin to cool in the near future. |
|
140 |
"It's waste heat" |
Greenhouse warming is adding 100 times more heat to the climate than waste heat. |
|
142 |
"Water vapor in the stratosphere stopped global warming" |
This possibility just means that future global warming could be even worse. |
|
144 |
"It warmed just as fast in 1860-1880 and 1910-1940" |
The warming trend over 1970 to 2001 is greater than warming from both 1860 to 1880 and 1910 to 1940. |
|
146 |
"Record high snow cover was set in winter 2008/2009" |
Winter snow cover in 2008/2009 was average while the long-term trend in spring, summer, and annual snow cover is rapid decline. |
|
148 |
"Venus doesn't have a runaway greenhouse effect" |
Venus very likely underwent a runaway or ‘moist’ greenhouse phase earlier in its history, and today is kept hot by a dense CO2 atmosphere. |
|
150 |
"Antarctica is too cold to lose ice" |
Glaciers are sliding faster into the ocean because ice shelves are thinning due to warming oceans. |
|
152 |
"Water levels correlate with sunspots" |
This detail is irrelevant to the observation of global warming caused by humans. |
|
154 |
"CO2 increase is natural, not human-caused" |
Many lines of evidence, including simple accounting, demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the increase in atmospheric CO2 is due to human fossil fuel burning. |
|
156 |
"Scientists retracted claim that sea levels are rising" |
The Siddall 2009 paper was retracted because its predicted sea level rise was too low. |
|
158 |
"Coral atolls grow as sea levels rise" |
Thousands of coral atolls have "drowned" when unable to grow fast enough to survive at sea level. |
|
160 |
"Greenland has only lost a tiny fraction of its ice mass" |
Greenland's ice loss is accelerating & will add metres of sea level rise in upcoming centuries. |
|
162 |
"CO2 limits won't cool the planet" |
CO2 limits won't cool the planet, but they can make the difference between continued accelerating global warming to catastrophic levels vs. slowing and eventually stopping the warming at hopefully safe levels |
|
164 |
"Royal Society embraces skepticism" |
The Royal Society still strongly state that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming. |
|
166 |
"It's satellite microwave transmissions" |
Satellite transmissions are extremely small and irrelevant. |
|
168 |
"Sea level fell in 2010" |
The temporary drop in sea level in 2010 was due to intense land flooding caused by a strong La Nina. |
|
170 |
"Hansen predicted the West Side Highway would be underwater" |
Hansen was speculating on changes that might happen if CO2 doubled. |
|
172 |
"Removing all CO2 would make little difference" |
Removing CO2 would cause most water in the air to rain out and cancel most of the greenhouse effect. |
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