|
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 |
"CO2 lags temperature" |
CO2 didn't initiate warming from past ice ages but it did amplify the 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 |
"Glaciers are growing" |
Most glaciers are retreating, posing a serious problem for millions who rely on glaciers for water. |
|
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 |
"There's no empirical evidence" |
There are multiple lines of direct observations that humans are causing global warming. |
|
44 |
"Other planets are warming" |
Mars and Jupiter are not warming, and anyway the sun has recently been cooling slightly. |
|
46 |
"There's no correlation between CO2 and temperature" |
There is long-term correlation between CO2 and global temperature; other effects are short-term. |
|
48 |
"It cooled mid-century" |
Mid-century cooling involved aerosols and is irrelevant for recent global warming. |
|
50 |
"CO2 was higher in the past" |
When CO2 was higher in the past, the sun was cooler. |
|
52 |
"Satellites show no warming in the troposphere" |
The most recent satellite data show that the earth as a whole is warming. |
|
54 |
"2009-2010 winter saw record cold spells" |
A cold day in Chicago in winter has nothing to do with the trend of global warming. |
|
56 |
"Mt. Kilimanjaro's ice loss is due to land use" |
Most glaciers are in rapid retreat worldwide, notwithstanding a few complicated cases. |
|
58 |
"It's a natural cycle" |
No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases. |
|
60 |
"It's Pacific Decadal Oscillation" |
The PDO shows no trend, and therefore the PDO is not responsible for the trend of global warming. |
|
62 |
"IPCC were wrong about Himalayan glaciers" |
Glaciers are in rapid retreat worldwide, despite 1 error in 1 paragraph in a 1000 page IPCC report. |
|
64 |
"2nd law of thermodynamics contradicts greenhouse theory" |
The 2nd law of thermodynamics is consistent with the greenhouse effect which is directly observed. |
|
66 |
"Clouds provide negative feedback" |
Evidence is building that net cloud feedback is likely positive and unlikely to be strongly negative. |
|
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 |
"CO2 effect is saturated" |
Direct measurements find that rising CO2 is trapping more heat. |
|
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 |
"It's methane" |
Methane plays a minor role in global warming but could get much worse if permafrost starts to melt. |
|
78 |
"CO2 has a short residence time" |
Excess CO2 from human emissions has a long residence time of over 100 years |
|
80 |
"Humidity is falling" |
Multiple lines of independent evidence indicate humidity is rising and provides positive feedback. |
|
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 |
"CO2 is coming from the ocean" |
The ocean is absorbing massive amounts of CO2, and is becoming more acidic as a result. |
|
92 |
"Pluto is warming" |
And the sun has been recently cooling. |
|
94 |
"Peer review process was corrupted" |
An Independent Review concluded that CRU's actions were normal and didn't threaten the integrity of peer review. |
|
96 |
"Renewable energy is too expensive" |
When you account for all of the costs associated with burning coal and other fossil fuels, like air pollution and health effects, in reality they are significantly more expensive than most renewable energy sources. |
|
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 |
"Phil Jones says no global warming since 1995" |
Phil Jones was misquoted. |
|
104 |
"Infrared Iris will reduce global warming" |
The iris hypothesis has not withstood the test of time - subsequent research has found that if it exists, the effect is much smaller than originally hypothesized, and may even slightly amplify rather than reducing global warming. |
|
106 |
"It's too hard" |
Scientific studies have determined that current technology is sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid dangerous climate change. |
|
108 |
"It's albedo" |
Albedo change in the Arctic, due to receding ice, is increasing global warming. |
|
110 |
"It's soot" |
Soot stays in the atmosphere for days to weeks; carbon dioxide causes warming for centuries. |
|
112 |
"Hansen's 1988 prediction was wrong" |
Jim Hansen had several possible scenarios; his mid-level scenario B was right. |
|
114 |
"Earth hasn't warmed as much as expected" |
This argument ignores the cooling effect of aerosols and the planet's thermal inertia. |
|
116 |
"It's a climate regime shift" |
There is no evidence that climate has chaotic “regimes” on a long-term basis. |
|
118 |
"Less than half of published scientists endorse global warming" |
Around 97% of climate experts agree that humans are causing global warming. |
|
120 |
"Over 31,000 scientists signed the OISM Petition Project" |
The 'OISM petition' was signed by only a few climatologists. |
|
122 |
"A drop in volcanic activity caused warming" |
Volcanoes have had no warming effect in recent global warming - if anything, a cooling effect. |
|
124 |
"Climate is chaotic and cannot be predicted" |
Weather is chaotic but climate is driven by Earth's energy imbalance, which is more predictable. |
|
126 |
"It's ozone" |
Ozone has only a small effect. |
|
128 |
"Climate 'Skeptics' are like Galileo" |
Modern scientists, not anti-science skeptics, follow in Galileo’s footsteps. |
|
130 |
"Tuvalu sea level isn't rising" |
Tuvalu sea level is rising 3 times larger than the global average. |
|
132 |
"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. |
|
134 |
"Ice Sheet losses are overestimated" |
A number of independent measurements find extensive ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland. |
|
136 |
"Melting ice isn't warming the Arctic" |
Melting ice leads to more sunlight being absorbed by water, thus heating the Arctic. |
|
138 |
"Satellite error inflated Great Lakes temperatures" |
Temperature errors in the Great Lakes region are not used in any global temperature records. |
|
140 |
"We're heading into cooling" |
There is no scientific basis for claims that the planet will begin to cool in the near future. |
|
142 |
"The sun is getting hotter" |
The sun has just had the deepest solar minimum in 100 years. |
|
144 |
"CO2 emissions do not correlate with CO2 concentration" |
That humans are causing the rise in atmospheric CO2 is confirmed by multiple isotopic analyses. |
|
146 |
"Water vapor in the stratosphere stopped global warming" |
This possibility just means that future global warming could be even worse. |
|
148 |
"An exponential increase in CO2 will result in a linear increase in temperature" |
CO2 levels are rising so fast that unless we decrease emissions, global warming will accelerate this century. |
|
150 |
"Mauna Loa is a volcano" |
The global trend is calculated from hundreds of CO2 measuring stations and confirmed by satellites. |
|
152 |
"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. |
|
154 |
"Water levels correlate with sunspots" |
This detail is irrelevant to the observation of global warming caused by humans. |
|
156 |
"Antarctica is too cold to lose ice" |
Glaciers are sliding faster into the ocean because ice shelves are thinning due to warming oceans. |
|
158 |
"Skeptics were kept out of the IPCC?" |
Official records, Editors and emails suggest CRU scientists acted in the spirit if not the letter of IPCC rules. |
|
160 |
"Coral atolls grow as sea levels rise" |
Thousands of coral atolls have "drowned" when unable to grow fast enough to survive at sea level. |
|
162 |
"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. |
|
164 |
"Scientists retracted claim that sea levels are rising" |
The Siddall 2009 paper was retracted because its predicted sea level rise was too low. |
|
166 |
"Renewable energy investment kills jobs" |
Investment in renewable energy creates more jobs than investment in fossil fuel energy. |
|
168 |
"No warming in 16 years" |
Global surface temperatures have continued to rise steadily beneath short-term natural cooling effects, and the rise in global heat content has not slowed at all. |
|
170 |
"DMI show cooling Arctic" |
While summer maximums have showed little trend, the annual average Arctic temperature has risen sharply in recent decades. |
|
172 |
"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 |
|
174 |
"Royal Society embraces skepticism" |
The Royal Society still strongly state that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming. |
|
176 |
"97% consensus on human-caused global warming has been disproven" |
The 97% consensus has been independently confirmed by a number of different approaches and lines of evidence. |
|
178 |
"It's satellite microwave transmissions" |
Satellite transmissions are extremely small and irrelevant. |
|
180 |
"IPCC graph showing accelerating trends is misleading" |
All of the statements made in the IPCC report regarding the figure in question are correct and supported. |
|
182 |
"Arctic sea ice extent was lower in the past" |
Current Arctic sea ice extent is the lowest in the past several thousand years. |
|
184 |
"We didn't have global warming during the Industrial Revolution" |
CO2 emissions were much smaller 100 years ago. |
|
186 |
"Hansen predicted the West Side Highway would be underwater" |
Hansen was speculating on changes that might happen if CO2 doubled. |
|
188 |
"Loehle and Scafetta find a 60 year cycle causing global warming" |
Loehle and Scafetta's paper is nothing more than a curve fitting exercise with no physical basis using an overly simplistic model. |
|
190 |
"Underground temperatures control climate" |
The amount of heat energy coming out of the Earth is too small to even be worth considering. |
|
192 |
"Heatwaves have happened before" |
Global warming is increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of heatwaves. |
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