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1 The Lies and the Facts About Global Warming
Thursday, 13 June 2019

The global warming debate is everything but a debate. There’s one side that says the other side is evil for even trying to challenge what appears to be a scientific consensus. Then, there’s the other side that often sounds like a bunch of tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists.

So what is true and what is false in this argument?

1. 97% of Scientists Agree

You must have heard this number a lot of times. It gets brought up by most scientists who speak publicly on the issue of climate change. You hear this number in videos that cover the subject. Even President Obama talked about it.

However, as Forbes points out, this number is largely misrepresented, to say the least.

The 97% figure comes from a study by John Cook. He analyzed almost 12,000 peer-reviewed papers and found that 97% of the works agreed that global warming is happening and humans are the cause.

However, when David R. Legates looked at the very same papers Cook looked into in his 2013 study, he discovered that it was actually less than one percent.

As it turned out, Cook took quite a liberty when judging what papers implied. In fact, very few people had an opinion to express at all. The man should have hired writing help for his research because this is no good and looks like something you get when you buy college papers from those websites.

The verdict: Whether 97% of scientists do agree on this issue remains to be seen, but this number is not trustworthy.

2. The World We Know Will End in 12 years

This phrase is attributed to Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, a newly elected U.S. Representative. While she does little to back up her claims, it’s a rather telling symptom of what the global warming debate has become.

We are now in a place where anyone can make a prediction and not face the consequences when this forecast fails. For instance, when in 2005 the UN predicted a global ‘climate refugee’ crisis, and it didn’t happen, they just covered it up.

While the software we use to make predictions is better than ever, some people apparently can’t help fearmongering. Predictions that show a steady rise in temperature are probably more accurate than doomsayers who claim the end of the world is going to come in a year.

The chart below shows an increase of just 0.1 ? since 1895. If that’s the path we’re walking by burning fossil fuels, it’s not going to end in a fiery apocalypse.

It’s not like there never was a catastrophic climate event in history. The data shows there was a sudden drop in temperature 8,200 thousand years ago. But that was due to a massive volcano eruption, something that humans are hardly capable of doing.

The verdict: as Climate.gov predicts: “human-caused warming will continue, speeding up or slowing down” but not destroying us in a span of a decade.

3. Glaciers are Melting

This is one of the claims that scare people around the world. Not only melting glaciers pose a threat to polar bears, but they may also cause a global disaster if it happens too fast.

NatGeo says the melting process proceeds at such a rapid rate that what used to take hundreds of years to transpire is happening in one lifespan today. However, they previously claimed that the polar bear that went viral was dying because of global warming. They had to admit they were wrong.

In fact, there are too many polar bears now. So many, in fact, that that they pose a threat to natives in the Canadian Arctic.

What other data sources do we have? NASA says that the gains in ice sheets outweigh the losses. This directly contradicts IPCC assessments. The Panel has had to disavow a number of predictions since the NASA data came out.

The verdict: The glaciers are melting, but the total gain outweighs that.

4. There is no Warming

There are some people who claim that there is no global warming at all, and all of that is a hoax.

This is very easy to disprove. A 2018 NASA report shows that 2016 was the warmest year on record. NOAA data also shows a clear trend towards higher temperatures.
 

However, NOAA is a bit harder to believe since it was allegedly “adjusting” data. Despite the scandal, data gathered by other reputable agencies indicates that the temperatures are actually rising.

The verdict: climate change is a fact

5. That Tornado was Caused by Global Warming

Another claim made by a politician makes our list. Bernie Sanders used the Alabama tornado as a sign of coming disaster. He was wrong, climate scientists say.

This is applicable to most, if not all, similar claims. Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray of Colorado State University claim there’s little connection between the change of tropical cycles and human activity.

The verdict: While any given natural disaster might have been caused in part by global warming, there is no evidence for it.

6. Global Warming is Man-Made

There is plenty of evidence that solar cycles impact climate. A 2007 study of Arthur B. Robinson ties global warming to increased solar activity.

Some evidence suggests we may be experiencing a part of a larger climate cycle that we have little control of. Thayer Watkins of San Jose University says our vision may be skewed by inaccurate readings and other factors like the heat island effect.

However, no one can dispute the fact that CO2 and methane are greenhouse gases, and they make the atmosphere heat up.

The verdict: While the share of the impact we make is still open to debate, humans do contribute to increasing global temperature.
 
 
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