Climate change does not exist

#1

Myth

Global warming does not exist because winter temperatures in most of the globe are negative. If there were global warming, ice and snow would melt faster. Many tropical and equatorial regions are not experiencing a rapid rise in temperatures, and some parts are even cooling.

Fact

Since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade. However, weather imposes its own dramatic ups and downs over the long term trend. We expect to see record cold temperatures even during global warming. Nevertheless over the last decade, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows. This tendency towards hotter days is expected to increase as global warming continues into the 21st Century.

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#2

Myth

Extreme weather isn’t caused by global warming, but by the regions’ geographical location – they are perfectly natural.

Fact

Global warming amplifies the risk factors for extreme weather events. This is due to the natural mechanisms and processes that regulate climate. This is confirmed by observations showing a strong correlation between rising temperatures and increasing the frequency of these events.

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#3

Myth

Sometimes the weather is hotter, sometimes colder. That has always been the case.

Fact

Climate fluctuations existed even before humans began to emit large amounts of CO2. But the steep rise in the temperature curve since the 1980s can only be explained by humans.

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#4

Myth

Global warming can’t be happening, since winters have been getting colder.

Fact

Winters have been getting warmer. Measurements show that Earth’s climate has warmed overall over the past century, in all seasons, and in most regions.

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#5

Myth

Global warming can’t be happening, since it rains much more.

Fact

Recent research from the University of Hull into Libyan weather patterns over the last 10,000 years discovered that rainfall increases alongside a rise in average yearly temperature.

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#6

Myth

The global temperature records are unreliable. For example, climate sceptic Anthony Watts thinks that the stations where temperatures are measured are too close to urban developments where heat is soaked up and this distorts the readings. So it looks like the Earth is warming even if this may not be the case.

Fact

The warming trend is the same in rural and urban areas, measured by thermometers and satellites, and by natural thermometers.

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#6

Myth

How are we going to predict the climate? We don’t even know what the weather will be like in two weeks.

Fact

Climate is not the same as weather. Weather is a short-term condition. It refers to what we experience at a particular time in a particular place. It can be rain, snow or sunshine. Weather can change quickly. Climate, on the other hand, is a long-term condition. It refers to the typical weather pattern in a particular place, measured over a period of at least 30 years. There are different climates in the world – that’s why we distinguish different climate zones.

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#7

Myth

Climate forecasts are not reliable.

Fact

Numerical models of the Earth system based on the laws of physics are the most realistic tools we have available to study the climate, to analyse the causes of the observed climate changes and to estimate possible future climate scenarios; these models are increasingly reliable thanks to the increase in the network of observations used to validate their quality, the improvement of our knowledge of the phenomena that affect the climate and the availability of high-performance computational resources.

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#8

Myth

Climate change is a conspiracy theory, created by the secret global government to control the world.

Fact

An overwhelming percentage of climate scientists agree that human activity is causing the global climate to change in ways that will have deleterious consequences both for the environment and for humankind. (..) Opinion surveys support the view that climate change denialism is driven at least partially by underlying conspiratorial thinking. Belief in climate change conspiracy theories also appears to drive behaviors in ways consistent with the behaviors of people who think in conspiratorial terms: Climate change conspiracy theorists are less likely to participate politically or take actions that could alleviate their carbon footprint. Furthermore, some climate skeptics reject studies showing that their skepticism is partially a product of conspiratorial thinking: They believe such studies are themselves part of the conspiracy.

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#9

Myth

Corporate interests promote the idea of climate change.

Fact

The investigation into the origins of the funding of those who dispute the climate change data has brought to light other interesting facts. Such as the very ‘close relationship’ – worth $2.3 billion – that the world’s largest oil and gas company ExxonMobile has with members of the US Congress who oppose policies to address climate change. Or the $1.2 billion in funding for research that decouples climate change from human activities coming from oil, gas and coal companies.

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