Re: 15 Myths and Facts on Climate Change

In article <[email protected]>
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Today, climate change is the major environmental problem facing 
the globe. Climate change is the change in Earth’s surface 
temperatures mainly due to burning of fossil fuels that produce 
large amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to 
Wikipedia, “Climate change is a change in the statistical 
distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an 
extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years)”. 
Here are 15 myths and facts on climate change that may surprise 
you. Not everything that has been used as an argument for 
climate change has its basis in fact.

Myth 1: This century’s rise in average global temperature is 
going to cause, and has caused, all the increased storm activity 
and intensity.

Fact: Weather patterns ebb and flow just like everything else in 
life. Global warming and cooling is a part of the natural force 
that drives cyclical weather patterns. As we enter into a normal 
and predictable spate of intense storms, the issue is that these 
storms disrupt how our societies work, and carry pollution 
farther that threatens the vegetation on which all these natural 
systems rely.

Myth 2: The sea is rising to dangerous levels that threaten all 
life and it is all man’s fault.

Fact: Again – no. What science has discovered is that in the 
same way that the volume of the polar ice caps change – so does 
sea level. There is no detectable influence of man on the change 
in sea level. Like with the ice caps, we have spent a century 
constructing a world based on an assumption that sea levels are 
static, and they are not.

Myth 3: Is Antarctica Gaining Ice?

Fact: There are widespread rumors that Antarctica and glaciers 
around the world are gaining ice contrary to the belief that 
global warming is melting the ice caps. According to Skeptical 
Science, Antarctica is gaining ice frequently hinge on an error 
of omission, namely ignoring the difference between land ice and 
sea ice. It says, “Antarctic land ice is the ice which has 
accumulated over thousands of years on the Antarctica landmass 
itself through snowfall. This land ice therefore is actually 
stored ocean water that once fell as precipitation. Sea ice in 
Antarctica is quite different as it is ice which forms in salt 
water primarily during the winter months. When land ice melts 
and flows into the oceans global sea levels rise on average; 
when sea ice melts sea levels do not change measurably.”

Myth 14: Climate change is good for us.

Fact: Climate change could mean longer growing seasons and some 
may point to history as evidence that suggests that warm periods 
are good for people. But, when seen for large perspective, 
droughts, storms, floods, shifting of seasons, rising of sea 
levels outweigh the positives. The global increase in surface 
temperatures could cost U.S. economy hundreds of billions of 
dollars within the next few decades.

READ:  Five Different Atmospheric Layers of the Earth
Myth 4: Climate change is all about man-made pollution and what 
happens on the Earth.

Fact: Wrong again, the single greatest cause of change within 
the past decade is attributed to changes in the sun. The sun’s 
effect on gravitational tension and atmospheric radiation levels 
has caused over 50% of the measurable rise in the AGT over the 
past decade.

Myth 5: We need to radically restrict CO2 emissions to prevent 
human caused warming that can be catastrophic.

Fact: We need CO2, in fact the more the better in some ways. All 
life is reliant on CO2 in order to grow. There is no evidence 
that human output would ever cause more than a 10 C rise in AGT 
and combined with the natural predicted rates, it is all still 
within the range of being handled. The CO2 production isn’t 
really the problem, it is the destruction of helpful plant life 
that promotes the effective use of CO2 to make room for more 
human industriousness that is the real issue.

Myth 6: Any warming over 20 C for a century will have 
devastating effects on all life on Earth.

Fact: Over the course of a century the Earth averages plus or 
minus within the raise of 20 C, so it really is business as 
usual. Nothing unusual here, unless the rate of change is 
interrupted by higher levels of pollution and further 
deforestation. Then the natural way that the Earth handles 
warming and cooling is impaired.

Myth 7: Computer models definitively predict warming over the 
next century that will raise the AGT by 60 C.

Fact: Yes they do. Other computer models also predict cooling to 
the same intense degree. When taken together both models and 
approaches reflect a continuation of the natural cycle of 
climate change that is not out of the range of the normal course 
of events. The cause for concern happens when you begin to 
introduce elements based upon a continuation of man-made 
interruptions.

Myth 8: The Mann curve shows that the rate of change in global 
temperature has been increasing radically since the industrial 
age and is predicted to see an increase in AGT of several 
degrees over the next century.

Fact: If you are still using the Mann curve then you are not 
keeping up with findings. That curve was debunked as a contrived 
method to deliver statistics “by design.” The new formulas show 
no evidence that the climate before the 1900s was unchanging, 
nor does it predict a mass rise in temperatures on a consistent 
pattern for the next decade.

READ:  30+ Exhilarating Facts About the Solar System
Myth 9: The 20th century saw the greatest period of increase in 
the AGT due to the industrial age.

Fact: Wrong again, within the past 100 years the warming and 
cooling (the AGT measures both and there should be a balance) 
shows no more or less change in AGT then is expected. It is the 
turn in the past decade to a change-less result that is of 
concern. While the industrial age definitely has had an impact 
on climate change, it may not have resulted in the warming or 
cooling that people expected – but a lack of it. That then 
changes weather patterns too.

Myth 10: The past few years have seen the greatest rise in the 
average global temperature (AGT).

Fact: The past decade or so has seen more of a stabilization in 
the average global temperature than ever before. While this is 
often latched on as proof that climate change is not happening 
the opposite is true. The trend and prediction models point 
towards climate change as a natural process with a steady rate 
of occurrence. The fact that is has stopped going up or down 
means that process has become interrupted and that is of great 
concern.

Myth 11: CO2 can’t be dangerous as plants need it.

Fact: Agreed. But too much of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 
can hurt crops and they may became less nutritious. Extreme heat 
and precipitation levels too can upset crop yields.

Myth 12: Global warming has stopped and Earth has began to cool.

Fact: Another myth that can be heard about climate change is 
that it hasn’t warmed since 1998. However, the trends indicate 
that the period from 2000 – 2009 was hottest on record. For 
global records, 2010 is the hottest year on record, tied with 
2005.

Myth 13: Climate change has happened in the past so this is 
normal too.

Fact: Yes, climate has changed in the past and in fact it is 
always changing. We have had seen ice ages and hotter periods in 
the past despite the CO2 levels being lower than what are they 
right now. It happened due to natural factors in the past, but 
today its because of increase in the amount of greenhouse gases 
in the atmosphere. As of today, the amount of CO2 in the 
atmosphere is the highest of all in the human history.

READ:  Is Climate Change Real?
Myth 14: Its the Sun which is responsible for global warming.

Fact: In the last 35 years, the sun has shown slightly cooling 
trend though global temperatures have been increasing. 
Scientists say that both Sun and climate have been going in 
opposite directions and it is not right to blame the sun for the 
for the global warming.

Myth 15: Not everybody agrees on climate change.

Fact: About 97% of the climate scientists agree that climate 
change is happening and human activities are to be blame for it. 
According to Skeptical Science,”In the scientific field of 
climate studies — which is informed by many different 
disciplines — the consensus is demonstrated by the number of 
scientists who have stopped arguing about what is causing 
climate change — and that’s nearly all of them”.

You may be surprised to see that most of these myths would be 
considered arguments for belief in global change. That is true, 
it does no one any good to come to believe something based upon 
fear based myths. Global change is a natural event, but what we 
do has the potential to disrupt the capacity of nature to handle 
its own cycles of change.

What is the biggest block to creating effective policy?

As you saw in the last few myths and facts presented a lot of 
the issue comes from our creating an industrial society that is 
based on two wrong assumptions:

The Earth is unchanging.
The Earth naturally replenishes its resources.
As with the debate about alternative energy, it is only now that 
we are realizing that it isn’t that the Earth doesn’t replenish 
its fossil fuels, but that it needs several thousands of years 
to do so. The same is true with the vegetation and all that 
plays such an important role in managing the natural process of 
climate change.

If we can change our consumption levels we are changing our 
assumptions about how humanity relates to the natural world. It 
is not “our resource,” but we are part of “its process.” To make 
that transition we need to learn how to adapt to these changes 
just like all the other animals in the world. It is challenging 
because it directly contradicts our global belief that 
everything exists for our needs. If we don’t change our 
assumptions, there won’t be much left to support our needs in 
the future.

https://eartheclipse.com/environment/climate-change/15-myths-
facts-on-climate-change.html