Myths, Denial, and Delay

Efforts to solve Climate Change are met with friction through marketing and lobbying by fossil fuel industries. It's not surprising, as they would be put out of business if emissions were to reach zero. These industries spread lies and disinformation in an attempt to delay decarbonization.

All credible scientists around the world conclude that climate change is real and it is caused by humans. The IPCC Report of 1.5 degrees is endorsed by thousands of scientists. The evidence is overwhelming. Global temperatures have rapidly increased in the last century.

Those who dispute this are a tiny minority and are almost certainly funded by fossil fuel corporations. You can check the credibility of a scientist with a quick Google Search, and they will likely have an entry on DeSmogBlog.

There are also those who understand that Climate Change is real but call scientists alarmists. They dispute connections between climate change and short term impacts such as extreme weather in an attempt to water down climate change and paint it as a future problem. But the reality is Climate Change is impacting us now.

Climate Change is already making extreme weather events like wildfires, freezing temperatures, floods, droughts and storms worse, and we are currently only at around 1C of warming above pre-industrial levels. Lives are already being lost not only in poorer parts of the world, but also amongst first world countries like the US and Australia. The 2018 wildfires in California for example, is the most destructive on record as a result of hotter and drier temperatures. You can see more climate effects as documented by NASA.

We must also consider the future for our children, many of whom born today will be alive in 2100.

Common Myths, Lies and Disinformation

Below is a selection of the many myths and lies climate deniers attempt to spread. Many more can be found at Skeptical Science. Often, partial facts are quoted without considering the wider implications. Think of it like an exam paper where full answers get the most marks.

• X CO2 is good because it makes plants grow and it's greening the planet. (1 pt)

  ✔ Increased CO2 has spurred land-based plant growth to a certain extent, but this is not enough to offset the rapid rise in CO2 due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. As a result, global temperatures are continuing to rise due to the greenhouse effect.^[1] Eventually, the fertilization effect will diminish due to limited available nitrogen,^[2][3] phosphorus,^[4][5] and the effects of climate change such as drought, heat stress, and flooding.^[6][7][8] Rising CO2 has caused a 34% decrease in pores, restricting the amount of water vapor released, resulting in a drier atmosphere and less rainfall.^[9] Crops are also becoming less nutritious and losing iron, zinc, and protein.^{[10][11][12][13]} Rising CO2 favours some invasive plants such as cheatgrass, which is fueling wildfires.^[14] Furthermore, there is a reduction in the protein concentration of pollen essential to bees.^[15] (23 pts)

  Show References
  1. Lacis, A, et al. (2010). NASA GISS. Atmospheric CO2: Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature.
  2. Craine, J, et al. (2018). University of Maryland. Isotopic evidence for oligotrophication of terrestrial ecosystems.
  3. Norby, R, et al. (2010). Oak Ridge National Laboratory. CO2 enhancement of forest productivity constrained by limited nitrogen availability.
  4. Wang, Z, et al. (2017). Auburn University. Phosphorus Limitation on CO2 Fertilization Effect in the Terrestrial Ecosystems.
  5. Martins, R, et al. (2017). Universidade Federal de Goiás. Effects of increasing temperature and, CO2 on quality of litter, shredders, and microorganisms in Amazonian aquatic systems.
  6. Williams, C. (2014). Clark University. Heat and drought extremes likely to stress ecosystem productivity equally or more in a warmer, CO2 rich future.
  7. Hatfield, J, et al. (2015). United States Department of Agriculture. Temperature extremes: Effect on plant growth and development.
  8. Li, Y, et al. (2019). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Excessive rainfall leads to maize yield loss of a comparable magnitude to extreme drought in the United States.
  9. Lammertsma, E, et al. (2011). Indiana University. Global CO2 rise leads to reduced maximum stomatal conductance in Florida vegetation.
  10. Myers, S, et al. (2014). Harvard University. Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition.
  11. Loladze, I. (2014). Catholic University of Daegu. Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO2 depletes minerals at the base of human nutrition.
  12. Zhu, C, et al. (2018). University of Tokyo. Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels this century will alter the protein, micronutrients, and vitamin content of rice grains with potential health consequences for the poorest rice-dependent countries.
  13. Beach, R, et al. (2019). International Food Policy Research Institute. Combining the effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on protein, iron, and zinc availability and projected climate change on global diets: a modelling study.
  14. Yu, T, et al. (2010). Washington University in St. Louis. Variability in C3-Plant Cell-Wall Biosynthesis in a High-CO2 Atmosphere by Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy.
  15. Ziska, L, et al. (2016). US Department of Agriculture. Rising atmospheric CO2 is reducing the protein concentration of a floral pollen source essential for North American bees.

• X It was warm before and the climate is always changing. (1 pt)

  ✔ Earth's climate has changed over a period of millions of years, giving time for life to adapt and evolve.^[1] In just 200 years, humans will have reversed 50 million years worth of cooling by 2150 under a business as usual scenario.^[2] During the PETM the poles were ice-free and the Arctic was home to palm trees and crocodiles.^[3] Periods in which the climate changed rapidly were almost always destructive for life, causing mass extinctions.^[4] (6 pts)

  Show References
  1. Willeit, M, et al. (2019). Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Mid-Pleistocene transition in glacial cycles explained by declining CO2 and regolith removal.
  2. Burke, K, et al. (2018). National Academy of Sciences. Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates.
  3. Gingerich, P. (2019). University of Michigan. Temporal Scaling of Carbon Emission and Accumulation Rates: Modern Anthropogenic Emissions Compared to Estimates of PETM Onset Accumulation.
  4. Jourdan, F, et al. (2014). University of Michigan. High-precision dating of the Kalkarindji large igneous province, Australia, and synchrony with the Early–Middle Cambrian (Stage 4–5) extinction.

• X The Sun is the main driver of climate change. (0.5 pts)

  ✔ Since 1978 the Sun has shown a slight cooling trend. Total solar irradiance (TSI) has been decreasing and global temperatures have been rising, therefore the Sun cannot be the driving force of recent global warming. In the past 100-150 years, the Sun can explain some of the increase in global temperatures, but only a relatively small amount.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} The Earth relies on the greenhouse effect in which greenhouse gases (GHGs) trap some of the Sun's heat. Without non-condensing GHGs like CO2, water vapor would be precipitated from the atmosphere, and the planet would be mostly frozen at an average temperature of under -21°C.^[12] (6 pts)

  Show References
  1. Schurer, et al. (2013). Small influence of solar variability on climate over the past millennium.
  2. Foster, G and Rahmstorf, S. (2011). Global temperature evolution 1979–2010.
  3. Huber, M and Knutti, R. (2011). Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth’s energy balance.
  4. Erlykin, A, et al. (2009). Solar Activity and the Mean Global Temperature.
  5. Benestad, R and Schmidt, G. (2009). Solar trends and global warming.
  6. Lockwood, M. (2008). The Royal Society. Recent changes in solar outputs and the global mean surface temperature. III. Analysis of contributions to global mean air surface temperature rise.
  7. Lockwood, M and Frohlich, C. (2008). The Royal Society. Recent oppositely directed trends in solar climate forcings and the global mean surface air temperature. II. Different reconstructions of the total solar irradiance variation and dependence on response time scale.
  8. Lean, J and Rind, D. (2008). American Geophysical Union. How natural and anthropogenic influences alter global and regional surface temperatures: 1889 to 2006.
  9. Stone, D. (2007). The Detection and Attribution of Climate Change Using an Ensemble of Opportunity.
  10. Ammann, C. (2007). Solar influence on climate during the past millennium: Results from transient simulations with the NCAR Climate System Model.
  11. Meehl, G, et al. (2004). National Center for Atmospheric Research. Combinations of Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings in Twentieth-Century Climate.
  12. Lacis, A, et al. (2010). NASA GISS. Atmospheric CO2: Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature.

• X There is no scientific consensus that humans are the cause of recent global warming. (0 pts)

  ✔ Cook et al. (2016) concludes that there is a 97% consensus in published climate research that humans are the cause of recent global warming.^[1] Authors of seven different climate consensus studies co-authored the paper.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} The greater the climate expertise among those surveyed, the higher the consensus on human-caused global warming.^[1] There have been attempts to discredit the studies, but so far there has been no published peer-reviewed study that counters the figures of 90-100%. (4 pts)

  Show References
  1. Cook, J, et al. (2016). The University of Queensland. Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming.
  2. Carlton, J, et al. (2015). Purdue University. The climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists.
  3. Verheggen, B, et al. (2014). Amsterdam University College. Scientists’ Views about Attribution of Global Warming.
  4. Maibach, E, et al. (2014). George Mason University. Meteorologists' Views About Global Warming: A Survey of American Meteorological Society Professional Members.
  5. Cook, J, et al. (2013). George Mason University. Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature.
  6. Doran, T, et al. (2011). University of Illinois at Chicago. Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change.
  7. Anderegg, W, et al. (2010). Stanford University. Expert credibility in climate change.
  8. Oreskes, N. (2004). Harvard University. The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change.

• X Antarctica is gaining ice. (0.5 pts)

  ✔ While the interior of East Antarctica is gaining land ice, overall Antarctica has been losing land ice at an accelerating rate. Antarctic sea ice is growing despite a strongly warming Southern Ocean. The growing sea ice is due to a drop in Ozone levels causing stratospheric cooling and increasing winds^[1][2][3], increased rain and snowfall, and an increase in meltwater coming from the edges of Antarctica's overall declining land ice.^[4][5] (6 pts)

  Show References
  1. Gillett, N, et al. (2003). Simulation of Recent Southern Hemisphere Climate Change.
  2. Thompson, D, et al. (2002). Interpretation of Recent Southern Hemisphere Climate Change.
  3. Turner, J, et al. (2009). Non‐annular atmospheric circulation change induced by stratospheric ozone depletion and its role in the recent increase of Antarctic sea ice extent.
  4. Zhang, J. (2007). University of Washington. Increasing Antarctic Sea Ice under Warming Atmospheric and Oceanic Conditions.
  5. Bintanja, R, et al. (2013). Important role for ocean warming and increased ice-shelf melt in Antarctic sea-ice expansion.

• X The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age debunks the Hockey Stick Graph and the IPCC tried to cover it up. (0 pts)

  ✔ The 1990 IPCC report, Chapter 7, features a graph depicting a Medieval Warm Period that appears to exceed today's temperatures. The graph is a schematic diagram sourced from Hubert H. Lamb, 1965.^[1] Despite the author claiming that it's global, it's not based on global data, it was sampled from one location in central England.^[2] Futhermore, the graph only shows data up to 1950, which is before the rapid temperature increases of recent decades. Michael E. Mann's Hockey Stick Graph depicts warming over the entire Northern Hemisphere and the first iteration featured data up to 1998.^[3] (6 pts)

  Show References
  1. Lamb, H. (1965). Meteorological Office, Bracknell. The early medieval warm epoch and its sequel.
  2. Mann, M. (2002). University of Virginia. Medieval Climatic Optimum.
  3. Mann, M, et al. (1999). University of Massachusetts. Northern hemisphere temperatures during the past millennium: Inferences, uncertainties, and limitations.

Scientific Climate Blogs and Organizations

Here is a selection of trustworthy scientific blogs and organizations. It is still best to refer to peer-reviewed papers directly where possible.

• • NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming [climate.nasa.gov]
  • IPCC [ipcc.ch]
  • IPBES [ipbes.net]
  • National Snow and Ice Data Center [nsidc.org]
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [noaa.org]
  • Carbon Brief [carbonbrief.org]
  • Berkeley Earth [berkeleyearth.org]
  • Robbie Andrew [folk.uio.no/roberan]
  • Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) [pik-potsdam.de]
  • Science [sciencemag.org]
  • Nature [nature.com]
  • IOPScience [iopscience.iop.org]
  • PNAS [pnas.org]
  • New Scientist [newscientist.com]
  • United Nations Climate Change (UNFCCC) [unfccc.int]
  • UN Environment [unenvironment.org]
  • Project Drawdown [drawdown.org]
  • Climate Central [climatecentral.org]
  • Yale E360 [e360.yale.edu]
  • Climate Progress [climateprogress.org]
  • InsideClimate News [insideclimatenews.org]
  • RealClimate [realclimate.org]
  • …and Then There's Physics [andthentheresphysics.wordpress.com]
  • Skeptical Science [skepticalscience.com]
  • DeSmogBlog [desmogblog.com]

Climate Denial Blogs and Organizations

Climate change is studied like any other science, through the scientific process: Years of research undertaken by qualified scientists, then peer-reviewed by more qualified scientists.

Most blogs are not peer-reviewed by qualified scientists, therefore must not be used as evidence. They can, however, cite peer-reviewed evidence just like we do on this page.

Unless you can read and verify the contents of the paper yourself, directly from a credible scientific journal, then you can conclude that what you are reading is not science and is simply an opinion, or possibly a lie.

Also note that some blogs may appear to cite papers, but they cherry-pick specific quotes that suit their narrative, or try to modify graphs and data such as tweaking the X/Y axes.

Below is a list of well known climate denial blogs and organizations. Use it to know what to avoid. You can then recognize them whenever someone tries to pass them off as evidence.

You can find a full database of climate deniers at DeSmogBlog. To quickly verify the credibility of a person or organization, you can Google their name and append "desmogblog". In almost every case these people and organizations are linked to and funded by fossil fuel companies.

It should be mentioned that people have a right to free speech. However, deliberate disinformation and lies must be called out, especially attempts to discredit science and climate change. Inaction and delay on climate puts the lives of millions at risk.

Warning: If you click any of the links in the following box you agree to not hold us responsible for any harm that may occur as a result. We have no control over the content of the following websites. We are not aware of anything malicious in the links however.

• I Agree. Show the Links
  • Watts Up With That? (WUWT) [wattsupwiththat.com]
  • NoTricksZone [notrickszone.com]
  • Friends of Science [friendsofscience.org]
  • Real Climate Science [realclimatescience.com]
  • Heartland Institute [heartland.org]
  • CO2 Coalition [co2coalition.org]
  • Climate Audit [climateaudit.org]
  • Climate Realists [climaterealists.com]
  • Climate Depot [climatedepot.com]
  • JunkScience.com [junkscience.com]
  • Climatism [climatism.blog]
  • The New American [thenewamerican.com]
  • Breitbart [breitbart.com]
  • CO2 Science [co2science.org]
  • GlobalWarming.org
  • The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) [thegwpf.org]
  • Principa Scientific [principa-scientific.org]
  • Climate Change Dispatch [climatechangedispatch.com]
  • The Daily Caller [dailycaller.com]
  • Guido Fawkes [order-order.com]
  • Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) [cfact.org]
  • DefyCCC [defyccc.com]
  • International Climate Science Coalition [climatescienceinternational.org]
  • Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) [climatechangereconsidered.org]

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