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https://science.feedback.org/review/pyramid-shaped-peaks-antarctica-naturally-carved-by-glaciers-not-constructed-by-ancient-civilization/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, X/Twitter, 2024-03-20 | Ancient civilizations once inhabited Antarctica, as shown by the pyramids there, but the continent’s position and climate rapidly changed due to ‘tectonics and pole shift’. | null | Factually inaccurate: There is no evidence of ancient civilizations or pyramids in Antarctica. The pyramid-shaped landform shown in recent social media videos is called a ‘horn’ or ‘pyramidal peak’ and forms naturally as glaciers carve (i.e., erode) different rock faces. There is also no evidence for a rapid shift in t... | The rocky pyramid-shaped feature in Antarctica is a natural landform called a ‘horn’ or ‘pyramidal peak’. These peaks form when three or four intersecting glaciers carve out mountain faces in different directions, thus making a horn or pyramidal shape. They are common in Antarctica and found in many other places on Ear... | Thawing ice in Antarctica is revealing pyramids and other remnants of an ancient civilization. Antarctica quickly moved across Earth into its current position through plate tectonics and pole shift, causing Antarctica’s surface to flash-freeze. | 1- Hess (2016) McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation. 2 – Sugden et al. (2017) The million-year evolution of the glacial trimline in the southernmost Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 3 – Palin and Santosh (2021) Plate tectonics: What, where, why, and when?. Gondwan... | On 20 March 2024, a video on YouTube claimed that ‘Antarctica has pyramids from an ancient civilization’, and that ‘the continent’s surface flash-froze as it rapidly shifted on Earth‘. This video has gathered over 3.4 million views, and in recent months it has been clipped and shared on TikTok, Facebook, and X/Twitter.... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/sea-levels-have-risen-for-over-100-years-despite-misleading-photos-social-media/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, 2024-06-06 | Sea-level rise is not occurring or showing any impacts, based on photographic evidence. | null | Inaccurate: Scientific evidence unambiguously shows rising sea levels based on measurements of global mean sea level and tidal gauge data, even the ones collected near the locations from social media posts claiming that ‘sea level is not rising’. Misleading: It is misleading to show ‘before and after’ photos from selec... | Scientists have shown that global mean sea level has risen since the year 1880 by analyzing sea-level data from tidal gauges and satellites. Relative sea level rise – which is measured at a local or regional scale – can vary due to Earth’s shape and ocean dynamics. However, the data collected from the locations shown i... | There is no evidence of sea-level rise in before and after photos (i.e., from the past and present) from some locations. Therefore, sea-level rise is not occurring or causing negative impacts. | 1 – Church et al. (2011) Sea-level rise from the late 19th to the early 21st Century. Surveys in Geophysics. 2 – Rovere et al. (2016) Eustatic and Relative Sea Level Changes. Current Climate Change Reports. 3 – Slangen et al. (2016) Anthropogenic forcing dominates global mean sea-level rise since 1970. Nature Climate C... | Several social media posts have gone viral after sharing ‘before and after’ photos from the past and present to claim that sea-level rise has not occurred. For example, a number of these posts show photos of Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil, labeled with the years 1880, 1910, and 2020 and captions claiming that sea level i... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/colorful-auroras-seen-may-2024-caused-by-mass-ejections-from-sun-not-haarp-experiments/ | Incorrect | Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, X/Twitter, 2024-05-11 | May 2024 auroras were caused by experiments from High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) experiments | null | The origin of auroras in Earth’s atmosphere is well-studied and occur as solar winds and ejections of magnetized plasma from the Sun approach Earth and interact with our planet’s magnetic field. HAARP is incapable of producing the auroras that were observed because their power output is orders of magnitude less than wo... | The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is a research facility that uses a high-power, high-frequency transmitter to study the physical properties and behavior of the highest point of the atmosphere, the ionosphere. Radio transmissions from HAARP only cause small effects in the ionosphere that last f... | The vivid lights seen around the world on May 10 2024 were artificial aurora effects caused by High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) experiments, not by a geomagnetic storm. | 1 – McCoy et al. (2018) Haarp, a Powerful Active Ionospheric Laboratory Open for International Research. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. 14-22 July 2018, Pasadena, California, USA 2 – Todd Pedersen (2015) HAARP, the most powerful ionosphere heater on Earth. Physics Today. 3– Inan et al. (2004) Multi‐hop whistler‐mode ... | On 10 May 2024, solar eruptions caused a several-day geomagnetic storm on Earth, causing a vivid display of colors, called auroras, which were witnessed in skies around the globe. This natural event coincided with experiments by the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which triggered dozens of socia... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/no-evidence-significant-influence-volcanoes-solar-variability-on-recent-climate-change-contrary-judith-curry-claims-prageru-video/ | Misleading | PragerU, Judith Curry, 2024-04-15 | Climate scientists disagree about how much warming is associated with our emissions and whether this warming is larger than natural climate variability from the sun and volcanic eruptions | null | Misleading: Climate scientists have studied natural climate variability and the contribution of human CO2 emissions to recent climate changes. The resulting evidence unequivocally shows that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are the most significant driver of recent climate change, while natural variability has made a minima... | Scientific evidence shows that modern global warming is primarily driven by increasing CO2 emissions from human activities. There is no evidence that solar variations or volcanic activity are substantial drivers of recent climate change. | Climate scientists disagree about how much warming is associated with our emissions and whether this warming is larger than natural climate variability; “Variations in the sun and volcanic eruptions also have a substantial impact [on Earth’s climate], but these are simply unpredictable”. | 1 – IPCC (2021). Sixth Assessment Report. 2 – Zhong and Haigh (2013) The greenhouse effect and carbon dioxide. Royal Meteorological Society Weather. 3 – PAGES 2K Consortium (2019) Consistent multidecadal variability in global temperature reconstructions and simulations over the Common Era. Nature Geoscience. 4 – Le Qué... | On 15 April 2024, PragerU posted a short video on their website and YouTube titled “The Good News about Climate Change”, which gathered over 500,000 views combined as of the publication date of this review. The video features a former professor, Dr. Judith Curry, who makes claims about the current state of climate chan... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/carbon-isotopes-do-not-show-humans-climate-impacts-too-small-notice-despite-the-daily-sceptic-inaccurate-claim/ | Incorrect | Daily Sceptic, Chris Morrison, 2024-04-08 | Human-caused carbon emissions’ effect on climate is ‘non-discernible’. Measurements of carbon isotope ratios in atmospheric CO2 indicate that it is the recent expansion of a more productive biosphere that has led to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. | null | Incorrect: Scientific studies demonstrate that fossil fuel emissions are the only cause that can explain both changes in carbon isotope ratios and increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Cherry-picking: The article supports its claim with only two papers while ignoring the vast body of existing evidence that di... | Carbon isotope ratios are actually one of the key measurements that show human-caused emissions are responsible for climate change. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have lower concentrations of both carbon-13 and carbon-14 than CO2 placed in the atmosphere by the natural carbon cycle. Therefore, burning fossil fuels is ... | “Human-caused carbon emissions’ effect on climate is ‘non-discernible’. Measurements of carbon isotope ratios in atmospheric CO2 indicate that it is the recent expansion of a more productive biosphere that has led to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.” | 1 – Graven et al. (2020) Changes to Carbon Isotopes in Atmospheric CO2 Over the Industrial Era and Into the Future. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 2 – Hoffman and Rasmussen (2022) Absolute Carbon Stable Isotope Ratio in the Vienna Peedee Belemnite Isotope Reference Determined by 1H NMR Spectroscopy. Analytical Chemistry... | Carbon comes in three naturally occurring isotopes on Earth: carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14. Different carbon sources bear different mixtures of the three, and studying these isotopic signatures can help trace how carbon moves across the Earth. For instance, carbon-13 and carbon-14 are less abundant in fossil fuel... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/data-shows-temperatures-rising-greenland-world-current-global-warming-driven-co2-not-solar-activity/ | Inaccurate | Daily Sceptic, Stephen Andrews, 2024-03-08 | Ice cores from Greenland show no significant warming, casting doubt on the climate change theory | null | Factually inaccurate: The claim that there is no global warming signal from Greenland is in direct contradiction with available observations. Recent studies of ice cores from several locations in Greenland have shown that temperatures are warming faster than the natural variation of the last 1000 years. Rising temperat... | The effect of atmospheric CO2 concentrations on global temperatures is well established; as concentrations rise, global warming increases through the greenhouse effect. Scientific studies show that modern global warming is primarily driven by increasing CO2 emissions from human activities. Based on the available scient... | Ice cores from Greenland show no significant warming, casting doubt on the climate change theory; above a certain concentration of carbon dioxide, it has minimal direct impact on global temperature relative to solar cycles. | 1 – Anderegg et al. (2010) Expert credibility in climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2 – Markle and Steig (2022) Improving temperature reconstructions from ice-core water-isotope records. Climate of the Past. 3 – Holme et al. (2019) Varying regional δ18O–temperature relationship in high-res... | The consensus among climate scientists is that modern global warming is primarily driven by increases in atmospheric CO2 from human activities[1]. A major component of studying global warming is comparing present conditions with those of the past. However, taken out of context, these data can be misinterpreted to draw ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/arctic-sea-ice-melting-over-past-decades-with-projections-summer-ice-free-conditions-mid-century/ | Incorrect | The Epoch Times, Allan Astrup Jensen, 2024-02-06 | Arctic sea ice is not melting and there is no indication that we should expect the Arctic sea summer ice to disappear completely, as predicted | null | Incorrect: Overall, Arctic sea ice extent and volume have been decreasing since the 1970s, a trend that scientists largely attribute to human-induced global warming. The author of the claim cherry-picks short term fluctuations due to natural variability to suggest otherwise. Scientists forecast the first ice-free summe... | Despite short-term fluctuations due to natural variability, the Arctic sea ice extent and volume has decreased over the past few decades. Scientists have established that this decrease is mostly the result of global warming due to human emissions of greenhouse gasses. | Arctic sea ice is not melting. There is no indication that we should expect the Arctic Sea summer ice to disappear completely, as predicted. CO2 levels don't drive Arctic sea ice decline. | 1 – IPCC (2021) Ocean, Cryosphere and Sea Level Change. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contributions of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – Walsh et al. (2017) A database for depicting Arctic sea ice variations back to 1850. Geographi... | Since the 1970s, satellites have been providing accurate measurements of sea ice extent in the Arctic, revealing a steady reduction in its surface. The yearly extent of Arctic sea ice that survives the entire summer has decreased by approximately 50% from 1979 to 2020 compared to its average extent during the period fr... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/optimal-atmospheric-co2-dinosaurs-plants-harmful-humans-current-concentration-higher-homo-sapiens-ever-experienced/ | Misleading | Bright Insight, Jimmy Corsetti, 2024-02-04 | High CO2 was fine for the dinosaurs and high CO2 benefits plants today in greenhouses, so more CO2 can’t be bad for humans | null | Flawed reasoning: The fact that elevated atmospheric-CO2 benefited the dinosaurs and benefits plants today does not mean it also benefits humans. In fact, there are potential human health risks from prolonged exposure to the optimal CO2 levels for dinosaurs and plants, in addition to the multiple negative environmental... | Elevated atmospheric-CO2 from human emissions enhances the greenhouse effect, which causes global warming and results in several other significant negative impacts on the ecosystems and natural processes on which humans depend. Plants and animals have different tolerances and responses to elevated CO2, and concentratio... | Increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) is not bad for humans because it was much higher during the time of the dinosaurs and they were unaffected. High carbon dioxide also benefits plant growth, which is why CO2 is pumped into greenhouses to boost crop yields. Levels of CO2 are so low right now in comparison to the levels tha... | 1 – Morris et al. (2018) The timescale of early land plant evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2 – Foster et al. (2017) Future climate forcing potentially without precedent in the last 420 million years. Nature Communications. 3 – Rae et al. (2021) Atmospheric CO2 over the past 66 million years ... | During Earth’s 4.5 billion year history, the atmosphere has undergone dramatic changes and only started to appear like it does today around 290 million years ago (mya). Today’s air is composed of several gasses with different concentrations, like nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%), and carbon dioxide (0.... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/study-calls-people-grow-their-own-food-years-come-despite-finding-higher-carbon-footprint-compared-conventional-agriculture/ | Misleading | Facebook, The Atlas Society, Social media users, 2024-01-26 | Study and headline saying homegrown food is more carbon intensive than conventional agriculture is meant to discourage and stop people from growing their own food | null | Misrepresents source: New study which quantified a higher carbon footprint of urban agriculture compared to conventional agriculture does not discourage or call for people to stop growing their own food. On the contrary, the study proposed multiple solutions to reduce carbon emissions and calls for maintaining and supp... | Although low-tech urban agriculture is expected to be a central component of sustainable cities in the future due to its many social, ecological, and nutritional benefits, new research demonstrates it is not necessarily less carbon intensive than conventional agriculture as commonly assumed. Scientists in general not o... | New study and article headline saying homegrown food is worse for the climate than conventional agriculture is ridiculous propaganda meant to discourage and ultimately ban people from growing their own food. Growing your own food in your garden will soon be prohibited in the name of climate change because they say it i... | 1 – Nicholls et al. (2020) The contribution of small-scale food production in urban areas to the sustainable development goals: A review and case study. Sustainability Science. 2 – Lee et al. (2015) Greenhouse gas emission reduction effect in the transportation sector by urban agriculture in Seoul, Korea. Landscape and... | To meet global food challenges, such as increases in overall food demand alongside decreases in the natural resources needed for food production, urban agriculture is expected to play a critical role in the coming decades[1]. Because of the significant potential for transport carbon emissions reductions when food is gr... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/us-proposed-bills-hearings-dont-confirm-chemtrails-exist-not-geoengineering-strategy/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, YouTube, Social media users, 2024-01-12 | US state governments are banning chemtrails, confirming secret government programs using chemtrails for various purposes that harm the public and the environment | null | Factually Inaccurate: No US state government has passed laws banning chemtrails, which remain unproven and not supported by any scientific evidence. US congressional documents have been misattributed and misinterpreted as admissions of chemtrail existence. Proposed bills, citizen petitions, and committee geoengineering... | Contrails are trails of condensing water vapor left in the wake of airplanes. They do not contain harmful chemicals as proposed by "chemtrail" conspiracy theories, which are not supported by any evidence. Although some politicians have proposed bills to ban chemtrails or related conspiratorial concepts, they are not ev... | There are secret government programs using chemtrails for various purposes that harm the public and the environment. This is confirmed by New Hampshire and Texas state governments referencing and forbidding chemtrails, and a Tennessee government hearing on the development of geoengineering projects like stratospheric a... | 1 – Shearer et al. (2016) Quantifying expert consensus against the existence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program. Environmental Research Letters. 2 – Burns et al. (2016) What do people think when they think about solar geoengineering? A review of empirical social science literature, and prospects for ... | There is no credible, scientific evidence that chemtrails exist and are distinct from contrails. Claims that chemtrails exist have been addressed multiple times previously on Science Feedback (e.g., here). Yet, on 12 Jan. 2024, social media user “OFF GRID with DOUG and STACY” (701 thousand Facebook followers, 1.19 mill... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/evidence-greenhouse-gasses-cause-global-warming-denied-willie-soon-tucker-carlson-interview-mass-social-media-climate-misinformation/ | Incorrect | Tucker Carlson Network, Willie Soon, 2024-01-09 | Carbon dioxide does not cause global warming, scientists are 90% sure it’s the Sun; The climate problems blamed on carbon dioxide (such as ocean acidification and negative impacts on polar bears) are not real | null | Incorrect: The hypothesis that the Sun is responsible for climate change is inconsistent with real-world observations. Scientific consensus based on overwhelming evidence shows that greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide are the main cause of current global warming, beyond reasonable doubt. Inaccurate: Elevated atmosphe... | The causes of climate change and global warming are well-known among the international scientific community. Scientific consensus based on overwhelming evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, shows that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of current global warming, not the Sun. Elevated atmospheric ca... | We don’t know what is causing climate change, but we are around 90% sure it’s the Sun. Methane is on Saturn’s moon Titan and it has no global warming; it is cold because it is far from the Sun. There’s also no consensus on the role of CO2. The climate problems of CO2 are artificial and made-up; it does not cause issues... | 1 – Lockwood (2008) Recent changes in solar outputs and the global mean surface temperature. III. Analysis of contributions to global mean air surface temperature rise. In Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 2 – Santer et al. (2023) Exceptional stratospheric co... | Review: Dr. Willie Soon, an astrophysicist and aerospace engineer who has received “much” of his research funding from the oil and gas industry, made multiple claims during an interview with Tucker Carlson denying the role of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane in driving global warming. The origina... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/eu-not-passing-law-seize-scrap-cars-under-climate-agenda-contrary-peter-sweden-claim/ | Inaccurate | Twitter/X, Peter Imanuelsen (aka Peter Sweden), 2023-11-27 | The EU could SEIZE and SCRAP your old car if it doesn't meet their criteria as part of their climate agenda. | null | Inaccurate: The EU Commission’s proposal does not mandate the seizure and scrapping of vehicles merely for failing to meet specific environmental criteria. Instead, it outlines how to assess and recycle vehicles that are neither economically repairable nor roadworthy, aiming to minimize environmental harm. Inaccurate:... | The EU Commission’s proposal focuses on regulatory measures aimed at manufacturers and the automotive industry; it doesn’t target car owners or consumers. Increasing the circularity of car parts and materials is expected to reduce the need for production and shipping of new materials, thereby lowering greenhouse gas em... | The EU could SEIZE and SCRAP your old car if it doesn't meet their criteria as part of their climate agenda. Repairing an already existing car with spare parts is by far the best thing to do if you care about carbon emissions. | 1 – IPCC (2022) Chapter 10: Transport. In: Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | In July 2023, the European Commission introduced a regulation proposal for end-of-life vehicles (ELV) to enhance vehicle life-cycle circularity in the European Union (EU). This initiative aims to ensure that vehicles are used to their fullest potential and that their components are recycled or repurposed at the end of ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/contrary-widespread-misrepresentation-new-study-finds-extremely-minimal-impact-human-breathing-climate/ | Misleading | Daily Mail, Jonathan Chadwick, 2023-12-13 | Scientists say human breathing is fueling global warming | null | Misrepresents source: A new study found that human breathing in the UK contributes only 0.0539 of the UK’s 417 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. The study did not show human breathing is significantly fueling global warming or bad for the environment. In reality, the authors said the contributions of human breathin... | Human breathing has been found to contribute around one hundredth of one percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. Scientists do not claim we are fueling global warming by breathing. The human activities that are, such as greenhouse gas emissions from energy, transport, and land use, are well-known and m... | New study finds the gasses in air exhaled from human lungs are fueling global warming, contributing 0.1% of greenhouse gasses in the UK. Now scientists say breathing is bad for the environment. | 1 – IPCC (2023) Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2 – Polag & Keppler (2019) Global methane emissions from the human body: Past, present and future. Atmospheric... | A new scientific study published on 13 Dec. 2023 quantified greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions from human breathing in the UK and compared the results with other, more well-known known sources of emissions. Dawson et al (2023) found that only 0.05% and 0.1% of the UK’s methane and nitrous oxide emissions, respectively, ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/claim-cow-burps-not-important-contributor-climate-change-ignores-full-range-greenhouse-gas-emissions-beef-production/ | Misleading | Instagram, Social media users, 2023-12-19 | Methane from cows is only a small percentage of total greenhouse gas emissions, it would be produced anyways without cattle, it is not an important contributor to climate change | null | Misleading: Estimates of livestock greenhouse gas emissions do not include land use related emissions, which is one of the most impactful aspects of beef production on climate change. Even so, the seemingly small percentage attributed to US livestock agriculture is still globally relevant because total US emissions are... | Reducing methane is critical to achieving global climate targets. Conventional beef and dairy production is a significant contributor to climate change through the release of greenhouse gasses like methane from cow burps. The EPA greenhouse gas estimate does not include land use related emissions from livestock agricul... | Methane claims against cattle are overblown because all emissions from all livestock is only 3.9% of total US greenhouse gas emissions according to the EPA estimate. The emitted methane comes from grass, leaves the atmosphere after 10 years, and then returns to help grass grow. Much of the methane emissions would occur... | 1 – Lazarus et al. (2021) The climate responsibilities of industrial meat and dairy producers. Climatic change 2 – Emery (2018) Without animals, US farmers would reduce feed crop production. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 3 – Marvin et al. (2023) Natural climate solutions provide robust carbon mitigati... | Agriculture is the largest anthropogenic source of methane (CH4) emissions. Livestock agriculture which takes up 80% of global agricultural land but produces less than 20% of the world’s supply of calories, represents about a third of these emissions. It has a much larger emissions profile and impact on climate change ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/uncertainties-about-future-climate-change-1970s-does-not-invalidate-today-evidence-reality-global-warming/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, Facebook users, 2023-12-09 | Scientists predicted global cooling and were wrong, so they are wrong about global warming | null | Inaccurate: During the 1970’s, it was unclear if global cooling linked to atmospheric aerosols would override global warming linked to elevated atmospheric greenhouse gasses. There was no scientific consensus, although more scientists forecasted a future warming than a cooling. Nowadays, available scientific evidence d... | Some climate scientists in the 1970’s were concerned about the cooling effect of atmospheric aerosols and explored the hypothesis that it might lead to a cooling of the Earth. However, the majority of scientists at that time were actually forecasting global warming for the future. In fact, scientists have warned that e... | Scientists in the 1970’s predicted there would be global cooling and a new ice age in the coming decades, but they were wrong. This means they are wrong again about present and future global warming. | 1 – Peterson et al. (2008) The myth of the 1970s global cooling scientific consensus. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 2 – Sawyer JS (1972) Man-made carbon dioxide and the “greenhouse” effect. Nature 3 – Hansen et al. (1978) Mount Agung eruption provides test of a global climatic perturbation. Science 4 ... | In the 1970’s, some popular media outlets were reporting on the supposition that a new ice age could be coming in the following decades. Of course, this never came to pass. We are now in the midst of rapid global warming, largely due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses. Multiple temperature records indicate... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/water-vapor-greenhouse-gas-not-major-driver-global-warming/ | Incorrect | Climate Change is Crap, Facebook users, 2023-11-18 | Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas so it is the main cause of recent global warming | null | Flawed Reasoning: Water vapor, which lasts only days in the atmosphere, is ultimately controlled by air temperature and pressure according to thermodynamics. Long-term changes in temperature driven by other greenhouse gasses supersedes water vapor feedbacks. Misleading: Water is only relevant for maintaining the natura... | Water vapor is fundamentally different from the other greenhouse gasses which directly cause global warming. It leaves the atmosphere in a matter of days and its atmospheric concentration is ultimately governed by temperature. It is critical for the natural greenhouse effect, but it is a negligible contributor to the e... | Water vapor is the main cause of recent global warming because it is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect and the most abundant greenhouse gas by weight and volume. Water vapor is natural and the greenhouse effect is natural, so recent global warming is natural. | 1 – IPCC (2021) The Earth’s Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks, and Climate Sensitivity. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – Sherwood et al. (2018) The global warming potential of near-surf... | Although water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas (GHG) by weight and volume, it is not a major driver of long-term climate change and the recent global warming we are experiencing. The opposite is often claimed as a challenge to anthropogenic climate change because it is the most important gas maintaining the g... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/video-ian-plimer-incorrectly-states-human-co2-emissions-not-responsible-for-increased-atmospheric-co2-concentrations-global-warming/ | Incorrect | Conservative Political Action Conference, Ian Plimer, 2023-10-03 | Increases in atmospheric CO2 is mainly from natural causes, like ocean outgassing, and not from humans who emit so little in comparison | null | Inaccurate: Though annual human CO2 emissions are much smaller than natural carbon cycle fluxes, they have steadily accumulated in the atmosphere over the past few centuries because their removal by natural carbon sinks has not increased to the same extent. The present-day anthropogenic CO2 increase is unprecedented in... | Multiple independent lines of evidence indicate that the present-day increase in atmospheric CO2 is caused by human emissions from fossil fuels and land use change. A significant fraction of annual CO2 emissions remains in the atmosphere each year and has steadily accumulated since the onset of the industrial era, driv... | Human emissions could not be driving global warming since they are a small fraction of natural emissions. Temperature actually drives CO2, not the inverse. So the current rise in atmospheric CO2 is caused by ocean outgassing, not human emissions. | 1 – Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (2022) Why does climate change get described as a stock-flow problem? 2 – Friedlingstein et al. (2022) Global Carbon Budget 2022. Earth System Science Data 3 – Lan et al. (2023) Trends in globally-averaged CO2 determined from NOAA Global Monitoring L... | Dr. Ian Plimer, a former mining geologist, spoke at the Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney on 2 October 2022. A video clip of the talk was posted on Facebook a year later, and as of 1 December 2023, it has been liked over 5,200 times and shared over 3,700 times. CLAIM 1 (Inaccurate):: ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/global-warming-matches-model-predictions-well-misconstrued-claims-new-photosynthesis-study/ | Inaccurate | Twitter/X, Steve Milloy, 2023-11-18 | New photosynthesis study shows that Earth is not warming as predicted by climate models | null | Factually Inaccurate: Observations of the increases in global temperature match the uncertainty ranges of leading climate models. In some cases, observed warming exceeds predictions. Misrepresentation of sources (strawman): New research shows increased photosynthesis potential of plants under global warming scenarios;... | Climate models have forecasted global warming well since the 1970s. New insights on plant photosynthesis under global warming do not invalidate climate models; rather, they help reduce uncertainty in model predictions of future climate change resulting from human emissions of greenhouse gases. | Earth not warming as predicted by (junk) climate models because plant photosynthesis is absorbing more CO2 than imagined. Climate change is a hoax. | 1 – Hausfather et al. (2020) Evaluating the performance of past climate model projections. Geophysical Research Letters 2 – Kim et al. (2020) Evaluation of the CMIP6 multi-model ensemble for climate extreme indices. Weather and Climate Extremes 3 – Carvalho et al. (2022) How well have CMIP3, CMIP5 and CMIP6 future clim... | A recent scientific study illustrating the increasing role of photosynthesis under global warming scenarios has been misconstrued to promote climate change denialism. In a November 18th Twitter post, Steve Milloy inaccurately claims the Earth is not warming as predicted by climate models because plant photosynthesis wi... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/wall-street-journal-questions-decades-scientific-evidence-demonstrating-elevated-atmospheric-co2-causes-global-warming/ | Inaccurate | The Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, 2023-11-03 | We do not know if CO2 is the cause of global warming | null | Inaccurate: Evidence has allowed scientists to conclude, beyond reasonable doubt, that elevated atmospheric-CO2 from human emissions is the main driver of global warming. Scientists have quantified how much CO2 has strengthened the greenhouse effect by absorbing and radiating heat and this warming effect matches the ob... | We know that CO2 causes global warming through the greenhouse effect based on overwhelming evidence from data collected over decades of investigation. There is international scientific consensus that elevated atmospheric-CO2 from human emissions is not just a cause of global warming, it is the leading cause of global w... | We do not know if CO2 is the cause of global warming because global climate models and temperature records are unreliable. | 1 – Myers et al. (2021) Consensus revisited: quantifying scientific agreement on climate change and climate expertise among Earth scientists 10 years later. Environmental Research Letters 2 – Lynas et al. (2021) Greater than 99% consensus on human caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Enviro... | In the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), opinion columnist Holman W. Jenkins claims we do not know if carbon dioxide (CO2) is the cause of global warming. Jenkins bases his November 3rd article“The Earth Is Warming, but Is CO2 the Cause?” largely on a recent report from the national statistics agency of Norway. Dozens of othe... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/claim-current-climate-change-explained-natural-cycles-volcanic-activity-does-not-have-scientific-support/ | Incorrect | Twitter/X, Social media users, 2023-09-02 | The cyclical activity of the Sun as well as other variations in solar and earth activity, and NOT anthropogenic CO2 emissions, are responsible for climate change | null | Incorrect: There is no evidence that natural variation in the Sun’s energy output, changes in the position of the Sun relative to the Earth, or volcanic activity on Earth can account for ongoing climate change. By contrast, all observations are consistent with the fact that human emissions of greenhouse gases are causi... | Solar energy output does change slightly over short-term as well as long-term cycles. However, the expected effects due to these natural cycles are far below the threshold that could account for current climate change. | The cyclical activity of the Sun as well as other variations in solar and earth activity, and NOT anthropogenic CO2 emissions, are responsible for climate change | IPCC (2023) Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report. Date accessed September 15 2023 Crowley (2000) Causes of climate change over the past 1000 years. Science Santer et al. (2013) Human and natural influences on the changing thermal structure of the atmosphere. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Joshi and Jon... | In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on September 2, a social media user (Robin Monotti) posits that the primary reason for climate change is the cyclical activity of the Sun and the Earth, with volcanic activity also playing a role. Overall, it appears that Monotti’s aim is to imply that while human activity and CO2 emis... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/clintel-group-inaccurately-represents-climate-science-declaration-no-climate-emergency-once-again/ | Incorrect | Clintel, The Epoch Times, Benoit Rittaud, Naveen Athrappully, Viv Forbes, Richard Lindzen, Patrick Moore, Ian Plimer, Guus Berkhout, Christopher Monckton, 2023-08-19 | Global warming is just the end of the Little Ice Age; Warming is slower than climate models forecasted; Carbon dioxide is beneficial to Earth; Global warming is not intensifying or increasing the frequency of natural disasters | null | Incorrect:Observations show that global mean surface temperature has increased since 1850. Among other lines of evidence, climate models that have been skillful at simulating global mean surface temperature indicate that human activity–and, notably human emissions of carbon dioxide–is responsible for this increase, rat... | Scientists have investigated all potential causes of climate change and concluded that human activity is responsible for modern warming, not the end of the Little Ice Age. Climate change has adverse impacts on plants and agriculture, including through its influence on extreme weather events. | “The Little Ice Age ended as recently as 1850. Therefore, it is no surprise that we now are experiencing a period of warming.”; Warming is far slower than predicted”; “Climate models have many shortcomings…”; “CO2 is plant food, the basis of all life on Earth”; “There is no statistical evidence that global warming is i... | null | A letter published on August 14 by CLINTEL, a group that claims to have the support of “1,609 scientists and professionals”, repeats a series of familiar myths about climate science to arrive at its declaration that “there is no climate emergency”. The group has published similar claims about climate science in the sam... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/three-decades-chemtrail-haarp-geoengineering-conspiracy-theory-remains-popular-despite-lack-evidence-no-scientific-basis/ | Incorrect | Facebook, Facebook users, 2023-08-07 | Global weather is controlled by secret geoengineering programs using chemtrails and ionosphere heating facilities. | null | Incorrect: Weather forms mainly in the troposphere and is driven by energy from the Sun. Research facilities like HAARP only influence a small area of the ionosphere directly above them, which is tens to hundreds of kilometers above where weather forms and occurs. Unsupported: There is no evidence for the existence of... | While it is possible to change the Earth’s long-term climate through elevated atmospheric greenhouse gases, humans lack the scientific, technological, and logistical capabilities to control short-term weather events at the global scale. There is no evidence for the existence of chemtrails, nor for their claimed impact ... | Global weather is controlled by secret geoengineering programs using chemtrails and ionosphere heating facilities. There is no natural weather at this point. | 1 – IPCC (2021) Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2 – Shearer et al. (2016) Quantifying expert consensus against the existence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program. Environment... | Introduction Can humans control the weather on a global scale as periodically claimed by viral social media posts? Let’s review the basics. Weather is short-term atmospheric conditions, while climate is long-term atmospheric trends. Changing the climate is a bit like water eroding rocks in a river; it’s possible but re... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/magnetic-poles-reversals-not-cataclysmic-events-adam-and-eve-theory-jimmy-corsetti-joe-rogan-podcast/ | Incorrect | The Joe Rogan Experience, TikTok, Spotify, Joe Rogan, Jimmy Corsetti, 2023-01-18 | Magnetic poles reversals involve the Earth flipping vertically and momentarily stopping its rotation, causing cataclysmic events during 6 days. | null | Unsupported: There is no evidence that magnetic reversals have any impact on climate nor is there scientific basis for the claim that the planet flips on itself within six days. Misunderstanding of science: Speculation on the imminent possibility of the next magnetic poles' reversal happening is based on confusing ave... | Magnetic poles reversals do occur, but don’t involve the earth’s poles physically changing positions. The liquid core of the planet moves, generating variations of the magnetic field and occasionally, magnetic poles shift. There is no evidence that magnetic poles' reversal have had any influence on climate in the Earth... | Shifts in the planet’s magnetic poles involve the earth doing a 90° flip, with the planet remaining still for 6 days. During this short period, cataclysmic events happen, involving heat, wind, floods, and climate change. | [1] Singer et al. (2019). Synchronizing volcanic, sedimentary, and ice core records of Earth’s last magnetic polarity reversal. Science Advances. [2] Brown et al. (2018). Earth’s magnetic field is probably not reversing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [3] Buffet et al. (2018). A Probabilistic Assessme... | The planet’s magnetic field acts as a shield surrounding the Earth, protecting its surface from solar radiations. It is generated within the Earth’s liquid core, and varies according to the movement of molten iron present in it. The core creates currents of electricity featuring a direction, giving us the north and sou... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/headline-temperatures-on-earth-are-increasing-and-the-rise-is-drastically-outpacing-previous-natural-changes-in-the-planets-climate/ | Inaccurate | Media Research Center, Ian Plimer, 2023-05-02 | “We have been cooling down for the past 4000 years”; the Earth has cooled since the ‘medieval warming’, “It’s all about when you start the measurements” | null | Factually inaccurate: Earth’s surface has not been cooling in recent times - both global average and Greenland temperatures have rapidly increased since the beginning of the industrial era. Misleading: The most recent temperature datapoint that the claim references corresponds to 1855, which is misleading since warmin... | Temperature data indicate that global temperatures are already higher than at any other period in the past several thousand years. Multiple independent lines of evidence indicate that the Earth is currently warming at a rate that is much faster than past changes in climate. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels ... | “We have been cooling down for the past 4000 years”; the Earth has cooled since the ‘medieval warming’, “It’s all about when you start the measurements” | 1 – Alley (2000) The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from Central Greenland Quaternary Science Reviews 2 – Hörhold (2023) Modern temperatures in central–north Greenland warmest in past millennium Nature 3 – Wilson (2016) Last millennium northern hemisphere summer temperatures from tree rings: Part I: The long ter... | Information about Earth’s past climate can provide insights for the trends we are currently experiencing. Historical temperature conditions can be reconstructed from archives such as ice cores and tree rings that contain proxies for temperature. Although records exist of measured temperatures that date back to 1659 (Fi... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/antarctic-ice-coverage-not-increasing-record-levels-nor-continent-getting-colder-contrary-to-curry-easterbrook-cfact-movie/ | Inaccurate | CFACT, Instagram, Don Easterbrook, Judith Curry, 2023-04-16 | Antarctic sea-ice extent is increasing to record levels. Antarctica is getting colder; its sea ice and ice cap are not melting | null | Cherry-picking: Antarctic sea-ice extent reached a record high in 2014, but that was not the sign of a long term trend of expansion since a precipitous decline followed, with the sea ice extent reaching its lowest value in 40 years.Factually Inaccurate: The consensus of scientific evidence shows that the average temper... | Despite a period of slight growth between 1979 and 2014, Antarctic sea ice cover is not increasing to record levels. The trend reversed in 2014 and ice cover started to decrease vigorously. Many long-term measurements from Antarctic research stations show no significant warming or cooling trends over the whole continen... | We’re seeing record set for antarctic sea ice extent. Climate models predict that antarctic should be losing sea ice, and it’s exactly the opposite of what’s happening. The antarctic ice cap is not melting, the average annual temperature there is 58 degrees below 0°. There’s not melting going on in the first place, it’... | null | Science has shown consistently that adding CO2 to the atmosphere is changing the climate in various ways, including raising the surface temperature of the oceans and atmosphere. As a consequence, scientists anticipate that polar sea ice would decline. This has been observed in the Arctic, which shows a 40% reduction in... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/strands-cloud-behind-aeroplanes-trails-condensed-water-contrails-not-chemtrails-some-believe/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, William Deagle, 2023-03-18 | Chemtrails contain toxic substances such as barium salts that are 10 thousand times more toxic to your nervous system than lead | null | Factually inaccurate: The consensus of scientific evidence shows that atmospheric barium levels have not increased due to deliberate programs to deposit barium salts in the atmosphere. Inadequate support: There is no evidence of a program to deliberately deposit chemicals into the atmosphere via so-called “chemtrails”.... | Aeroplanes sometimes leave a trail of condensed water – a contrail – in their wake depending on factors such as altitude and weather conditions. The water condenses as the hot exhaust from the engine hits air, which is cold at high altitude. Some people have pointed to these as evidence of chemtrails but they are water... | Chemtrails contain toxic substances such as barium salts that are 10 thousand times more toxic to your nervous system than lead | 1 – Federal Environment Agency (2011) Chemtrails – Dangerous Atmospheric Experiments or Just Fiction? 2 – Moore et al. (2017) Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions Nature 3 – Voigt et al. (2021) Cleaner burning aviation fuels can reduce contrail cloudiness Communications... | The claims that aeroplanes are deliberately depositing chemicals in the sky in chemtrails containing barium salts 10,000 times more toxic than lead are taken from a four hour long lecture by self-proclaimed prophet Dr Bill Deagle at the Granada Forum in 2006. The snippet has been posted multiple times on social media i... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/pre-human-changes-climate-not-negate-contemporary-human-influence-modern-warming/ | Flawed reasoning | Instagram, Social media users, 2023-01-17 | Climate changed naturally in prehistoric eras, modern climate change is a naturally occurring phenomenon | null | Flawed reasoning: Climate change has occurred in the past without human influence. However, this does not indicate that non-human causes are driving modern warming, for which a consensus of scientific evidence shows that greenhouse gas emissions are responsible. | Scientists study all potential causes of climate change and have concluded, based on several independent lines of evidence, that modern warming is driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases. Other variables, such as orbital, solar and tectonic variations, contributed to climate change in earth’s geological history. ... | “Climate change is a naturally occurring phenomenon that can be tracked throughout prehistoric eras…Yes the planet is changing but that’s a constant part of life on this earth.” | null | A recent Instagram post alleges that “climate change is a naturally occurring phenomenon,” and that such change represents “a constant part of life on this earth.” While evidence shows that climate has been influenced by multiple factors in the past, scientists have found, through several independent lines of evidence,... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/link-between-co2-earth-temperature-well-established-despite-claims-fox-news-tom-harris/ | Inaccurate | Fox News, Tom Harris, 2022-10-12 | Scientists have found no consistent correlation between CO2 and temperature; scientists do not know whether earth will warm or cool in future | null | Inaccurate:Past climate data show a correlation between CO2 concentration and global temperature, and physics shows CO2 is a greenhouse gas that strongly influences the temperature of the Earth’s surface. Unsupported: Research has shown that solar activity variations are not enough to offset human-caused warming. | The link between global warming and atmospheric CO2 levels is well-established; in fact, increases in CO2 have warmed the planet multiple times over the last million or so years. Science shows unambiguously that current climate change is caused by human-emitted greenhouse gases. Based on this knowledge, scientists are ... | Scientists have found “No consistent correlation between carbon dioxide and earth’s temperature”; “It’s all based on models that don’t work”; “we don’t even know whether it’s going to warm or cool in the future”; various scientists show “we’re headed into a grand solar minimum around 2060, and that we’ll see gradual co... | null | In an interview with Fox News on 12 October, International Climate Science Coalition Executive Director Tom Harris made multiple misleading and inaccurate claims about climate change. The International Climate Science Coalition disputes the scientific consensus that human activities are causing the planet to warm. Harr... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/scientists-found-modern-climate-change-caused-entirely-by-human-activity-contrary-recent-speculation-joe-rogan-experience/ | Flawed reasoning | The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan, 2022-10-02 | “The question is, ‘how much of an impact do we have on [climate]?’ That has not totally been quantified”; climate change is happening anyway, “The ice age happened without us…It’s probably this constant cycle”. | null | Flawed reasoning: Scientists have quantified human influence on the climate system and found it to be responsible for the entirety of modern warming. Other non-human factors are capable of influencing Earth’s climate, as has occurred previously in Earth’s history. However, Earth’s climate has been stable for 11,000 yea... | In quantifying the impact of different possible drivers of climate change, scientists have identified that human activity is responsible for the entirety of modern global warming. There is no scientific evidence available to support an alternative explanation. While Earth’s climate has changed in the past due to “natur... | “Temperature has always been up and down.”; “The question is, ‘how much of an impact do we have on [climate]?’ That has not totally been quantified. They’re not exactly sure. They know it’s a significant impact, but [climate change] is happening anyway [without human influence]…The ice age happened without us…It’s prob... | null | In a recent podcast episode, Comedian and Ultimate Fighting Championship commentator Joe Rogan questioned the extent to which human activity impacts climate. “The ice age happened without us”, Rogan noted, later suggesting that modern climate change could be part of a “constant cycle”. Human influence on the climate sy... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-epoch-times-prints-range-of-inaccurate-misleading-claims-climate-changes-impacts-causes-patrick-moore/ | Incorrect | The Epoch Times, Patrick Moore, 2022-09-06 | CO<sub>2</sub> is not the cause of our current warming trend; Arctic sea ice has expanded in recent years; Polar bears’ population is growing and is not threatened by climate change; CO<sub>2</sub> is good for plant life | null | Incorrect: The data is clear that carbon dioxide emitted by human activities is driving current rates of climate change. Misleading: Long-term records of Arctic sea ice show a consistent decline. Inaccurate: Polar bear populations are estimated at 22,000 - 30,000 individuals, not 50,000. Research shows that climate c... | Climate change has led to a decades-long decline in Arctic sea ice, putting polar bears – and other Arctic organisms – at risk of significant population declines. Meanwhile, based on all existing evidence, scientists are confident that the buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is drivin... | ”If carbon dioxide was the main cause of warming, then there should be a rise in temperature along the carbon dioxide curve, but it doesn’t“; “They say the polar bear will go extinct in 2100... In fact, this past winter in the Arctic saw an expansion of ice from previous years, and Antarctica was colder during the last... | null | The Epoch Times laid out a range of inaccurate and misleading claims from Canadian industry consultant and former activist Patrick Moore in a September article, outlining statements from Moore taken from emails between himself and South Korean professor Seok-soon Park in late 2021. Polar bears and melting sea ice In th... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/scientific-evidence-indicates-modern-warming-driven-by-co2-contrary-to-richard-lindzen/ | Incorrect | Climate Change is Crap, Richard Lindzen, 2022-08-30 | “Believing CO2 controls the climate is pretty close to believing in magic.” | null | Incorrect: Several independent lines of scientific evidence based on observational datasets and modeling indicate that current climate change is driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2. Scientific evidence shows that changes in all other potential climate variables are insufficient to explain modern w... | Climate change is not only evidenced by increased global average temperature, but also by increased ocean-heat content, Arctic sea ice decline and sea level rise. All of the scientific evidence, including observational datasets and climate models, indicates that the warming and disruption of Earth’s climate system sinc... | “...What is the likelihood of the climate (which, itself, consists of many variables and not just globally averaged temperature anomaly) is controlled by this 2% perturbation in a single variable?”; “Believing CO2 controls the climate is pretty close to believing in magic.” | null | A quote on Facebook attributed to Richard Lindzen, a retired meteorologist who has received funding from fossil fuel interests, claims that climate change cannot likely be caused by a “single variable” such as CO2 due to the complexity of the climate system. Climate is indeed a complex system consisting of multiple var... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/letter-there-is-no-climate-emergency-repeats-inaccurate-claims-about-climate-science-daily-sceptic-toby-young/ | Incorrect | Daily Sceptic, Toby Young, 2022-08-18 | “Natural variation explains a substantial part of global warming observed since 1850;” no statistical evidence that global warming is intensifying natural disasters, or making them more frequent. | null | Incorrect: Natural (non-human) drivers of climate change have been mostly stable since the onset of modern warming and all the available scientific evidence implicates human greenhouse gas emissions as the primary culprit. Scientific evidence also indicates that climate change is contributing to intensified or more fre... | Scientific evidence shows that climate change is driven by human activities, as recognized by the world’s authoritative scientific bodies such as the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.K. Royal Society. These scientific bodies, composed of experts in the fi... | “The political fiction that humans cause most or all climate change and the claim that the science behind this notion is ‘settled’, has been dealt a savage blow by the publication of a ‘World Climate Declaration (WCD)’ signed by over 1,100 scientists and professionals.” “Natural variation explains a substantial part of... | null | An article authored by Toby Young in the Daily Sceptic, a website with a history of publishing scientifically unfounded claims, reports on an open letter signed by “1,200 scientists and professionals.” The letter, entitled the “World Climate Declaration,” is claimed to have “dealt a savage blow” to the notion that huma... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/carbon-dioxide-emissions-humans-major-driver-climate-change-jerome-corsi-claims-cbn-news/ | Incorrect | CBN News, Jerome Corsi, 2022-07-29 | Carbon dioxide is not a climate heat driver; we had an ice age when the Earth had extraordinarily larger amounts of carbon dioxide; in the 1970s scientists thought we were going to have a new ice age. | null | Incorrect: As a greenhouse gas, additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, driven by human emissions, exerts a warming effect on the planet and has been demonstrated to be the dominant driver of modern global warming and climate change. Misleading: Carbon dioxide is the dominant driver of contemporary warming, which... | Earth’s climate is a complicated system with multiple potential driving mechanisms. However, scientists have evaluated all possible driving mechanisms of contemporary global warming and have consistently concluded that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the primary culprit. While climate change has occurred in Ear... | “[Carbon dioxide] is about 0.0003 or 0.0004% of the atmosphere…it is not a climate heat driver…when the Earth had extraordinarily larger amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we had an ice age and there were no human beings here…They [climate scientists] thought in the 1970s we were going to have a new ice age.” | null | A recent video published on CBN News’ Facebook page alleges that carbon dioxide is not responsible for driving contemporary global warming. Jerome Corsi, a former political scientist with a history of promoting unfounded conspiracy theories, claims that carbon dioxide is a “trace element” in Earth’s atmosphere and not ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-sun-isnt-responsible-for-current-climate-change-contrary-claims-suspicious0bservers-ben-davidson/ | Incorrect | Suspicious0bservers, Ben Davidson, 2022-07-14 | Scientists have neglected the effect of solar particles, cosmic rays, the interplanetary magnetic field and Earth's weakening magnetic field to conclude climate change is due to human activity | null | Incorrect: Scientists have established that human activities are responsible for the climate change observed over the last several decades and ruled out the possible influence of the sun or Earth’s magnetic field. | Though the sun does go through regular solar cycles, changes in its activity – or in the Earth’s magnetic field – cannot account for our planet’s observed climate change. The sun has, historically, played a role in changes to the Earth’s climate, but the rate and magnitude of the Earth’s current warming is too high to ... | “They're able to blame us for climate change because they do not properly factor in the sun, how its activity has changed over the centuries…there's not one single paper in existence blaming humans for global warming which accounts for solar particles, cosmic rays, the interplanetary magnetic field and Earth's weakenin... | null | On 14 July, 2022, YouTuber Ben Davidson published a video on his channel Suspicious0bservers which claims that the sun is at the root of the global warming that has been observed by scientists since the Industrial Revolution. Davidson, whose channel has more than 600,000 subscribers, claims that current climate science... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/warming-earths-surface-oceans-continues-apace-contrary-to-claims-daily-sceptic-chris-morrison/ | Incorrect | Daily Sceptic, Chris Morrison, 2022-05-19 | ”Global warming started to run out of steam over two decades ago… Half of the apparent global temperature increase from January 1910 to January 2000 is due to administrative adjustments.” | null | Incorrect: Continuous warming of the Earth’s surface and oceans has been measured since the 1960s by multiple independent and peer-reviewed datasets. All of the available evidence indicates that global warming has not stopped, with 2016 and 2020 being the warmest years on record. Ocean heat content data also indicate a... | Global warming has been a persistent signal in all relevant climate datasets from ~1960 to present. The 1998 to 2012 interval has received attention by climate contrarians due to an apparent warming slowdown in surface temperature datasets, which may be due to a combination of natural and internal variability as specif... | ”In a major re-evaluation of data from meteorology balloons rising through the troposphere, the scientists confirmed that temperatures have mostly paused since around 1998. In July 2013, the Met Office published a paper about the [1998 to 2012] pause, although its main argument that the heat had disappeared into the oc... | null | In a recent article in the Daily Sceptic, a website with a history of publishing scientifically unfounded claims, Chris Morrison repeats a common claim in contrarian circles that “global warming has slowed dramatically” since 1998. Morrison, who presents himself as a former financial journalist, further goes on to down... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/earths-surface-warm-due-greenhouse-gas-christopher-monckton-watts-up-with-that/ | Incorrect | Watts Up With That?, Christopher Monckton, 2022-04-04 | “...Seven and a half years have passed since there was any trend in global warming at all” If global warming was caused by human emissions, temperature would rise at a steady rate | null | Incorrect: Global warming describes the long-term increase in global average surface temperature due mainly to human emissions of greenhouse gasses that trap infrared radiation. Short-term fluctuations around that trend due to natural variability are observed, but it is incorrect to conclude that the Earth’s current lo... | To accurately measure global warming, it is necessary to look at all of the available evidence over several decades. A popular technique of climate science contrarians is to focus on short timescales during which surface temperatures reflect interannual variability in order to mask the overall warming trend observed in... | “...Seven and a half years have passed since there was any trend in global warming at all” “[Temperature] has been rising in occasional spurts in response to natural events such as the great Pacific shift of 1976 and the subsequent strong El Niño events, rather than at the somewhat steadier rate that one might expect ... | null | A recent article in Watts Up With That, a blog with a long history of publishing scientifically unfounded claims, authored by Christopher Monckton argues that there has not been any global warming over the last 7 and a half years. Monckton, a former British politician with formal training in classics and journalism, fu... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/robust-scientific-evidence-supports-human-activity-drives-global-warming-contrary-to-claims-co2-coalition-blog-post-andy-may/ | Incorrect | CO2 Coalition, Andy May, 2022-03-03 | "There is no evidence, other than models, that human CO2 emissions drive climate change and abundant evidence that the Sun, coupled with natural climate cycles, drives most, if not all, of recent climate changes" | null | Incorrect: Solar irradiance has had a negligible impact on Earth’s climate since the industrial era. Atmospheric observations do not support the hypothesis that the Sun has driven modern warming. There is a consensus of scientific evidence that warming is driven by human greenhouse gas emissions. Misleading: While mode... | All available scientific evidence, including independent physical observations, indicates that global warming is driven by human greenhouse gas emissions and that solar forcing plays an extremely minor role in contemporary climate. | "There is no evidence, other than models, that human CO2 emissions drive climate change and abundant evidence that the Sun, coupled with natural climate cycles, drives most, if not all, of recent climate changes" | null | A recent blog post by Andy May published by the CO2 Coalition, a nonprofit organization funded largely by fossil-fuel interest groups, claims that the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)[1] relies upon model evidence to conclude that greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, dri... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/more-than-75-percent-amazon-rainforest-losing-resilience-the-washington-post-sarah-kaplan/ | Mostly accurate | The Washington Post, Sarah Kaplan, 2022-03-07 | More than 75 percent of the rainforest is losing resilience; More than half of the rainforest could be converted into savanna in a matter of decades | null | Accurate: A recent study found that “more than three-quarters of the Amazon rainforest has been losing resilience since the early 2000s." Imprecise: Rather than turn into a savanna ecosystem, the Amazon rainforest would more likely transition into a “savanna-like” ecosystem. The difference would be that the degraded A... | The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, home to a vast array of biodiversity, including many species yet to be discovered by scientists. It faces significant risks from deforestation and climate change, and recent research shows that these threats are causing much of the forest to lose resilience ... | Satellite images taken over the past several decades reveal that more than 75 percent of the rainforest is losing resilience...This widespread weakness offers an early warning sign that the Amazon is nearing its “tipping point”; The ecosystem could suffer sudden and irreversible dieback. More than half of the rainfores... | null | On March 7, the Washington Post published a story about the declining health of the Amazon. The story, based on a March study published in Nature Climate Change, reported that, according to satellite images, the Amazon rainforest is “nearing its tipping point,” with more than 75 percent of the rainforest losing resilie... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/wall-street-journal-steven-koonin-publishes-misleading-claims-climate-change-influences-greenland-ice-melt/ | -1.75 | The Wall Street Journal, by Steve Koonin, on 2022-02-17. | null | "Greenland’s Melting Ice Is No Cause for Climate-Change Panic" | null | null | null | [1] Briner et al. (2020). Rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet will exceed Holocene values this century. Nature. [2] Trusel et al (2018) Nonlinear rise in Greenland runoff in response to post-industrial Arctic warming. Nature. [3] 1 – Kjeldsen et al. (2015) Spatial and temporal distribution of mass loss from ... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: Lauren Simkins Assistant Professor, University of Virginia: While the article uses real data on ice mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the message of slower rate of ice mass loss in the past 8-9 years does not mean that human-induced warming is not a concern, or less of a concern now.... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/prageru-video-on-climate-change-repeats-a-range-of-misleading-claims-by-steven-koonin/ | -1.4 | PragerU, by Steve Koonin, on 2024-10-25. | null | "Is There Really a Climate Emergency?" | null | null | null | null | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: Mark Richardson Research Associate, Colorado State University/NASA JPL: The author of this video, Dr. Steven Koonin, says he is following the scientific reports published by the UN and US government, but by subtly changing wording and choosing not to mention important context this video is ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/coral-cover-great-barrier-reef-improved-2021-but-doesnt-mean-reef-growing-quickly-contrary-to-daily-wire/ | Misleading | The Daily Wire, Ben Zeisloft, 2021-10-24 | Study Shows The Great Barrier Reef Is Growing Quickly | null | Lack of context: Research shows that the Great Barrier Reef faces ongoing threats from climate change, including warmer ocean temperatures and more intense tropical cyclones. These threats pose long-term danger to coral reefs and can easily reverse short-term growth in coral cover. Misleading: The claim fails to note ... | As the planet’s largest coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is home to thousands of marine species and is a major contributor to the Australian economy. However, its size and status cannot protect it from the impacts of climate change. The reef remains vulnerable to ocean warming, more intense storms, predator... | Despite Climate Change Fearmongering, Study Shows The Great Barrier Reef Is Growing Quickly [...] The Australian government’s most recent official report on reef recovery indicates that coral cover at the Northern Great Barrier Reef “continued to increase to 27% from the most recent low point in 2017.” Meanwhile, the C... | null | The Daily Wire published an article on 24 October, 2021 which claimed that a report from the Australian government found the Great Barrier Reef is “growing quickly”. The report the article references is the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Long-Term Monitoring Program Annual Summary: Report of Coral Reef C... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/rain-fell-on-greenland-summit-for-the-first-time-on-record-as-accurately-reported-by-cnn/ | 1.3 | CNN, by Rachel Ramirez, on 2021-08-19. | null | "Rain fell at the normally snowy summit of Greenland for the first time on record" | null | null | null | null | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Ted Scambos Senior Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center: It is typical for ac... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/a-2014-study-showed-that-the-us-corn-belt-is-one-of-the-biggest-primary-producers-on-earth-in-july-but-didnt-show-that-it-produces-more-oxygen-than-the-amazon/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, Facebook users, 2021-09-05 | "the US corn crop, at its peak, produces 40% more oxygen than the Amazon rainforest." | null | Inaccurate: The 2014 paper “Global and time-resolved monitoring of crop photosynthesis with chlorophyll fluorescence” uses a new technique to study cropland productivity around the world, but it doesn’t examine oxygen emissions. The paper also doesn’t account for the productivity of natural ecosystems like rainforests.... | A remote sensing technique known as sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence is used by scientists to measure gross primary productivity—the capacity of plants to absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis—over large regions. A 2014 study did show that, per unit area, the US Corn Belt is the most productive cropland on E... | "This satellite image shows the photosynthesis of America's 100 million acre Corn crop. Further research found the US corn crop, at its peak, produces 40% more oxygen than the Amazon rainforest. Thank you farmers." | null | Summary: A series of Facebook posts (such as this one) claiming that the United States Corn Belt produces 40% more oxygen than the Amazon rainforest went viral in September 2021. This claim is based on a 2014 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that received wide attention at the time (see here, he... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/sea-temperatures-around-the-great-barrier-reef-have-increased-over-the-last-150-years-contrary-to-claim-at-wattsupwiththat/ | Inaccurate | Climate Change Dispatch, Climate Realism, Watts Up With That?, David Mason-Jones, 2021-08-28 | "Great Barrier Reef Sea Surface Temperature: No Change In 150 Years" | null | Factually inaccurate: Over the past decades, many studies have shown that the global sea surface temperature has risen. In the Great Barrier Reef region, observations unambiguously show a warming over the past 150 years.Cherry-picking: The claim is based on a unique one-month dataset from the late 19th century. Compari... | Over the last 150 years, global sea surface temperature has been on the rise. Given that climate is defined by the weather conditions over a long period of time, one particular month or period of a given year can be warmer (or colder) than expected (outlier). Reliably determining a long-term trend in climate change acr... | "Great Barrier Reef Sea Surface Temperature: No Change In 150 Years. [...] If the sea surface temperature of the Great Barrier Reef has been trending upwards then a 150-year comparison should be sufficient to confirm it. When compared with today’s readings, it shows no upward trend." | null | Review: An article written by David Mason-Jones for Wattsupwiththat claims that sea temperatures around the Great Barrier Reef have not changed over the last 150 years. The claim was repeated in another article at ClimateRealism by Anthony Watts. Together, the articles received around 7,000 interactions on social media... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/solar-forcing-is-not-the-main-cause-of-current-global-warming-contrary-to-claim-by-alex-newman-in-the-epoch-times/ | Incorrect | Newsmax, The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, Alex Newman, 2021-08-16 | The Sun and not human emissions of carbon dioxide may be the main cause of warmer temperatures in recent decades. There is a systemic bias in UN IPCC's data selection. | null | Incorrect: Solar irradiance variations have a very small impact on Earth’s current climate change. There is a very large consensus of scientific evidence showing that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the main cause of current climate change. The hypothesis that the Sun is responsible for climate change is incons... | Changes in solar irradiance have a very small influence on current climate compared to the effect induced by CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Ideas, methods and data sets used by scientists to study the various climate drivers are frequently discussed in the scientific literature and in the IPCC reports. Based on the bo... | The change in the Sun’s irradiance are a plausible and important factor that can explain most of the observed changes in the thermometer data [and] depending on which published data and studies you use, you can show that all of the warming is caused by the sun. There is a systemic bias in UN IPCC's data selection. | 1 – Lockwood & Fröhlich (2007). Recent oppositely directed trends in solar climate forcings and the global mean surface air temperature. In Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 2 – Solanki et al. (2004). Unusual activity of the Sun during recent decades compared... | The claim that the Sun and not human emissions may be the main cause of warmer temperatures in recent decades has been made in a newspaper article written by Alex Newman and published in The Epoch Times on 16 August 2021. The article and its claims have been repeated in several articles including one at Newsmax. In the... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/despite-2021-being-a-good-year-for-coral-health-coral-in-the-great-barrier-reef-has-declined-over-the-past-decade-and-is-threatened-by-climate-change-contrary-to-claims-by-peter-ridd/ | Inaccurate | Climate Change Dispatch, The Australian, Watts Up With That?, Peter Ridd, 2021-07-21 | “The amount of coral on the Great Barrier Reef is at record high levels”; those claiming the reef is threatened by climate change are alarmists | null | Inaccurate: Numerous scientific studies show a decrease, not an increase, in coral growth over the past decade. International scientific organizations are not ignoring the improvement in coral communities, and acknowledge the influence of periods with low disturbance on the ability of damaged reefs to recover. Misrepre... | Coral reefs comprise a small, but invaluable oceanic ecosystem, because they provide protection from storms and sturges, host wildlife, are a dense source of food and have a strong economic value for local communities. The growth rate and overall health of coral reefs are very sensitive to environmental conditions, inc... | “The amount of coral on the Great Barrier Reef is at record high levels”; “Coral growth rates have, if anything, increased over the past 100 years”; those claiming the reef is threatened by climate change are alarmists | null | The claim that the amount of coral in the Great Barrier Reef has increased over the past century and reached a record high in 2021 was published on 23 July 2021 in an article published by Peter Ridd, a former physicist at James Cook University. The article was published on several websites, including Climate Change Dis... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/youtube-video-falsely-claims-that-climate-models-systematically-over-estimated-warming-and-that-we-are-heading-towards-an-ice-age/ | Inaccurate | Suspicious0bservers, Ben Davidson, 2021-05-05 | "The official observed temperatures are coming consistently below the scary global warming numbers"; "Melting polar ice triggers ice age" | null | Inaccurate: The claim that climate models consistently overestimate global warming is inaccurate. Retrospective studies have found that climate models skillfully forecasted the evolution of global surface temperatures over the past few decades. Misrepresents sources: Ben Davidson quoted numerous studies to support his... | Climate scientists use models to simulate Earth's climate system and project the rate of global warming caused by human activities. State-of-the-art climate models have successfully forecasted global average surface temperatures over the past few decades. | "The official observed temperatures are coming consistently below the scary global warming numbers"; "Models fail to predict the future and the past due to bias, uncertainties, questionable data and unappreciated natural forcing"; "Melting polar ice triggers ice age" | null | The claim that climate models fail to predict the future or reproduce the past was published in a YouTube video by Ben Davidson on his channel, Suspicious0bservers, which has more than 500,000 subscribers. This video has been watched more than 57,000 times since it was published on May 5, 2021. In the video, Davidson m... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/gregory-wrightstone-article-in-the-washington-times-presents-list-of-false-and-misleading-statements-about-the-impacts-of-co2-and-climate-change-co2-coalition/ | -1.8 | The Washington Times, CO2 Coalition, by Gregory Wrightstone, on 2021-04-21. | null | "There is no climate emergency" | null | null | null | 1 – Hughes et al. (2017) Coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature. 2 – Hughes et al. (2017) Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature. 3 – Brierley and Kingsford (2009) Impacts of Climate Change on Marine Organisms and Ecosystems. Current Biology. 4 – Handmer et al. (2012) Chapter 4 – Changes in Impa... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. This op-ed contains so many statements that give readers the wrong impression about the impact... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/wall-street-journal-article-repeats-multiple-incorrect-and-misleading-claims-made-in-steven-koonins-new-book-unsettled-steven-koonin/ | -1.7 | The Wall Street Journal, by Mark P. Mills, on 2021-04-25. | null | "‘Unsettled’ Review: The ‘Consensus’ On Climate" | null | null | null | 1 – Kjeldsen et al. (2015) Spatial and temporal distribution of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet since AD 1900. Nature. 2 – Frederikse et al. (2018) A Consistent Sea-Level Reconstruction and Its Budget on Basin and Global Scales over 1958–2014. Journal of Climate. 3 – Frederikse et al. (2020) The causes of sea-le... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Zeke Hausfather Director of Climate and Energy, The Breakthrough Institute: The Wall Street Jo... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/bidens-climate-plan-doesnt-say-anything-about-limiting-meat-consumption-contrary-to-daily-mail-fox-news-claim/ | Inaccurate | Daily Mail, Emily Crane, 2021-04-22 | Biden’s climate plan limits meat consumption by 90%; “Biden's climate plan could limit you to eat just one burger a MONTH” | null | Inaccurate: President Joe Biden’s climate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 doesn’t include any statements about limiting meat consumption. | In April 2020, President Joe Biden announced a climate plan to halve greenhouse gas emissions in the US by 2030. The plan doesn’t include any statements about limiting red meat consumption. The climate plan primarily focuses on investing in carbon pollution-free energy sources, reducing carbon pollution in transportati... | Biden’s climate plan limits meat consumption by 90%; “Biden's climate plan could limit you to eat just one burger a MONTH” | null | Review: The claim that President Joe Biden’s climate plan could limit meat consumption appeared in an article published by the Daily Mail in April 2021 and was repeated in numerous Twitter and Facebook posts. A version of this claim also appeared on Fox News, but the outlet recently apologized for airing misinformation... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/video-promoted-by-john-stossel-for-earth-day-relies-on-incorrect-and-misleading-claims-about-climate-change/ | -1.8 | Stossel TV, by David Legates, Patrick Michaels, John Stossel, on 2021-04-17. | null | "Are we doomed?" | null | null | null | null | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Andrew King Research fellow, University of Melbourne: This video is misleading in so many ways... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/a-third-of-antarctic-ice-shelf-risks-collapse-at-4c-above-pre-industrial-levels-as-accurately-described-in-cnn-article/ | Accurate | CNN, Amy Woodyatt, 2021-04-09 | "A third of Antarctic ice shelf risks collapse as our planet warms" | null | Accurate: A recent study found that 34% of the Antarctic ice shelf was at risk of collapse at 4°C above pre-industrial levels. Lacks context: The claim doesn’t provide a timescale for when this collapse might occur or mention that not all ice shelves are susceptible to collapse. | Ice shelves are floating sheets of ice that are connected to land masses. They gain and lose surface ice over time depending on snowfall and atmospheric and ocean temperatures. A recent study found that 34% of the Antarctic ice shelf is vulnerable to collapse under a future climate scenario that is 4°C above pre-indust... | "A third of Antarctic ice shelf risks collapse as our planet warms" | 1 – Gilbert and Kittel (2021) Surface melt and runoff on Antarctic ice shelves at 1.5°C, 2°C and 4°C of future warming. Geophysical Research Letters. | Review: The claim that “A third of Antarctic ice shelf risks collapse as our planet warms” appeared in a CNN article and CNN Climate Instagram post published in April 2021, receiving more than 22,000 interactions on Facebook and Instagram, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. The claim is based on ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/in-viral-turning-point-usa-video-candace-owens-and-charlie-kirk-falsely-claim-there-is-no-evidence-of-global-warming-and-scientists-dont-know-the-cause/ | Inaccurate | Turning Point USA, Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, 2021-04-11 | There is no factual data to back up global warming; real scientists don’t know whether CO<sub>2</sub>, solar sunspots or natural activity cause global warming | null | Factually inaccurate: It is a measured fact that Earth has warmed over the past century, as shown by atmospheric and oceanic temperature records. Incorrect: : Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are the leading cause of global mean temperature rise in the industrial era. Solar activity plays onl... | Scientists have unequivocally demonstrated increases in the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans over the past century. The rate of global warming has been accelerating since the 1980s, and the last decade was the warmest on record. Global warming also affects the melting of sea and land ice, and induces ch... | They changed it from global warming to climate change. Do you know why ? Because, when scientists are looking into global warming, there was no factual data to back up their argument. Real scientists are still debating whether CO<sub>2</sub> or solar sunspots or natural variability cause global warming | null | Review: The claim appeared in a video posted on Facebook and Instagram by Turning Point USA, a partisan organization that advocates for conservative policies on high school, college, and university campuses The video, featuring Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, and Candace Owens, received more than 640,000 vi... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/deserts-cool-the-planet-by-reflecting-solar-radiation-to-space-vegetated-areas-have-an-overall-warming-effect-so-planting-trees-in-deserts-doesnt-necessarily-cool-the-planet-the-guardian/ | Inaccurate | The Guardian, Steve Rose, Ties Van der Hoeven, 2021-03-20 | "Deserts are heat producers, reflecting around 60% to 70% of the solar energy that falls on them straight back into the atmosphere."; "If we want to do something about global warming, we have to do something about deserts." | null | Inaccurate: Deserts reflect solar radiation to space through the atmosphere, cooling the planet. Vegetated areas have an overall warming effect on the planet because they absorb sunlight and increase atmospheric water vapor. Claim in The Guardian article that we need to plant forests in the desert to combat climate cha... | Deserts reflect solar radiation to space through the atmosphere. Because solar radiation isn’t absorbed by the atmosphere, deserts have a cooling effect on the planet. While vegetated areas can reduce temperatures at the ground level locally due to evapotranspiration, they have an overall warming effect on the planet b... | "Deserts are heat producers, reflecting around 60% to 70% of the solar energy that falls on them straight back into the atmosphere." ; "In addition to sequestering carbon, green areas also help cool the planet" ; Vegetation reduces temperature and solar reflection, creating a stable climate; "If we want to do something... | 1 – Pierrehumbert (1995) Thermostats, Radiator Fins, and the Local Runaway Greenhouse. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 2 – Goffner et al. (2019) The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative as an opportunity to enhance resilience in Sahelian landscapes and livelihoods. Regional Environmental Change... | Review: The claim that deserts warm the planet was published in an article by The Guardian in March 2021, which received more than 30,000 interactions on Facebook according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. The article makes several inaccurate or misleading claims about the role deserts play in global war... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/solar-geoengineering-isnt-happening-or-damaging-the-planet-aircraft-contrails-are-formed-by-water-vapor-not-chemicals/ | Incorrect | Geoengineering Watch, Dane Wigington, 2021-03-10 | "The intentional dimming of direct sunlight by aircraft dispersed particles, a form of global warming mitigation known as “Solar Radiation Management”, has and is causing catastrophic damage to the planet’s life support systems." | null | Incorrect: Aircrafts produce contrails when water vapor from jet exhaust condenses at high altitudes. Scientists agree that there is no evidence of chemtrails or solar geoengineering. | Solar geoengineering describes hypothetical strategies to combat global warming by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. There is no scientific evidence that solar geoengineering is happening or having catastrophic effects on the planet or human health. There is also no scientific evidence of aircraft chemtrails. In... | "Global climate engineering operations are a reality. Atmospheric particle testing conducted by GeoengineeringWatch.org has now proven that the lingering, spreading jet aircraft trails, so commonly visible in our skies, are not just condensation as we have officially been told. ... The intentional dimming of direct sun... | 1 – Shearer et al. (2016) Quantifying expert consensus against the existence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program. Environmental Research Letters. 2 – Kärcher (2018) Formation and radiative forcing of contrail cirrus. Nature. 3 – Trisos et al. (2018) Potentially dangerous consequences for biodiversity ... | Review: The claims that climate engineering is happening and causing catastrophic damage to the planet’s life support systems was published in a YouTube video by Dane Wigington of Geoengineering Watch. The video received more than 155,000 views, as of 24 March 2021. These claims were also repeated in an article publish... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/destruction-of-the-amazon-forest-very-likely-contributes-to-global-warming-as-accurately-described-in-the-national-geographic-article/ | 1 | National Geographic, by Craig Welch, on 2021-03-11. | null | "First study of all Amazon greenhouse gases suggests the damaged forest is now worsening climate change" | null | null | null | 1 – Covey et al. (2021). Carbon and Beyond: The Biogeochemistry of Climate in a Rapidly Changing Amazon. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. 2 – Baccini et al. (2017). Tropical forests are a net carbon source based on aboveground measurement of gain and loss. Science. 3 – Zemp et al. (2017). Self-amplified Amazon f... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. The article is good overall, although there are two small issues. First, the title seems to ov... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/atlantic-ocean-circulation-system-is-slowing-down-as-accurately-described-in-the-new-york-times-article/ | 1.5 | The New York Times, by Jeremy White, Moises Velasquez-Manoff, on 2021-03-02. | null | "In the Atlantic Ocean, Subtle Shifts Hint at Dramatic Dangers" | null | null | null | 1 – Caesar et al. (2021) Current Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation weakest in last millennium. Nature Geoscience. 2 – Duchez et al. (2016) Drivers of exceptionally cold North Atlantic Ocean temperatures and their link to the 2015 European heat wave. Environmental Research Letters. 3 – Josey et al. (2017) The ... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. This article is well-written, and the visuals are outstanding. It is a very strong piece of sc... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/scientists-didnt-announce-impending-environmental-catastrophes-every-decade-since-the-1970s/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, Facebook users, 2021-02-20 | Science said in the: 70s, another ice age in 10 years; 80s, acid rain will destroy all crops in 10 years; 90s: the ozone layer will be destroyed in 10 years; 2000’s the ice caps will be gone on 10 years | null | Factually inaccurate: Over the past few decades, scientists have studied and discussed major environmental concerns, such as acid rain, ozone layer destruction, and melting ice caps. However, the majority of scientists didn’t claim that these environmental issues would cause drastic, short-term catastrophes, such as th... | Over the past century, scientists have studied climate change, acid rain, ozone layer depletion, and melting ice caps, as well as other environmental issues. Scientific understanding of the mechanism behind these events and their potential consequences has increased significantly through observational studies, experime... | ”Government funded science: 70’s: another ice age in 10 years; 80’s: acid rain will destroy all crops in 10 years; 90’s: the ozone layer will be destroyed in 10 years; 2000’s the ice caps will be gone on 10 years” | 1 – Peterson et al. (2012). The myth of the 1970s global cooling scientific consensus. Bulletin of the American Meteorology Society. 2 – Rasool and Schneider (1971). Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Aerosols: Effects of Large Increases on Global Climate. Science. 3 – Charney et al. (1979). Carbon dioxide and climate : a ... | Review: The claim that government funded scientists have announced catastrophic short-term environmental effects every decade since the 1970s have been repeated in hundreds of Facebook posts such as this one. In the 1970s, the majority of climate studies projected global warming The claim that scientists announced a fo... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-scientific-research-facility-haarp-cannot-create-natural-disasters-or-influence-human-thoughts-and-movements-contrary-to-online-claims/ | Incorrect | Gaia, Anonymous, 2020-12-11 | HAARP may deliberately create destruction on a global scale, causing earthquakes, cyclones, flooding, snowstorms, around the world; HAARP may be attacking the citizens of the world telepathically, influencing thoughts with low frequency vibrations | null | Incorrect: The Gaia article leaves the reader with an extremely poor understanding of how the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) works. The facility is a high-frequency (shortwave radio) transmitter and doesn’t transmit low-frequency vibrations, as stated in the Gaia article. HAARP analyzes physics ... | The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is a research facility that uses a high-power, high-frequency transmitter to study the physical properties and behaviour of the highest point of the atmosphere, the ionosphere. One example of natural phenomena that HAARP studies is the aurora borealis, also kno... | The HAARP organization may deliberately create destruction on a global scale, causing earthquakes, cyclones, flooding, snowstorms, and other disasters, around the world; The HAARP facility may be attacking the citizens of the world telepathically, influencing thoughts with low frequency vibrations; "it is possible to c... | 1 – McCoy et al. (2018) Haarp, a Powerful Active Ionospheric Laboratory Open for International Research. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. 14-22 July 2018, Pasadena, California, USA 2 – Todd Pedersen (2015) HAARP, the most powerful ionosphere heater on Earth. Physics Today. 3 – Inan et al. (2004) Multi‐hop whistler‐mode... | Review: The claim appeared in an article published by Gaia in mid-December 2020, receiving more than 16,000 interactions on Facebook according to the social media analytics tool Crowdtangle. The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is a research facility operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks[... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/breitbart-article-makes-numerous-false-claims-about-the-impacts-of-climate-change-based-on-global-warming-policy-foundation-post-delingpole-goklany/ | -2 | Breitbart, by James Delingpole, Indur Goklany, on 2021-02-07. | null | "Study Disputes That Earth Is in a ‘Climate Emergency’" | null | null | null | 1 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary: for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016) Attribution of extreme weather events in the context of clima... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. This article uses a single poorly-sourced, non-peer reviewed report as a basis for making nume... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/noaa-shows-clear-global-warming-trends-over-the-past-58-years-based-on-radiosonde-data/ | Inaccurate | Facebook, Facebook users, 2021-01-29 | “The 58 year net gain of global temperature is zero. We are simply in a cyclical, normal ebb and flow of temperature.” | null | Inaccurate: Clear global warming trends of Earth’s ocean, land, lower and atmosphere have been observed over the past 58 years as well as over longer time periods. Radiosonde data collected from 1958 to 2019 also shows a pattern of warming in the lower atmosphere (troposphere). | Clear global warming trends of Earth’s ocean, land, lower and atmosphere have been observed over the past 58 years as well as over longer time periods. Radiosondes are used to collect upper air measurements from the troposphere and stratosphere. Most data comes from weather services that launch radiosondes at the same ... | NOAA graph doesn’t show a full record of radiosonde temperature data; "the warming that has taken place in the last 37 years was preceded by a 21 year "cooling" period. The 58 year net gain of global temperature is zero. We are simply in a cyclical, normal ebb and flow of temperature." | null | Review: The claim that there has been no increase in global temperature over the past 58 years was published by numerous users on Facebook in late January and early February 2021 (see example here), receiving thousands of interactions on the platform. This claim is incorrect, as data from NOAA has clearly demonstrated ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/prageru-post-by-william-happer-uses-flawed-reasoning-to-claim-that-climate-models-always-fail/ | Incorrect | PragerU, William Happer, 2021-01-24 | "climate models that attempt to predict the future temperature of the planet...don’t work. They haven’t worked in the past. They don’t work now."; "the number of factors that influence climate—the sun, the earth’s orbital properties, oceans, clouds, and, yes, industrial man—is huge and enormously variable"; "CO2 is a ... | null | Incorrect: Climate models can account for a variety of factors that influence Earth’s climate, including land, atmosphere, ice, and human activities. The effects of these factors can vary depending on the climatic pattern being evaluated. For instance, greenhouse gas emissions have a strong effect on global warming, wh... | A variety of factors influence Earth’s climate, such as land, atmosphere, and ice, but not all aspects need to be perfectly modeled to produce useful forecasts of global temperature in climate models. State-of-the-art climate models have successfully forecasted global average surface temperatures over the past few deca... | "climate models that attempt to predict the future temperature of the planet...don’t work. They haven’t worked in the past. They don’t work now."; "the number of factors that influence climate—the sun, the earth’s orbital properties, oceans, clouds, and, yes, industrial man—is huge and enormously variable"; "We can’t p... | 1 – Hausfather et al. (2019) Evaluating the Performance of Past Climate Model Projections. Geophysical Research Letters. 2 – Shakun et al. (2012) Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation. Nature. 3 – Feldman et al. (2015) Observational determination of surface rad... | Review: The claim that climate models don’t work was published by William Happer in a post by PragerU, a group that has published misinformation in the past on a series of topics and boasts more than 4.5 billions views for the content it disseminates. The core claim of the post is that “the climate models that attempt ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/video-interview-of-ian-plimer-at-sky-news-falsely-claims-that-a-new-study-announces-an-incoming-ice-age-partly-based-on-an-incorrect-daily-mail-headline/ | -2 | Sky News Australia, Daily Mail, by Ian Plimer, on 2021-01-13. | null | "“Earth's climate is 'cyclical' as new study claims an ice age is coming”" | null | null | null | 1 – Starr et al. (2021) Antarctic icebergs reorganize ocean circulation during Pleistocene glacials. Nature. 2 – Keeling (1979). The Suess effect: 13Carbon-14Carbon interrelations. Environment International. 3 – Eide et al. (2017). A global estimate of the full oceanic 13C Suess effect since the preindustrial. Global B... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Twila Moon Research Scientist, University of Colorado, Boulder: This video is chock full of fa... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/rates-of-global-sea-level-rise-have-accelerated-since-1900-contrary-to-bloggers-claims/ | Inaccurate | NoTricksZone, Watts Up With That?, Kenneth Richard, Pierre L. Gosselin, 2021-01-11 | “there has not been a long-term distinctive change in sea level rise rates in the last 120 years” | null | Factually inaccurate: Global sea level has risen at an increased pace since industrialization, with the fastest rates of sea level rise occurring in the late 20th century. Cherry-picking: The article only reports average rates of global sea level rise from two time periods and two studies, while ignoring all the other ... | The rate of global sea level rise has changed over the past 120 years and accelerated since the early 1990s, based on tide gauge and satellite data. Current sea level rise primarily results from glacial ice melting and the expansion of seawater as it warms due to human-caused global warming. | “A new analysis of global sea level rise rates concludes the rising trend was 1.56 mm/yr−¹ from 1900-2018. This is the same rate as for 1958-2014 (1.5 mm/yr−¹), indicating there has not been a long-term distinctive change in sea level rise rates in the last 120 years. Neither of these trends would appear to correlate w... | 1 – Frederikse et al. (2018) A Consistent Sea-Level Reconstruction and Its Budget on Basin and Global Scales over 1958–2014. Journal of Climate. 2 – Frederikse et al. (2020) The causes of sea-level rise since 1900. Nature. 3 – Dangendorf et al. (2019) Persistent acceleration in global sea-level rise since the 1960s. Na... | Review: The claim that rates of sea level rise haven’t significantly changed in the past 120 years appeared in blog posts published by NoTricksZone and ‘Watts Up With That?’ in January 2021. Contrary to the claim, scientific studies show that rates of global sea level rise have changed over time and accelerated, notabl... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/scientific-studies-established-clear-links-between-human-caused-increased-in-atmospheric-co2-and-global-warming-patrick-moore/ | Incorrect | Instagram, Patrick Moore, 2020-12-16 | “It’s a good thing that we are putting some more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The scientific method has not been applied in such a way as to prove that carbon dioxide is causing the Earth to warm.” | null | Incorrect: Scientific studies find that human-caused increases in atmospheric CO2 levels and other greenhouse gases are the primary driver of global warming. Flawed reasoning: Increased atmospheric CO2 levels increased plant growth in some regions of the world, but the argument that CO2 is not harmful to the planet bec... | Atmospheric CO2 levels have increased by 47% since 1850, due to agricultural development, the burning of fossil fuels, and other human activities. Since 1950, approximately 100% of the global warming trend is attributed to increased CO2 emissions. Although CO2 has increased plant growth in some regions of the world, it... | “It’s a good thing that we are putting some more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If we bring it up to a higher level than it is today, we will get, immediately, an increase in the growth of crops and trees, which is not a bad thing. The scientific method has not been applied in such a way as to prove that carbon dio... | 1 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary: for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – Shakun et al. (2012) Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation. Nature.... | Review: These claims appeared in a video featuring Patrick Moore, an industry consultant, which has received more than 13,000 views since it was published on Instagram in December 2020. Contrary to what is claimed, the scientific evidence clearly demonstrates a causal link between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and glo... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-clothing-industry-produces-3-to-10-of-global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-as-accurately-claimed-in-patagonia-post/ | Accurate | Instagram, Patagonia, 2020-11-30 | “The clothing industry contributes up to 10% of the pollution driving the climate crisis.” | null | Accurate: Scientific studies and analytical reports from the United Nations and charitable organizations estimate that the fashion industry contributes 3 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Lacks specifics: The claim does not specify the type of pollution the fashion industry is contributing to nor the source o... | Globally, the fashion industry is estimated to contribute 3 - 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change, based on scientific studies and reports from the United Nations and charities. The clothing industry has a variety of other environmental impacts, including intensive water use, water pollu... | “The clothing industry contributes up to 10% of the pollution driving the climate crisis.” | 1 – Hertwich and Peters (2009) Carbon Footprint of Nations: A Global, Trade-Linked Analysis. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2 – Ivanova et al. (2015) Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 3 – Chen and Burns (2006) Environmental Analysis of Textile Products. Clothing and Textil... | Review: The claim appeared in an Instagram post published by the clothing company Patagonia in late November 2020, and has received more than 502,000 views. Although the post does not indicate the source of the claim, scientific studies estimate that clothing contributes 3 to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions that drive ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/brush-rake-attachments-are-primarily-used-to-pile-up-heavy-forest-debris-as-part-of-active-thinning-harvesting-and-removal-projects/ | Misleading | Facebook, Facebook users, 2018-11-21 | “this is [...] a brush rake. It's used for clearing underbrush and debris from the forest floor that builds up and creates fuel for wild fires. Now you can stop looking stupid trying to make fun of Trump telling California to rake the forest.” | null | Misleading: Brush rakes mount to the front of machines and are used to pile up heavy woody debris that accumulates after blow down events or as part of active timber harvesting or thinning projects. They are not used throughout forests across the U.S. to broadly perform fuel removal. | Brush rakes are attachments for the front of a wheeled or tracked machines that are used to push woody debris and large vegetation into piles. They are typically used as part of active, labor-intensive thinning, harvesting, removal, and restoration projects—not to rake large areas or clear live brush. | “this is what the United States Department of Agriculture Forestry Service calls a brush rake. It's used for clearing underbrush and debris from the forest floor that builds up and creates fuel for wild fires. Now you can stop looking stupid trying to make fun of Trump telling California to rake the forest.” | null | Review: The claim appeared alongside the photo below in a Facebook post that was published in November 2018 and recently shared widely on the platform. To date, the post was shared 84,000 times, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. The post states, “this is what a United States Department of Agricu... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/guardian-article-on-arctic-methane-emissions-lacks-important-context-jonathan-watts/ | -1 | The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts, on 2020-10-27. | null | "'Sleeping giant' Arctic methane deposits starting to release, scientists find" | null | null | null | 1-McGinnis et al. (2006) Fate of rising methane bubbles in stratified waters: How much methane reaches the atmosphere?, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 2-Wallmann et al. (2018) Gas hydrate dissociation off Svalbard induced by isostatic rebound rather than global warming, Nature Communications 3-Saunois et al. (... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Frans-Jan W. Parmentier Associate Professor, Lund University & University of Oslo:This article... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/sea-ice-loss-due-to-climate-change-is-the-biggest-threat-to-polar-bear-survival-and-has-already-led-to-declines-in-some-polar-bear-subpopulations-contrary-to-climate-realism-video-m/ | Misleading | Climate Realism, Heartland Institute, Andy Singer, 2020-10-23 | “In 1950, there were around 10,000 polar bears globally. Today, polar bear populations are near 39,000. Polar bear populations are increasing dramatically as the planet has warmed.” | null | Factually inaccurate: The current global polar bear population is estimated to be 20,000 to 26,000 bears distributed among 19 subpopulations, not 39,000 as claimed. Fails to grasp significance of observation: Polar bears were heavily harvested in the 1950s and 1960s. An increase in polar bear population size since the... | Loss of sea ice habitat caused by climate change is the most important threat to the long term survival of polar bears. Of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, two have already experienced declines due to losses in sea ice. It is difficult to estimate trends in the global polar bear population; however, trends at the ... | “In 1950, there were around 10,000 polar bears globally. Today, polar bear populations are near 39,000. That alone pokes a hole in the whole plight of the polar bears story. Polar bear populations are increasing dramatically as the planet has warmed.” | 1 – Stirling et al (2012) Effects of climate warming on polar bears: a review of the evidence. Global Change Biology. 2 – Stern et al (2016) Sea-ice indicators of polar bear habitat. The Cryosphere. 3 – Regehr et al (2016) Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to projected sea-ice declines. B... | Review: The claims appeared in a Facebook video published in October 2020 by “Climate Realism”, a project run by the Heartland Institute, which has a history of publishing climate information inconsistent with findings from the scientific community. The video suggests that global warming is not a threat to polar bears ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/climate-change-can-make-it-harder-for-the-amazon-rainforest-to-grow-back-from-deforestation-but-that-does-not-mean-40-of-it-will-now-turn-into-a-savanna/ | Imprecise | The Guardian, Fiona Harvey, 2020-10-05 | “Amazon near tipping point of switching from rainforest to savannah” | null | Misrepresents a complex reality: Some Amazon forests exist in climates that can support both savannas and rainforests. While it is possible that some Amazon forests may recover as savanna instead of rainforest after deforestation, this is a natural phenomenon that is not new. Lacks specifics: The claim is supported by... | Some Amazon forests occur in climates that can also support savannas, and this natural phenomenon is not recent. The stability of rainforests can be influenced, in part, by the ability of trees to regulate rainfall on a regional scale. If disturbed on a large scale, then, some rainforests might regrow as savannas. Seve... | “Amazon near tipping point of switching from rainforest to savannah. As much as 40% of the existing Amazon rainforest is now at a point where it could exist as a savannah instead of as rainforest. Any shift from rainforest to savannah would still take decades to take full effect, but once under way the process is hard ... | 1 – Staal et al. (2020) Hysteresis of tropical forests in the 21st century. Nature Communications. 2 – Nepstad et al. (1994) The role of deep roots in the hydrological and carbon cycles of Amazonian forests and pastures. Nature.3 – Nepstad et al. (2007) Mortality of large trees and lianas following experimental drought... | Review: The claims appeared in an article published by The Guardian on 5 October 2020, which has received more than 65,000 interactions on Facebook according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. These claims are based on a study recently published in Nature Communications, which maps potential distributions ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/article-by-the-daily-caller-oversimplifies-drivers-of-wildfires-and-downplays-role-of-climate-change-chris-white/ | -1 | The Daily Caller, by Chris White, on 2020-09-13. | null | "Wildfires Will Become Worse Thanks To Decades-Old Liberal Policies, Says Fire Expert Who Predicted Uptick In Blazes" | null | null | null | 1 – Stephens et al. (2005) Federal forest-fire policy in the United States. Ecological Applications. 2 – Gonzalez et al. (2018) Chapter 25: Southwest. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II. 3 – Steel et al. (2015) The fire frequency‐severity relationship a... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Zeke Hausfather Director of Climate and Energy, The Breakthrough Institute: The causes of the ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/climate-change-forest-management-and-several-other-causes-contribute-to-wildfire-severity-and-total-area-burned-in-the-western-united-states/ | Misleading | Facebook, Facebook users, 2020-09-09 | “Forest fires are caused by poor management. Not by climate change.” | null | Misrepresents a complex reality: The causes and behaviors of wildfires in the western US are influenced by a variety of factors, including weather conditions, climate change, past fire suppression practices, and an increase in the number of people living near wildlands. Incorrect: Scientific studies demonstrate clear ... | In addition to land management practices, the severity of wildfires in the western US is influenced by extreme heat, drought, and the amount of dry vegetative fuel, which are all linked to human-caused climate change. Climate change is not the only factor that affects fire behavior, but it is an important one. Since 19... | “Forest fires are caused by poor management. Not by climate change. While fire behavior is affected by weather and climate...fires around the state of California do not happen because of climate change; they are caused because of an unsustainable fuel load and failed environmental practices.” | 1 – Abatzoglou et al. (2016) Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests. PNAS. 2 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary: for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 3 – National Acad... | Review: The claim that the forest fires currently burning in the western United States are caused by poor forest management and not climate change appeared in multiple Facebook posts published in September 2020. While forest management practices, specifically fire suppression, have increased the fuel load, scientific e... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/western-us-wildfires-are-not-the-result-of-widespread-arson/ | Inaccurate | We The Governed, Glen Morgan, 2020-09-10 | a distressing number of the [West coast] fires are not accidents, and willful arson is the cause. | null | Factually Inaccurate: Rumors that the widespread wildfires burning in California, Oregon, and Washington were started by arsonists are unfounded and contradicted by documentation of other causes of ignition. | Recent wildfires on the West Coast have been ignited by a number of sources, including lightning, power lines, and even a smoke machine at a party. Their severity is the result of strong winds and intense drought driven by a dry summer and record warmth, which is part of an ongoing human-caused warming trend. | it appears that a distressing number of these fires are not accidents, and willful arson is the cause. | null | Rumors like this one have spread widely, accusing extremists and protestors of starting the fires that are currently burning across California, Oregon, and Washington. Some of these rumors cite isolated incidents like the arrest of a Washington man at a fire in the median of a divided highway, which was quickly contain... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/planting-trees-can-help-mitigate-some-aspects-of-climate-change-but-it-cannot-solve-all-environmental-crises/ | Lacks context | 8 Billion Trees, Pamela Anderson, 2020-08-23 | “Trees provide a solution to almost all environmental crises we're facing. Trees reverse climate change by cleaning carbon from the air.” | null | Lack of context: Trees can absorb and store carbon, thus mitigating some effects of climate change, but tree planting alone cannot solve climate change because the amount of CO2 absorbed by forests is far less than the amount humans emit. As a result, tree planting needs to be complemented with other more effective sol... | Trees provide a variety of ecosystem services, such as absorbing and storing carbon, that can help mitigate environmental crises and climate change. However, that alone is not sufficient to halt climate change. Reducing fossil fuel emissions and avoiding deforestation are necessary climate solutions, to which planting... | “Trees provide a solution to almost all environmental crises we're facing. Trees reverse climate change by cleaning carbon from the air.” | 1 – Lewis et al. (2019) Comment on “The global tree restoration potential.” Science. 2 – Griscom et al. (2017) Natural climate solutions. PNAS. 3 – Griscom et al. (2020) National mitigation potential from natural climate solutions in the tropics. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 4 – Holl et al. (2020) Tree planting is not a sim... | Review: Initiatives to plant trees as a climate solution have sprouted up around the world over the past few years. One of these initiatives, 8 Billion Trees, recently published a video on Facebook featuring Pamela Anderson claiming that “trees provide a solution to almost all environmental crises we’re facing.” While ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/article-by-cnn-exaggerates-studys-implications-for-future-greenland-ice-loss/ | -1 | CNN, by Brandon Miller, Max Claypool, on 2020-08-14. | null | "Greenland's ice sheet has melted to a point of no return, according to new study" | null | null | null | 1 – King et al. (2020) Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat. Communications Earth & Environment.2 – Aschwanden et al. (2019) Contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level over the next millennium. Science Advances. 3 – Pattyn et al. (2018) The Greenland and Antarctic ... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Stefan Rahmstorf Professor, Potsdam University: While most of this article is correct, I have ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-long-term-survival-of-polar-bears-is-threatened-by-loss-of-sea-ice-due-to-global-warming-new-study-confirms-henry-fountain/ | Correct | The New York Times, Henry Fountain, 2020-07-20 | "Global warming is driving polar bears toward extinction" | null | Correct: Sea-ice loss due to global warming is threatening polar bear survival and reproduction according to numerous studies and recently confirmed in a new scientific article forecasting sea ice extent for different CO2 emissions scenarios. | Sea-ice loss due to global warming is the most important threat to long-term survival and reproduction of polar bears. Under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario, all but a few polar bear subpopulations are at risk of extinction by 2100. In the moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario, some polar bear subpopulati... | "Global warming is driving polar bears toward extinction. Polar bears could become nearly extinct by the end of the century as a result of shrinking sea ice in the Arctic if global warming continues unabated." | 1 – Molnar et al. (2020) Fasting season length sets temporal limits for global polar bear persistence. Nature Climate Change. 2 – Stirling et al (2018) Effects of climate warming on polar bears: a review of the evidence. Global Change Biology. 3 – Stern et al (2016) Sea-ice indicators of polar bear habitat. The Cryosph... | Review: The claim has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC, Forbes, and Time, and has been shared on Facebook more than 18,000 times in total, according to Crowd Tangle. The claim is based on a study published July 2020 that projected range-wide declines in polar bear subp... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/greenhouse-gases-cause-global-warming-by-trapping-infra-red-radiations-not-by-causing-more-holes-in-the-ozone-layer/ | Incorrect | Instagram, Otis Holland, 2020-07-11 | Greenhouse gases emitted into the ocean are causing more holes in the ozone layer … “the ozone layer has holes in it causing global temperature to rise” | null | Incorrect: Global warming is caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, which trap infra-red radiation and cause the atmosphere to retain heat, not by greenhouse gases creating holes in the ozone.Factually inaccurate: Chlorofluorocarbons, halons, and other ozone-depleting substances cause ... | It is a common misconception that Global Warming would be due to holes in the ozone layer caused by Greenhouse gases (GHG). Instead, GHGs warm the Earth’s surface by trapping infra-red radiations, limiting the natural process by which the Earth’s surface cools. Holes in the stratospheric ozone layer are caused by anthr... | “the green house gasses that have been emitted into the ocean over that last 150 years would still be releasing slowly and causing more and more holes in the ozone layer as time goes on … the ozone layer has holes in it causing global temperature to rise. It would be so easy to plant a small tree of keep plants in you ... | 1 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – World Meteorological Organization (2018) Executive Summary: Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018. Global Ozone Resear... | Review: The claim appeared in an Instagram post published by Otis Holland in July 2020. The post states that greenhouse gases that are emitted into the ocean, referring to CO2[1], cause holes in the ozone. Contrary to the claim, stratospheric ozone depletion is caused by anthropogenic emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/article-by-michael-shellenberger-mixes-accurate-and-inaccurate-claims-in-support-of-a-misleading-and-overly-simplistic-argumentation-about-climate-change/ | -1 | Forbes, by Michael Shellenberger, on 2020-06-28. | null | "On Behalf Of Environmentalists, I Apologize For The Climate Scare" | null | null | null | 1 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary: for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016) Attribution of extreme weather events in the context of clima... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Zeke Hausfather Director of Climate and Energy, The Breakthrough Institute: Shellenberger’s ar... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/study-evaluates-natural-and-human-causes-of-recent-rapid-warming-rate-at-the-south-pole/ | Accurate | The New York Times, Henry Fountain, 2020-06-29 | Surface air temperatures at the bottom of the world have risen three times faster than the global average since the 1990s. | null | Accurate: Recorded temperatures at the South Pole weather station increased three times as much as the global average between 1989 and 2018. This is a statement about one station at the South Pole, specifically, and not broadly representative of global warming in Antarctica as a whole. | This statement accurately describes data analyzed in a recently published scientific study. As the article also explains, that study concluded that the temperature trend at this specific location was boosted by natural variability, and is not representative of the current human-caused climate change across Antarctica. | Surface air temperatures at the bottom of the world have risen three times faster than the global average since the 1990s[...] While the warming could be the result of natural climate change alone, the researchers said, it is likely that the effects of human-caused warming contributed to it. | 1- Clem et al. (2020) Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades, Nature Climate Change 2- Simpkins et al. (2014) Tropical Connections to Climatic Change in the Extratropical Southern Hemisphere: The Role of Atlantic SST Trends, Journal of Climate 3- van der Broeke and van Lipzig (2003) Factors Cont... | This statement is based on recent study published by Clem et al. in Nature Climate Change[1]. (The study’s first author also described it in an article for The Conversation.) The study analyzed temperature data from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and then analyzes Southern Hemisphere weather patterns to evaluat... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/climate-scientists-agree-that-human-caused-greenhouse-gas-emissions-are-primarily-responsible-for-climate-change-contrary-to-claims-in-clear-energy-alliance-video/ | Incorrect | Clear Energy Alliance, Mark Mathis, 2020-06-10 | The scientific consensus on whether global warming is human caused is not 97 percent, it’s less than 1 percent. There is no way to measure the human impact on climate change. | null | Factually inaccurate: Studies analyzing the peer-reviewed scientific literature show that the vast majority of climate scientists (and research) conclude that anthropogenic factors are primarily responsible for climate change. Misunderstanding of science: The claim that human impacts on climate change cannot be measur... | The vast majority of climate scientists agree that anthropogenic factors are primarily responsible for climate change. Numerous scientific studies and summary reports demonstrate that natural and human influences on the climate can be studied and quantified. | The scientific consensus on whether global warming is human caused is not 97 percent, it’s less than 1 percent. There is no way to separate natural climate cycles from man made influences such as the burning of fossil fuels. Consequently, there is no way to measure the human impact. If we are having an impact, the ques... | 1 – Anderegg et al. (2010) Expert credibility in climate change. PNAS. 2 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary: for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 3 – Doran et al. (2009) Examining the scientific consensus ... | Review: The claims appeared in a Facebook video published by Clear Energy Alliance in June 2020, and has received more than 90,000 views since it was published. The vast majority of climate scientists agree that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for most of the change in global climate over the past... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/article-in-the-guardian-misleads-readers-about-sensitivity-of-climate-models-by-narrowly-focusing-on-single-study-jonathan-watts/ | -1 | The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts, on 2020-06-13. | null | "Climate worst-case scenarios may not go far enough, cloud data shows" | null | null | null | 1 – IPCC (2013) Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – Williams et al. (2020). Use of short‐range forecasts to evaluate fast physics processes relevant for climate sensitivity. Journal of Advan... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: These comments are the overall assessment of scientists on the article, they are substantiated by their knowledge in the field and by the content of the analysis in the annotations on the article. Richard Betts Professor, Met Office Hadley Centre & University of Exeter: Equilibrium climate ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/video-from-prageru-makes-several-incorrect-and-misleading-claims-about-climate-change-richard-lindzen/ | -2 | PragerU, by Richard Lindzen, on 2020-05-08. | null | "Climate Change: What Do Scientists Say" | null | null | null | 1 – IPCC (2007) Summary: for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to... | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: Katrin Meissner Professor, University of New South Wales: If you watched this video, you have unfortunately wasted 5 minutes of your day. Richard Lindzen is reiterating a few wrong statements on climate change that have been debunked repeatedly in the past (e.g. “there is no evidence that C... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/low-solar-activity-has-little-effect-on-earths-climate-contrary-to-claim-in-the-sun/ | Incorrect | The Sun, Chris Pollard, 2020-05-13 | "The sun has gone into ‘lockdown’ which could cause freezing weather, earthquakes and famine, say scientists" | null | Incorrect: Solar activity cycles have little effect on the Earth’s climate and are not related to earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Inadequate support: The article does not provide references to support predictions about solar activity and its effects on climate. | Although solar activity is currently in a quiet phase, this is typical of the 11-year cycle in the Sun’s energy output. The effect of low solar activity on the Earth’s climate is small compared to global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. | “The sun has gone into ‘lockdown’ which could cause freezing weather, earthquakes and famine, say scientists. Nasa scientists fear it could be a repeat of the Dalton Minimum, which happened between 1790 and 1830 — leading to periods of brutal cold, crop loss, famine and powerful volcanic eruptions.” | 1 – Feulner et al (2010) On the effect of a new grand minimum of solar activity on the future climate on Earth. Geophysical Research Letters. 2 – Love et al (2013) Insignificant solar‐terrestrial triggering of earthquakes. Geophysical Research Letters. 3 – Benestad (2013) Are there persistent physical atmospheric respo... | Review: This claim appeared in multiple outlets including The Sun, PJ Media, and the New York Post, and has been viewed on Facebook more than 40.5 million times in the past week. This claim, along with several others made in the article, contradict or are unsupported by scientific evidence. While the Sun varies in ener... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-global-polar-bear-population-is-threatened-by-loss-of-sea-ice-contrary-to-pragerus-video-claim/ | Incorrect | PragerU, Anonymous, 2020-05-05 | The polar bear population has been growing. Polar bears are thriving even where sea ice is diminishing. | null | Cherry-picking: There is no scientific evidence that the global polar bear population is growing and there is evidence that several subpopulations are declining. Only two of the 19 polar bear subpopulations are likely increasing in size. The claim does not discuss data from other subpopulations that are declining or st... | There is no scientific evidence that the global polar bear population is growing in size. Climate change induced losses in sea ice habitat is the most important threat to polar bear survival. Two polar bear subpopulations have already been negatively impacted by sea ice loss. | The polar bear population has been growing. The polar bear population is higher than it's been in over 50 years. Polar bears are thriving even where sea ice is diminishing. | 1 – Stirling et al (2012) Effects of climate warming on polar bears: a review of the evidence. Global Change Biology. 2 – Stern et al (2016) Sea-ice indicators of polar bear habitat. The Cryosphere. 3 – Regehr et al (2016) Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to projected sea-ice declines. B... | Review: The claims appeared in a Facebook video by PragerU in May 2020, and has received more than 1 million views since it was published. There is no scientific evidence that the entire polar bear population has been growing, contrary to what this video claims. Of the 19 subpopulations measured by the IUCN Polar Bear ... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/article-in-business-insider-accurately-describes-results-from-a-study-estimating-up-to-3-billion-people-could-live-in-much-warmer-temperatures-by-2070/ | 0.3 | Business Insider, by Sarah Al-Arshani, on 2020-05-05. | null | "3 billion people — up to half the current global population — could be living in unbearable heat in 50 years" | null | null | null | 1 – Xu et al (2020) Future of the human climate niche. PNAS. 2 – Riahi et al (2011) RCP 8.5—A scenario of comparatively high greenhouse gas emissions. Climatic Change.3 – Fujimori et al (2017) SSP3: AIM implementation of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. Global Environmental Change. | Reviewers’ Overall Feedback: Marten Scheffer Professor, Wageningen University: [Prof. Scheffer was an author of the study that was the topic of this article.] It is slightly misleading to compare the future amount of people under severe climate stress to the current total population, as in the meantime the global popul... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/diesel-cars-are-a-major-source-of-no2-emissions-in-european-cities-contrary-to-online-claim/ | Flawed reasoning | Tichys Einblick, Holger Douglas, 2020-04-12 | The drop in NO<sub>2</sub> content has only been “slight”. So it cannot be the evil diesel engine cars that are “choking” our cities. | null | Inadequate support: The article does not provide any scientific evidence to support its claims about recent trends in car traffic and NO2 emissions in Stuttgart, Germany. Flawed reasoning: The argument that diesel engine cars are not polluting cities because NO2 concentrations haven’t changed even though traffic has d... | Road transport accounts for almost half of nitrous oxide emissions in European cities, including Stuttgart, Germany. Scientific studies have shown that diesel-fueled vehicles are the primary source of nitrous oxide emissions from road transport in Europe. | Although car traffic in the German city of Stuttgart has decreased significantly due to COVID-19, the drop in NO<sub>2</sub> content has only been “slight”. So it cannot be the evil diesel engine cars that are “choking” our cities. | 1 – Driscoll et al. (2018) Real world CO2 and NOx emissions from 149 Euro 5 and 6 diesel, gasoline and hybrid passenger cars. Science of the Total Environment. 2 – Degraeuwe et al. (2017) Impact of passenger car NOx emissions on urban NO2 pollution – Scenario analysis for 8 European cities. Atmospheric Environment. 3 –... | Review: This claim appeared in Tichys Einblick and NoTricksZone in April 2020 and has been shared over 8,500 times since it was published. The article does not provide scientific evidence to support their claims that car traffic has “significantly” decreased and NO2 has only slightly declined in response to the novel c... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/claim-that-co2-is-cooling-the-planet-is-misleading-anthropogenic-co2-emissions-overall-cause-global-warming/ | Imprecise | Express, Sebastian Kettley, 2020-02-18 | Global warming slowing down? 'Ironic' study finds more CO<sub>2</sub> has slightly cooled the planet | null | Flawed reasoning: Human-caused CO2 emissions can enhance plant growth and increase absorption of atmospheric CO2 that causes global warming, thus acting as a negative feedback. This negative feedback can reduce the amount of global warming, but has not cooled the planet as claimed in this headline. Misrepresents sourc... | Human-caused CO2 emissions are responsible for approximately 100% of the global warming trend observed since 1950. Although enhanced plant growth absorbs some of the CO2 emitted by human activities, reducing the amount of global warming that can occur, this negative feedback has not caused warming to slow in recent yea... | Global warming slowing down? 'Ironic' study finds more CO<sub>2</sub> has slightly cooled the planet[...] The process, known as evapotranspiration, occurs when plants consume the heat-trapping greenhouse gas and release water. Much like humans sweating on a hot day, evapotranspiration can have a cooling effect on the a... | 1 – Piao et al (2019) Characteristics, drivers and feedbacks of global greening. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. 2 – Zhu et al. (2016) Greening of the Earth and its drivers. Nature Climate Change. 3 – Piao et al (2006) Effect of climate and CO2 changes on the greening of the Northern Hemisphere over the past two de... | Summary: The claim, which appeared as the headline of an article published by Express in February 2020, uses flawed reasoning to argue that the rate of global warming has slowed because plants absorbed CO2 emitted by human activities in some regions around the world. Global land and ocean temperatures continue to rapid... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/human-activities-have-dramatically-increased-atmospheric-co2-levels-causing-imbalances-in-the-global-carbon-cycle/ | Incorrect | I Love Carbon Dioxide, Cole Ryan, 2020-04-12 | Human additions of CO<sub>2</sub> are in the margin of error of current measurements and the gradual increase in CO<sub>2</sub> is mainly from oceans degassing as the planet slowly emerges from the last ice age. | null | Factually inaccurate: Human activities have increased atmospheric CO2 levels from 280 ppm to more than 400 ppm since industrialization, which is an increase greater than the margin of error of current measurements. Oceans presently serve as a sink for CO2, not a source. Misleading: Humans have caused an unprecedented ... | Atmospheric CO2 has increased rapidly as a result of human activities. Although human-caused emissions of CO2 are small relative to natural flows into and out of the atmosphere, the human contribution has caused an imbalance in the global carbon cycle that jeopardizes land and ocean ecosystems. | Human additions of CO<sub>2</sub> are in the margin of error of current measurements and the gradual increase in CO<sub>2</sub> is mainly from oceans degassing as the planet slowly emerges from the last ice age. | 1 – IPCC (2007) Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2 – IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to ... | Summary: The claim appeared in multiple outlets, including Watts Up With That, the Daily Signal, and a Facebook post published by I Love Carbon Dioxide in April 2020. While human additions of CO2 are small relative to natural processes, atmospheric CO2 measurements are currently much higher than pre-industrialization C... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/human-induced-increases-in-greenhouse-gases-are-the-primary-driver-of-global-warming-contrary-to-claims-in-cfact-article/ | Incorrect | CFACT, Jay Lehr, 2020-04-08 | They tell us that we are the primary forces controlling earth temperatures by the burning of fossil fuels and releasing their carbon dioxide. I hope my readers can recognize the absurdity of their claims. … increasing sunspots are linked to increases in earth temperature | null | Incorrect: Anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gas emissions account for 100% of the rapid global warming trends observed after 1950. Solar forcing cannot exclusively explain climate change patterns. Inadequate support: None of the article’s claims that argue the Sun is responsible for current global warming are supp... | The effects of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions far outweigh the effects of solar forcing on global warming. 100% of the global warming trends observed after 1950 can be attributed to anthropogenic factors. | They tell us that we are the primary forces controlling earth temperatures by the burning of fossil fuels and releasing their carbon dioxide. I hope my readers can recognize the absurdity of their claims. … increasing sunspots are linked to increases in earth temperature. | 1- Feldman et al (2015) Observational determination of surface radiative forcing by CO2 from 2000 to 2010. Nature. 2 – Santer et al (2017) Tropospheric warming over the past two decades. Scientific Reports. 3 – Hausfather (2017) The extent of the human contribution to modern global warming is a hotly debated topic in p... | Summary: The claim appeared in an article published by CFACT in April 2020. This claim directly contradicts ample scientific evidence showing that human-caused increases in greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, have been the primary driver of global warming[1,2]. Feldman et al (2015) demonstrate that “increasing atmos... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/scientists-observe-most-widespread-bleaching-event-ever-recorded-at-the-great-barrier-reef/ | Accurate | ABC News, Michael Slezak, Penny Timms, 2020-04-06 | The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing the most widespread bleaching ever recorded | null | Accurate: For the first time, coral reefs in the northern, central, and southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef were affected by bleaching at the same time. At the time, there is no peer-reviewed study yet to fully document this bleaching event; it should be verified by underwater observations in the coming months. | Increased sea surface temperatures boosted by climate change have triggered five mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef since 1998. In March 2020, scientists conducted aerial surveys and found that all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef were affected by bleaching, making this the most geographically wides... | The Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing the most widespread bleaching ever recorded, with 60 per cent of reefs across all three regions affected, according to a detailed survey of the system. | 1 – Hughes et al. (2020) We just spent two weeks surveying the Great Barrier Reef. What we saw was an utter tragedy. The Conversation. 2 – Ainsworth et al. (2016) Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef. Science. 3 – Hughes et al. (2017) Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching o... | Summary: The claim that “The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing the most widespread bleaching ever recorded” appeared in several media outlets, including an article published by ABC News in April 2020. This claim is based on data collected from aerial surveys conducted in March 2020, which found that 60% of coral reefs... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/the-antarctic-ozone-layer-is-recovering-but-the-independent-claim-fails-to-grasp-significance-of-study-it-relies-on/ | Mostly accurate | The Independent, Louise Boyle, 2020-03-26 | The ozone layer is healing | null | Correct: Scientific studies have shown that the Antarctic ozone is recovering. Fails to grasp significance of observation: The study the claim is based on analyzed changes in atmospheric circulation patterns influenced by the Antarctic ozone hole, not the recovery of the ozone hole itself. | The Antarctic ozone layer is healing and has the potential to recover to 1960 levels by the end of the century. Atmospheric circulation trends in the Southern Hemisphere, which are driven by ozone depletion, have also paused or reversed. These changes are attributed, in large part, to reductions in ozone-depleting subs... | The ozone layer is continuing to heal and has the potential to fully recover, according to a new study | 1 – Banerjee et al. (2020) A pause in Southern Hemisphere circulation trends due to the Montreal Protocol. Nature. 2 – Solomon et al. (2016) Emergence of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer. Science. 3 – SPARC/IO3C/GAW (2019) SPARC/IO3C/GAW Report on long-term ozone trends and uncertainties in the stratosphere. I. Pet... | Summary: The claim that “The ozone layer is continuing to heal and has the potential to fully recover” appeared in an article published by The Independent in March 2020, and has been shared on Facebook more than 11,000 times. The claim relies on a study recently published in Nature by Banerjee et al.[1]. Previous studi... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/deforestation-can-facilitate-the-emergence-and-spread-of-some-infectious-diseases/ | Mostly accurate | Now This, Lani Chan, Tom McKenna, 2020-03-20 | Deforestation has made humans more vulnerable to pandemics | null | Correct: Scientists have established direct and indirect links between deforestation and the emergence and spread of some infectious diseases. Misrepresents a complex reality: The effects of deforestation on disease dynamics are complex and multifaceted. Scientists do not fully understand how anthropogenic land use ch... | Deforestation can facilitate the emergence and spread of infectious diseases by creating habitats well suited for disease vectors and increasing connectivity between humans and wildlife. However, the effects of deforestation, and other land use changes, on human vulnerability to pandemics is a complex process that is n... | Deforestation has made humans more vulnerable to pandemics. Years of scientific research shows that deforestation has led to a rise in the spread of diseases affecting humans. By reducing the amount of available habitat, species are forced into smaller, shared areas, and brought into closer contact with cities and town... | 1 – Patz et al. (2004) Unhealthy landscapes: Policy recommendations on land use change and infectious disease emergence. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2 – MacDonald and Mordecai (2019) Amazon deforestation drives malaria transmission, and malaria burden reduces forest clearing. PNAS. 3 – Jones et al. (2008) Global... | Summary: The claim that “deforestation has made humans more vulnerable to pandemics” appeared in a Facebook video published by NowThis Future in March 2020, receiving more than 140,000 views in the first 10 days after it was posted. Scientific studies have established links between deforestation and the emergence and s... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/global-data-contradict-claim-of-no-acceleration-in-sea-level-rise/ | Inaccurate | Watts Up With That?, Willis Eschenbach, 2020-03-08 | The long-term tide gauge datasets are all in agreement that there is no acceleration | null | Factually Inaccurate: Quantitative analysis of global data clearly demonstrates that sea level rise has accelerated. Misrepresents a complex reality: This claim focuses primarily on individual tide gauge stations rather than a global compilation while failing to account for causes of regional variation. | Peer-reviewed global analyses of both tide gauge and satellite data have demonstrated that sea level rise has, in fact, accelerated in recent decades. | The long-term tide gauge datasets are all in agreement that there is no acceleration, neither in the early nor in the recent parts of the records. Yes, they often porpoise a bit above and a bit below the trend line, but there is no evidence of any CO2-caused recent increase in the rate of sea-level rise. The satellite ... | 1- Woodworth et al. (2010) A Note on the Nodal Tide in Sea Level Records, Journal of Coastal Research 2- Dangendorf et al. (2019) Persistent acceleration in global sea-level rise since the 1960s, Nature Climate Change 3- Kopp et al. (2016) Temperature-driven global sea-level variability in the Common Era, PNAS 4- WCRP ... | This article on the blog “Watts Up With That?” attempts to show that sea level rise is not accelerating by removing “underlying cycles” in the data that are incorrectly assumed to be tidal cycles. The author smooths a selection of individual coastal sea level records and simply looks for visible acceleration. This fail... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/global-warming-and-the-covid-19-pandemic-are-unrelated-issues-one-will-not-protect-us-from-the-other-life-site-news/ | Flawed reasoning | LifeSite News, Andrea Widberg, 2020-03-17 | If we want to protect ourselves from the coronavirus, we must back away from all the climate change efforts we've been making | null | Flawed reasoning: The article containing this claim fails to acknowledge that disease outbreaks and global warming occur at very different time scales. In addition, it failed to calculate the magnitude of global warming that would be necessary to have a significant effect on the COVID-19 pandemic. Misrepresents a comp... | Some preliminary scientific publications report that SARS-CoV-2 may be less prevalent or less contagious in warm and humid climates. However global warming does not occur at a pace or magnitude that would prevent further SARS-CoV-2 propagation. In addition, scientists emphasize that virus propagation primarily depends ... | If we want to protect ourselves from the coronavirus, we must back away from all the climate change efforts we've been making | 1 – Wang et al. (2020) High Temperature and High Humidity Reduce the Transmission of COVID-19. SSRN (pre-publication). 2 – Sajadi et al. (2020) Temperature, Humidity and Latitude Analysis to Predict Potential Spread and Seasonality for COVID-19. SSRN (pre-publication). 3 – Li et al. (2019) Global patterns in monthly ac... | Summary: An article published on 17 March 2020 on Life Site News claims that “[i]f we want to protect ourselves from the coronavirus, we must back away from all the climate change efforts we’ve been making.” However, scientists who reviewed this claim unanimously reject this conclusion, explaining that global warming a... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/temperature-trends-in-the-u-s-are-consistent-with-warming-around-the-world-contrary-to-electroverse-claim-cap-allon/ | Flawed reasoning | Electroverse, Cap Allon, 2020-01-22 | Historical data of temperature in the U.S. destroys global warming myth | null | Flawed reasoning: The U.S. occupies a very small percentage of the world. Global warming trends cannot be determined based on local daily temperature records in a small number of locations. | Land surface, sea surface, and atmospheric temperature data all show trends of global warming. The warming trend observed over the past century is correlated with increased levels of CO2. | Historical data destroys the global warming myth, and people are waking to it. According to NOAA’s own historical data, of the 50 U.S. state all-time record high temperatures, 23 were set during the 1930s, while 36 occurred prior to 1960 — climate change proponents are feeding us a fairy tale, and I’m sick of it. | 1- Santer et al (2017) Tropospheric warming over the past two decades. Scientific Reports. 2- Hausfather et al. (2017) Assessing recent warming using instrumentally homogeneous sea surface temperature records. Science Advances. 3- Neukom et al. (2019) No evidence for globally coherent warm and cold periods over the pre... | Summary: The claim that historical temperature data in the U.S. “destroy the global warming myth” appeared in an article published by Electroverse in January 2020, receiving almost 1,500 shares on Facebook since then. By focusing solely on maximum daily temperature records in one small region of the world, the claim us... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/co2-can-increase-plant-growth-in-greenhouses-while-also-negatively-affecting-ecosystems-and-human-societies-mike-adams-natural-news/ | Flawed reasoning | Natural News, Mike Adams, 2013-06-22 | CO2 is a plant nutrient...it’s not a pollutant that threatens human civilization. If CO2 was so terrible for the planet, then installing a CO2 generator in a greenhouse would kill the plants. | null | Flawed reasoning: CO2 can increase plant growth in a greenhouse, but the argument that CO2 is not harmful to the planet because plants don’t die is flawed. To assess the overall impact of CO2 emissions on “human civilization”, effects on ecosystems and human societies should also be taken into account. Misleading: Plan... | CO2 can increase plant growth but its effects, which decrease with higher concentrations, are limited by the availability of other plant nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus. CO2 emissions can negatively impact natural ecosystems through global warming—e.g. by increasing evaporation and drying up soils in some re... | CO2 is a plant nutrient...it’s not a pollutant that threatens human civilization as has been ridiculously claimed by global warming doomsday pushers. CO2 actually increases plant yields, accelerates "re-greening" and improves reforestation of the planet. If CO2 was so terrible for the planet, then installing a CO2 gene... | 1- Zhu et al. (2016) Greening of the Earth and its drivers. Nature Climate Change. 2- Mbow et al. (2019) IP Food Security. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosys... | Summary: The claim that CO2 is a plant nutrient and not a pollutant appeared in an article published by Natural News in June 2013, and has gone viral in 2020 with over 1.6 million shares on Facebook over the past three months. This claim uses flawed reasoning to argue that elevated levels of CO2 are not bad for the pla... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/electroverse-article-incorrectly-claims-the-sun-is-behind-climate-change/ | Incorrect | Electroverse, Roger Higgs, 2020-03-11 | the IPCC is wrong − the sun, not CO2, drove modern global warming | null | Misleading: Many things the article claims climate scientists "assume" are actually conclusions supported by extensive research and evidence. This includes the role of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in driving global warming. Inadequate Support: The article's claims are not supported by published research. Of the two p... | This article presents a long list of inaccurate claims, but focuses on the idea that the Sun—rather than human-caused greenhouse gas emissions—is responsible for global warming. The available evidence and research clearly shows that this claim is incorrect. Measured patterns of warming, and monitoring of incoming solar... | the IPCC is wrong − the sun, not CO2, drove modern global warming | null | The article mentions cosmic rays, claiming that changes in cosmic ray nucleation of clouds (via solar magnetic activity) can explain global warming. The effect of cosmic rays has been studied extensively1,2, leading to the conclusion that cosmic rays have not correlated with global cloud cover or temperature. Pierce an... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/sea-levels-rose-faster-in-the-past-century-than-in-previous-time-periods/ | Inaccurate | American Thinker, Thomas Lifson, 2020-03-07 | Sea level rise has been slow and a constant, pre-dating industrialization | null | Factually inaccurate: Scientific studies clearly show that rates of sea level rise have increased since industrialization. Misrepresents source: The article incorrectly describes results from a scientific paper published in Geophysical Research Letters (according to an author of that paper) to support its claim that se... | Sea levels have risen at increased pace since industrialization, with the fastest rates of sea level rise occurring in the late 20th century. At local geographic regions, sea levels can rise faster or slower than the global average, and in the past, these local variations might have been large in magnitude. However, at... | Sea level rise has been slow and a constant, pre-dating industrialization ... A study by the University of York found evidence for a period of enhanced pre-industrial sea-level rise of about 2-3 millimetres per year in three locations — Nova Scotia, Maine and Connecticut, which were largely natural, without any human c... | 1- Kemp et al. (2011) Climate related sea-level variations over the past two millennia. PNAS. 2- Gehrels et al. (2020) A Preindustrial Sea‐Level Rise Hotspot Along the Atlantic Coast of North America. Geophysical Research Letters. 3- Kopp et al. (2016) Temperature-driven global sea-level variability in the Common Era. ... | Summary: The claim that sea level rise has been slow and constant, pre-dating industrialization appeared in several outlets, including American Thinker and The Global Warming Policy Forum, going viral in March 2020 with nearly 8,000 interactions on Facebook. This claim contradicts ample scientific evidence showing that... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/data-from-glaciers-around-the-world-show-most-are-shrinking-as-a-consequence-of-global-warming/ | Inaccurate | Principia Scientific, IceAgeNow, 2016-11-26 | 90 percent of the world’s glaciers are growing. | null | Cherry-picking: This claim is based on a single study from 2015 which suggests that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is growing, and ignores dozens of other published studies which contradict these findings. Furthermore, while the East Antarctic Ice Sheet accounts for over 80% of the world’s ice mass, that does not mean it... | This claim is an inaccurate representation of a single study’s results, which concluded that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is gaining mass and is therefore not contributing to global sea level rise. Other scientific studies contradict the results of this study. There is also a large body of peer-reviewed research by glacial ... | 90 percent of the world’s glaciers are growing. | 1 – Zwally et al. (2015) Mass gains of the Antarctic ice sheet exceed losses. Journal of Glaciology. 2 – Zemp et al. (2008) Global Glacier Changes: Facts and Figures. UNEP and World Glacier Monitoring Service. 3 – Scambos and Shuman. (2016) Comment on “Mass gains of the Antarctic ice sheet exceed losses” by H. J. Zwall... | An article posted by IceAgeNow.info in November 2016 and republished on the blog Principia Scientific, makes this claim about the world’s glaciers based entirely on a single study published in the Journal of Glaciology in 2015 by Dr. H. Jay Zwally, a scientist at NASA, and colleagues[1]. The claim began trending on Fac... |
https://science.feedback.org/review/current-climate-warming-is-rapid-and-occurring-on-a-global-scale-unlike-past-periods-of-regional-climate-fluctuations/ | Misleading | PragerU, Patrick Moore, 2020-01-21 | Of course the climate is changing. It always has. It always will. | null | Misleading: Misrepresents past climate epochs as similar and comparable to the current pattern of global climate change, though they were significantly smaller in spatial extent, magnitude, and rate of change. | Although periods of regionally warmer and cooler temperatures have been recorded over the last 2,000 years, the patterns of warming and cooling were not globally coherent. In contrast, the current period of climate warming is unprecedented, occurring simultaneously on 98%[1] of Earth’s surface and at a significantly fa... | Over the past 2,000 years, the globe has seen the Roman Warm Period, the cooler Dark Ages, the Medieval Warm Period, the Little Ice Age, a gradual 300-year warming. Of course the climate is changing. It always has. It always will. | 1 – Neukom et al. (2019) No evidence for globally coherent warm and cold periods over the preindustrial Common Era. Nature. 2 – Neukom et al. (2019) Consistent multidecadal variability in global temperature reconstructions and simulations over the Common Era. Nat. Geosci. 3 – Marcott et al. (2013)A Reconstruction of Re... | This claim made in a viral Instagram post and a video by PragerU states that Earth’s climate has always changed and always will, and cites as evidence past periods of climatic anomaly such as the Roman Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. Although the occurrence of such climate epochs is not disputed—they are well-known... |
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