Five climate change science misconceptions – debunked


Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCL, The Conversation•September 15, 2019


http://theconversation.com/five-clim...ebunked-122570


The science of climate change is more than 150 years old and it is probably the most tested area of modern science. However the energy industry, political lobbyists and others have spent the last 30 years sowing doubt about the science where none really exists. The latest estimate is that the world’s five largest publicly-owned oil and gas companies spend about US$200m each year on lobbying to control, delay or block binding climate-motivated policy.
This organised and orchestrated climate change science denial has contributed to the lack of progress in reducing global green house gas (GHG) emissions - to the point that we are facing a global climate emergency. And when climate change deniers use certain myths – at best fake news and at worse straight lies – to undermine the science of climate change, ordinary people can find it hard to see through the fog. Here are five commonly used myths and the real science that debunks them.

1) Climate change is just part of a natural cycle

2) Changes are due to sunspots/galactic cosmic rays

3) CO2 is a small part of the atmosphere - it can't have a large heating effect

4) Scientists manipulate all data sets to show a warming trend

5) Climate models are unreliable and too sensitive to carbon dioxide

See the link for details. I would also add another myth that wasn't mentioned: 6) Future projections rely entirely on climate models - It is possible to estimate the future climate based on multiplying

the climate sensitivity (which can be derived from the paleoclimate ice core data) times the projected climate forcings at some future time (example 2100).