Misconceptions about climate change

Below are some common misconceptions about climate change:

A SCIENTIFIC DEBATE RAGES OVER GLOBAL WARMING

FACT: There’s no question the Earth has warmed in recent decades. Government and professional climate-science groups say man-made “greenhouse gases” are contributing to the warming — probably causing most of it, according to a U.S. National Academy of Sciences panel and the U.N.-organized Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The scientific discussion focuses on how fast and how high temperatures will rise — depending on what’s done to counter warming — and on the impact.

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SATELLITES SHOW GLOBAL COOLING, NOT WARMING

FACT: Satellite readings once seemed to disagree with ground readings about warming. But a longer satellite record and more careful analysis of earlier readings have largely closed that gap.

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A PLANET WARMER BY 2 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT DOESN’T SOUND BAD

FACT: Scientists’ 2-degree prediction is a minimum and an average encompassing higher extremes in certain regions, seasons and times of day. Much damage would come indirectly from rising seas, drying out of some areas, heavier rains in others and similar disruptions.

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THE SUN’S VARIABILITY IS THE BIGGEST CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

FACT: The sun does “flicker,” but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says solar variability has made only a small contribution to global warming over the past century.

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For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

RECENT WARMING IS A NATURAL REBOUND FROM THE EUROPEAN ‘LITTLE ICE AGE’

FACT: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the unusually swift and lengthy warming of the 20th century “cannot simply be considered as a recovery from the ‘Little Ice Age’ of the 15th to 19th centuries.”

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WARMING IS GOOD BECAUSE IT WILL SAVE US FROM A NEW ICE AGE

FACT: The man-made gases already in the atmosphere are far more than needed to hold off another ice age.

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A MELTING ARCTIC ICE CAP WON’T RAISE SEAS; ICE MELTING IN A GLASS DOESN’T RAISE THE WATER LEVEL

FACT: Oceans are rising because of melt runoff from glaciers, the Greenland ice sheet and other ice on land, not in the sea. The Arctic Ocean’s sea ice is already displacing water and so, like ice cubes in a glass, won’t raise sea levels as it melts.