Warnings and False Fears About Climate Change

Environmentalists often bristle when charged with being addicted to gloom-and-doom messages, but every now and then an environmental group will confirm the stereotype. In April 2006,Greenpeace mistakenly posted an incomplete draft press release on its Website that read: “In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE].” ¹ Alan Oxley reports that the conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has for years been playing fast and loose with the facts. ²

Some examples:

• A WWF report was the source of an insupportable claim that glaciers in the Himalayas were melting rapidly was embarrassing for the organization.
• Bjorn Lomborg queried a media release in 1997 by WWF UK that new research showed two thirds of the world's forests had been lost. The conventional number was 20 to 25 percent When Lomborg asked to see the research reports, he was told there was none. A number of other concocted claims can be found in reference. ²

Although these events took place a while back, things haven't changed much since then. Here are some recent examples.

Lake Victoria

Climate experts blame climate change for Lake Victoria record high levels, after blaming climate change for the low levels in 2006. ³ Some years ago, in 2006-2007, Lake Victoria in Africa reached near record low levels. The culprit, of course, according to the world's leading 'experts' was climate change due to man made CO2 emissions. Words like this for example: “We are seeing the first effect of climate change on Lake Victoria and the lakes around the world. Without a rapid reduction in greenhouse gases by the industrial countries, the basis for life for millions of people is threatened.” Austrian national daily Der Standard warned that the African lake was 'drying out' in an article titled: “When a lake disappears.” But then last summer, after months of rain, it was reported that lake Victoria levels had since reached a 'historic' high level. So why has Lake Victoria reached record high levels and flooded homes and hotels? 'Experts' like Dr. Raymond Omollo are again blaming (you guessed it) climate change. Says Dr. Omollo: “It is a pointer to the fact that climate change is real and unless we are able to make our voices heard and do something about its impact, then very soon we would probably lose a lot of livelihoods and the beautiful lake, the resource that we have might end up being a curse rather than a blessing.” No matter if it's high or low, man made climate change will be blamed for all the water level changes in Lake Victoria. But serious scientists point out that the natural fluctuations need to be taken into account in order to avoid contradictory conclusions in the future. ³

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High Temperature in Germany

Back in July 2019, the German and German DWD national weather service went into overdrive when the Lingen-Germany station, located in northwest Germany near the Dutch border, smashed the country's all-time record high as the 'mercury' rose to a scorching 42.6 C. another sign of global warming. The previous all-time had been a comparatively cool 40.3 C, so the margin was impressive—too impressive! ⁴ Within days, independent meteorologists cast doubt over the heat record, pointing to serious station siting issues. The record setting station was located right near a DWD office building, shielded form the wind by grown trees and situated in a depression in the ground that trapped air and prevented it from mixing. Eventually, some 10 months later, in June 2020, The DWD was forced to concede the station was not optimally sited after all. The DWS also noted the station would be moved as well. Finally, just before Christmas 2020, the DWD announced that the all-time record high temperatures for Germany had indeed been scrapped. Though the record stands, all the blaring headlines remain. In today's Internet world, falsehoods make their way 100 times around the world before the truth catches up. As Pierre Gosselin notes, “Needless to say, there are no blaring headlines about the correction. The public damage is irreversible” ⁴

Bird Habitats

The UK Guardian and other media outlets are claiming a new atlas of bird habitats shows global warming is 'pushing' birds further north. The atlas itself, however, tells a completely different story. Rather than 'pushing' birds out of their normal ranges and forcing them north, birds are benefiting from a warming climate by expanding their overall ranges, thriving in new northern regions while still thriving in southern regions as well. ⁵ The result of climate change is not a negative 'pushing' of birds out of their habitat, but rather birds enjoying larger habitat ranges, while adding to biological diversity in their new ranges. So, if you come across one of the 'news' articles claiming the climate crisis is forcing birds to flee north, remember the facts—birds are taking advantage of a warmer climate by adding to their overall habitat ranges.

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Weather Disasters

A report issued by the United Nations World Meteorological Agency (WMA) says climate change is causing more frequent and severe weather disasters each year. ⁶ PBS and other mainstream media outlets uncritically reported In particular, WMA says drought, hurricanes and wildfires have increased in number and severity in recent decades as 'global warming' has made the weather more extreme. The UN's own data, however, show the claims in the report are false. WMA's data show the number of weather related disasters has declined by 15 percent since 2000, as the earth has modestly warmed. ⁷

Spring in Greenland

CNN has presented a photo as evidence of the devastating impact of a warming planet, but that is not necessarily what the photo shows. Scientists says this is a typical and damaging climate doomsday story. A photo of a dog sled moving through melt water in a fjord near Thule in northwest Greenland went global as supposed evidence of climate change. It appears ominous, as if the ice is melting under the feet of the dogs and might at any moment crack and pull the sled down into the deep water. As if the very foundation of humanity is melting before the camera. ⁸ Now, once they've talked to people who live and work in Greenland, it turns out this happens 'all the time.' It happened to polar explorer Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933) and in plenty other historical texts. It actually happens when the ice is so thick the melting water can't run off, meaning it will likely happen less often with higher temperatures. A number of Danish researchers describe it as 'nothing extraordinary,' a normal June phenomenon displayed as a climate catastrophe yet the situation is 'entirely normal.' One researcher has a similar picture from 1984. Yet for the recent picture CNN said the picture was 'evidence of our ongoing climate catastrophe.' And Al Gore wants permission to use it in his slide show. ⁸

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Blame heating Arctic for snowstorms in Texas

It did not take long for some folks to blame the 'heating' Arctic for the unusual winter storm that has crippled swaths of Texas and brought freezing temperatures across the southern US. ⁹ However as detailed by Carbon Brief, after another US winter chill in 2019 models fail to demonstrate a linkage. It's certainly possible that the models aren't getting it right, but this should at least give us pause regarding any connections. ¹⁰ So what can be said about the chill that just stretched down through the central US to Texas? While rare and extreme, it was not unprecedented. And as the Arctic gets warmer, the air that sometimes spills southward won't be quite as frigid as it used to be. But science does not yet have a clear answer as to whether the mechanisms that control that spilling are changing with global warming. ¹¹ Yet you can count on this message from alarmists: if there is a change in the weather be it an increase in temperature or a decrease, clearly the culprit is global warming.

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References

1. Allan Mazur, True Warnings and False Alarms Evaluating Fears and Health Risks of Technology, 1948-1971,(RFF Press, Washington, DC, Resources For the Future, 2004)
2. Alan Oxley, WWF concocts its own set of numbers,” theaustralian.com, February 11, 2010
3. P. Gosselin, “Climate change blamed for Lake Victoria record high levels (after being blamed for low levels)”, notrickszone.com, January 5, 2021
4. P. Gosselin, “Germany's DWD weather station annuls all-time heat record, concedes station siting problems,” notrickszone.com, January 8, 2021
5. James Taylor, “Media falsely claim climate change is driving birds further north,” climatechangedispatch.com, December 17, 2020
6. “Human cost of disasters: an overview of the last 20 years 2000-2019,” reliefweb.int, January 2021
7. H. Sterling Burnett, “UN contradicts its own data to promote weather disaster porn,” climatechangedispatch.com, October 15, 2020
8. Mikkel Fyhn Christensen, “Spring in Greenland interpreted as climate change: this is completely normal,” berlingske.dk, June 24, 2019
9. Oliver Milman, “Heating Arctic may be to blame for snowstorms in Texas, scientists argue,” theguardian.com, February 17, 2021
10. Robert McSweeney, “Q & A: how is Arctic warming linked to the 'polar vortex' and other extreme weather?”, carbonbrief.org, January 31, 2019
11. Scott K. Johnson, “Blame the Texas freeze on climate change? Not so fast,”realclearscience.com, February 23, 2021