Climate Science Glossary

Term Lookup

Enter a term in the search box to find its definition.

Settings

Use the controls in the far right panel to increase or decrease the number of terms automatically displayed (or to completely turn that feature off).

Term Lookup

Settings


All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

Home Arguments Software Resources Comments The Consensus Project Translations About Support

Twitter Facebook YouTube Mastodon MeWe

RSS Posts RSS Comments Email Subscribe


Climate's changed before
It's the sun
It's not bad
There is no consensus
It's cooling
Models are unreliable
Temp record is unreliable
Animals and plants can adapt
It hasn't warmed since 1998
Antarctica is gaining ice
View All Arguments...



Username
Password
New? Register here
Forgot your password?

Latest Posts

Archives

Climate Misinformation by Source: Ian Plimer

Quotes Articles Arguments Blogs Links Search 

Favourite climate myths by Ian Plimer

Below are many of the climate myths used by Ian Plimer plus how often each myth has been used.

Climate myths by Plimer What the Science Says Usage
"CO2 is plant food"

The effects of enhanced CO2 on terrestrial plants are variable and complex and dependent on numerous factors

4
"Human CO2 is a tiny % of CO2 emissions"

The natural cycle adds and removes CO2 to keep a balance; humans add extra CO2 without removing any.

3
"Models are unreliable"

Models successfully reproduce temperatures since 1900 globally, by land, in the air and the ocean.

2
"It's cooling"

All the indicators show that global warming is still happening.

2
"CO2 limits will harm the economy"

The benefits of a price on carbon outweigh the costs several times over.

2
"Global warming stopped in 1998, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2010, ????"

Global temperature is still rising and 2010 was the hottest recorded.

2
"Water vapor is the most powerful greenhouse gas"

Rising CO2 increases atmospheric water vapor, which makes global warming much worse.

2
"Climate's changed before" Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing. 2
"CO2 is not a pollutant"

Through its impacts on the climate, CO2 presents a danger to public health and welfare, and thus qualifies as an air pollutant

2
"It hasn't warmed since 1998"

Every part of the Earth's climate system has continued warming since 1998, with 2015 shattering temperature records.

1
"There is no consensus"

97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.

1
"It's the sun"

In the last 35 years of global warming, sun and climate have been going in opposite directions

1
"Volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans"

Humans emit 100 times more CO2 than volcanoes.

1
"It's not bad"

Negative impacts of global warming on agriculture, health & environment far outweigh any positives.

1
"We're coming out of the Little Ice Age"

Scientists have determined that the factors which caused the Little Ice Age cooling are not currently causing global warming.

1
"CO2 was higher in the past"

Climate has changed along with CO2 levels through geological time.

1
"It's not us"

Multiple sets of independent observations find a human fingerprint on climate change.

1
"Ocean acidification isn't serious"

Ocean acidification threatens entire marine food chains.

1
"It's a natural cycle"

No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

1
"IPCC ‘disappeared’ the Medieval Warm Period"

The IPCC simply updated their temperature history graphs to show the best data available at the time.

1
"Positive feedback means runaway warming" Positive feedback won't lead to runaway warming; diminishing returns on feedback cycles limit the amplification. 1
"It warmed just as fast in 1860-1880 and 1910-1940" The warming trend over 1970 to 2001 is greater than warming from both 1860 to 1880 and 1910 to 1940. 1
"Increasing CO2 has little to no effect"

The strong CO2 effect has been observed by many different measurements.

1

Back to Climate Misinformation by Source



The Consensus Project Website

THE ESCALATOR

(free to republish)


© Copyright 2024 John Cook
Home | Translations | About Us | Privacy | Contact Us