Welcome to the second installment of my Fact-Checking Series, where I focus on uncovering the truth about climate and clarifying misunderstandings. I’ll be addressing more of the common climate myths from people who don’t believe that Earth’s climate is changing because of human activities.
Below are more common claims I come across on social media every day. Beware, the list is very long!
Changes in Earth’s magnetic field are causing global warming
This climate myth is false. No, studies show that the last three magnetic field excursions, and any within the last 2.8 million years, haven’t caused notable climate changes. Earth’s magnetic field shifts naturally, but these shifts do not influence the climate in a significant way. The magnetic field changes naturally and very slowly, but these changes don’t affect the climate in any major way.
It’s been warmer before
This is a common climate myth that’s true, but it doesn’t mean that humans can’t cause warmer temperatures, too. Yes, Earth’s climate has been both warmer and cooler at different times in the past. However, humans as we know them have only been around for about 200,000 years, and human civilizations have existed for only around 6,000 years, which is a very short part (0.0001%) of Earth’s long history. The conditions that allow humans and societies to survive are fragile, and we depend on a specific range of climate conditions. While natural climate changes happened slowly over long periods, human activities, primarily greenhouse gas emissions, are causing today’s rapid warming. These activities are threatening the stability of our environment and societies.
We’re coming out of the last ice age
I see this common climate myth many times a day on social media. We left the last ice age about 11,700 years ago and entered a stable period called the Holocene, which lasted until the Industrial Revolution. During this time, the climate was fairly steady, but since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have caused major changes to the climate. If you want to learn more, you can check studies by Shakun et al. 2012 and Marcott et al. 2013 (summer only), Kaufman et al. 2020, and Osman et al. 2021.
It was warmer during the Medieval Warm Period
The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) wasn’t something that happened everywhere; it mostly affected Europe and parts of North America. Similarly, the Little Ice Age was also a regional event. Today’s global temperatures are higher than they were during the MWP. If you’re interested in more details, you can check studies by the PAGES 2K Consortium (2013 and 2017) and Neukom et al. (2019). For more details, see the studies by PAGES 2K Consortium 2013, PAGES 2K Consortium 2017, and Neukom et al. 2019.
If you missed the first post in the series, you can find it here.