Fact-Checking Series No. 1: Uncovering the Truth About Climate

I’d love to share with you my new Fact-Checking Series, where I will focus on uncovering the truth about climate and clarifying misunderstandings. I’ll be addressing the usual claims from people who don’t believe that Earth’s climate is changing because of human activities.

I’ll start with some of the most common myths I come across on social media every day.

Climate’s Changed Before

Climate Has Changed Before? Bingo! Who would’ve guessed? Of course, scientists are well aware of this. Uncovering the truth: while Earth’s climate has naturally warmed and cooled over the ages, the rapid warming we’re seeing today can’t be chalked up to natural causes like changes in Earth’s orbit, solar activity, or volcanic eruptions. Those kinds of changes usually take tens of thousands to 100,000 years, but now it’s happening in just about 100 years—remarkably fast. Earth hasn’t been this warm in about 120,000 years, long before our modern society and the over 8 billion people we have today. This rapid change is mainly due to human activities and is occurring ten times faster than any natural warming in the past million years.

It’s just a natural cycle

Milankovitch cycles refer to natural changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt that happen over tens of thousands to 100,000 years, which can affect the amount of solar energy Earth receives. But the modern warming we’re experiencing has occurred over a much shorter period.

Several points disprove this myth and help to uncover the truth:

Timing: Milankovitch cycles occur over long timescales, but modern warming is happening much faster.

Image: Orbital cycles Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech

Sunlight: Since around 1960, the amount of solar radiation (sunlight) reaching Earth’s atmosphere has actually decreased slightly, not increased.

Carbon dioxide levels over the past 800,000 years from ice cores

Cooling of upper atmosphere (stratosphere): If the warming was due to natural cycles, the stratosphere would be warming. Instead, it’s cooling, which aligns with human-caused warming.

Earth’s energy is out of balance:

Earth’s energy imbalance—meaning the difference between the energy Earth absorbs and the energy it gives off—has more than doubled since 2005. This increase is mostly because of greenhouse gases released by humans and more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is a result of rising temperatures.

It’s Water Vapor

clouds, water vapor — Image: Clouds, Water Vapor Credit: mollyroselee, Pixabay

So, while water vapor increases the warming, it’s not the original cause of it. Some people mistakenly believe water vapor is the main driver of Earth’s current warming. But increase Some people mistakenly believe that water vapor is the main driver of Earth’s current warming. However, increased water vapor doesn’t start global warming; instead, it’s a result of it. When greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane warm up the atmosphere, they cause more water vapor to form. This extra water vapor makes the warming effect from these gases even stronger. So, water vapor acts as a feedback that intensifies global warming but isn’t the initial cause.

For more details, you can check out this link from NASA.

Don’t miss my other fact-checking posts!