Fact-checking Series No. 2: Uncovering the Truth About Climate

Welcome back to my Fact-Checking Series! In this episode, we’re digging into some of the biggest myths about climate change. You’ve probably heard people say things like, ‘The climate has always changed,’ or ‘Humans can’t really make a difference.’ Well, today we’re going to break those myths apart and show you what the science really says—clear, simple, and straight to the point.

Changes in Earth’s Magnetic Field Are Causing Global Warming

Some people say Earth’s magnetic field is causing climate change. Sounds mysterious, right? But here’s the truth: the magnetic field’s main job is protecting us from harmful solar radiation—it doesn’t control Earth’s temperature.

Scientists have dug deep into this idea, and the evidence is clear: magnetic field changes are not driving today’s warming. The last three magnetic ‘excursions,’ and any over the past 2.8 million years, didn’t cause big climate shifts. These field changes happen naturally, and very slowly.

Meanwhile, the rapid warming we see now has happened in just the past 150 years—the same time humans began burning massive amounts of coal, oil, and gas.

So, climate change isn’t about magnetism. It’s about greenhouse gases—and that’s something we can actually do something about.

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. You can also find the whiteboard video about this here (Part I) and here (Part II).