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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.

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Climate Misinformation by Source: Richard Lindzen

Richard Lindzen is an American atmospheric physicist and Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Favourite climate myths by Richard Lindzen

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

Climate myths by Lindzen What the Science Says Usage
"Climate sensitivity is low"

Net positive feedback is confirmed by many different lines of evidence.

9
"Earth hasn't warmed as much as expected" This argument ignores the cooling effect of aerosols and the planet's thermal inertia. 5
"Global warming stopped in 1998, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2010, ????"

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

4
"Climate's changed before" Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing. 3
"IPCC is alarmist"

Numerous papers have documented how IPCC predictions are more likely to underestimate the climate response.

3
"CO2 limits will harm the economy"

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

3
"It's a natural cycle"

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

3
"Models are unreliable"

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

3
"IPCC overestimate temperature rise"

Monckton used the IPCC equation in an inappropriate manner.

2
"It's a climate regime shift"

There is no evidence that climate has chaotic “regimes” on a long-term basis.

1
"There's no tropospheric hot spot"

We see a clear "short-term hot spot" - there's various evidence for a "long-term hot spot".

1
"Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity"

Lindzen and Choi’s paper is viewed as unacceptably flawed by other climate scientists.

1
"Phil Jones says no global warming since 1995"

Phil Jones was misquoted.

1
"It's only a few degrees" A few degrees of global warming has a huge impact on ice sheets, sea levels and other aspects of climate. 1
"Infrared Iris will reduce global warming"

The iris hypothesis has not withstood the test of time - subsequent research has found that if it exists, the effect is much smaller than originally hypothesized, and may even slightly amplify rather than reducing global warming.

1
"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.

1
"Al Gore got it wrong"

Al Gore's book is quite accurate, and far more accurate than contrarian books.

1
"It's a 1500 year cycle"

Ancient natural cycles are irrelevant for attributing recent global warming to humans.

1
"Increasing CO2 has little to no effect"

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

1
"CO2 limits will hurt the poor"

Those who contribute the least greenhouse gases will be most impacted by climate change.

1
"CO2 is plant food"

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

1
"CO2 was higher in the past"

Climate has changed along with CO2 levels through geological time.

1
"Breathing contributes to CO2 buildup"

By breathing out, we are simply returning to the air the same CO2 that was there to begin with.

1
"Ice age predicted in the 70s"

The vast majority of climate papers in the 1970s predicted warming.

1
"It cooled mid-century" Mid-century cooling involved aerosols and is irrelevant for recent global warming. 1
"It warmed before 1940 when CO2 was low" Early 20th century warming is due to several causes, including rising CO2. 1
"There is no consensus"

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

1
"Water vapor is the most powerful greenhouse gas"

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

1
"Hansen's 1988 prediction was wrong"

Jim Hansen had several possible scenarios; his mid-level scenario B was right.

1
"It's not urgent"

A large amount of warming is delayed, and if we don’t act now we could pass tipping points.

1
"Clouds provide negative feedback"

Evidence is building that net cloud feedback is likely positive and unlikely to be strongly negative.

1
"Removing all CO2 would make little difference"

Removing CO2 would cause most water in the air to rain out and cancel most of the greenhouse effect.

1

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