Climate Change

Debunked • Q&A • Donate

Reasons Not to Worry about Climate Change

People keep inventing reasons they don't have to care about climate change. Let’s start to track and debunk some of them...

Myth: Fertilization of the ocean with iron will cause phyoplankton blooms that will capture carbon dioxide, die, and fall to the bottom of the ocean with the carbon dioxide trapped.
Truth: When an experiment to do this was attempted, “the bloom attracted a swarm of hungry copepods. The tiny crustaceans graze on phytoplankton, which keeps the carbon in the food chain and prevents it from being stored in the ocean sink. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research reported that the copepods were in turn eaten by larger crustaceans called amphipods, which serve as food for squid and fin whales.”
— ‘Hungry Shrimp eat climate change experiment (New Scientist, 25 Mar 2009)

Myth: Recent apparent rises in temperature are the result of misinterpreted or bad data.
Truth: “Claims that the data are being wrongly interpreted have been extensively studied and properly refuted.”
— ‘Scientists Refute Argument of Climate Skeptics (Science Daily, 10 Jan 2009)
  Other related stories...
   Scientists resolve long-standing puzzle in climate science (Physorg.com, 10 Oct 2008)

Myth: It's not Climate Change, It's an 11-Year Solar Cycle
Truth: “UK scientists found there has been no significant link between cosmic rays and cloudiness in the last 20 years.”
— ‘No Sun link’ to climate change (BBC, 3 Apr 2008)
  Other related stories...
   Solar Variability: Striking a balance with climate change (NASA, 7 May 2008)

Myth: Biofuels Will Save Us
Truth: “targets far exceed the agricultural capacities of the industrial North. Europe would need to plant 70 percent of its farmland with fuel crops. The entire corn and soy harvest of the United States would need to be processed as ethanol and biodiesel.”
— The biofuel myths (International Herald Tribune, 10 Jul 2007)
  Other related stories...
   Biofuels must not deprive poor of food: EU official (Physorg.com, 17 May 2008)

Myth: Big Mirrors Will Save Us
Truth: The modeling done so far suggests that this isn't likely to help.
— Earth sunshade would not rewind the climate (New Scientist, 28 May 2008)

Myth: Carbon Sequestration Will Make Coal Ok to Use
Truth: “Carbon sequestration, also known as geosequestration, [...] sounds like a good tool to fight global warming while enjoying the Earth's huge coal reserves [but it will take a long time to develop and may never be adequately efficient. ...] All this talk of carbon sequestration can basically be seen as a delaying tactic, as a way to get government support and to keep the operation and construction of coal power plants more socially acceptable. It's the equivalent of saying: ‘Don't bother us, we're working on it!’ ”
— Important! Why Carbon Sequestration Won't Save Us (Treehugger, 31 Jul 2006)

Please feel free to contact me with more suggestions.

Other Questions & Answers

• Dumb eco-questions you were afraid to ask (New Scientist, 14 Nov 2008)