Climate Change Myths To Debunk

With climate change myths, the evidence is there to refute them. Our climate affects every part of our lives and understanding it helps us make life-changing decisions about how we live. Most of us don’t realize it, but the changes taking place in our climate affect us from the time we wake up in the morning to when we fall asleep at night. It’s quickly changing how we live and not positively.

One of the most staggering truth about climate change is the disregard and lack of knowledge most people have regarding its effect on our planet. If we ask a group of people to define what climate change is, or what greenhouse gases are, the answers will be wide-ranging. The reality is we are uneducated or oblivious to what climate change is and its effect on our lives.

What is Climate Change?

Before delving into the climate change myths surrounding what’s happening to the planet, let look at what climate change is. In order to change something for the better, we must first understand what and why change needs to happen. Below is a definition taken directly from the united nations website:

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as thorough variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the primary driver of climate change, primarily because of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Burning fossil fuels generate greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.

Examples of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and forests can also release carbon dioxide. Landfills from garbage are a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main emitters.

Read the full explanation of what climate change is by visiting the website below.

Related: What is climate change?

Our climate is changing at an incredible pace, and as we can see from the definition above, humans cause it. It is a serious threat to our ecosystem, our health, and the variety of life that inhabits this planet.

Climate change is old news

The climate changing has never been the issue; it has always happened on earth. What’s new is the severity of the change. It is happening at an alarming rate today, resulting in an enormity of condition because of imbalances in atmospheric condition. Overwhelming evidence shows that human activities contribute to the quickly advancing pace of climate change because of excessive use of natural resources. Consider these facts taken from the website earth.org. You can read the full list of facts by clicking the link below.

• In the last decade, the earth has been the hottest in 125,000 years.
• We are losing 1.2 trillion tons of ice each year because of the rising temperature.
• Co2 is at its highest in 2 million years.
• Air pollution kills 10 million people per year.

Related: 11 Interesting Facts About Climate Change

The consequences of our use of natural resources threaten our way of life on this planet. We can reverse the damage by acknowledging the myths many share.

5 Climate Change Myths & The Facts To Refute Them

1. Climate change is natural

As stated above, climate change is old news. Because it has always happened, and always will. Also, as stated above, it’s not the changing of the climate that’s the problem but human-caused carbon release. Yes, climate change is natural because of conditions such as the long-term fluctuation of sunlight due to how the earth’s orbit has changed. However, natural occurrence is not the reason the earth is heating at an astronomical pace. Human activities are the cause. Greenhouse gases release because of the extensive use of fossil fuels use for electricity, transportation and heat. This is a perfect example of human activities directly affecting our climate.

Here is another logic to offset this climate change myth. If what’s happening to our planet is because of natural occurrence because of other natural factors such as the sun’s change in solar output and volcanoes, this would have led to the earth cooling slightly over the past five decades, not getting hotter.

2. Carbon dioxide is a necessary resource plants need

This is true, plants absorb carbon dioxide (Co2) as a part of their photosynthesis process. The problem is we’ve cut down so many of our forests to produce food and other resources that what trees we have is not enough to absorb all the Co2 we produce. What happens to the Co2 not being absorbed by plants? According to this post published by the New York Times, plants and soil absorb only a quarter of the greenhouse gases humans produce. Under warmer conditions, plants will absorb fewer greenhouse gases, which will cause faster atmospheric changes. While co2 itself is a part of the ecosystem, the issue is the level of Co2 being produced by humans. Because of global warming and less plant life to absorb the high levels of gases we produce, Co2 is higher than it has ever been.

3. It’s Cold out, Global Warming Doesn’t Exist

There is a difference between weather and climate. When using the term weather, we are talking about daily variations regardless of locations. Climate addresses a wider temperature shift, not just in one country, but globally. Global warming or climate change is referring to what’s happening on the entire earth’s surface. CBS news published a post in which they gave an excellent example of knowing the difference between weather and climate. They say a good way to know the difference is to consider climate as our personality, and weather as our mood.

Just because the weather outside the door is cold, it doesn’t mean global warming doesn’t exist. Global warming doesn’t prevent cold weather from happening. However, it will make winter extreme, less likely.

4. It’s too late. Nothing we do will matter.

Addressing climate change should be a priority for all of us. It’s never too late to lower our global emissions. While the effect of human activities in the past and today are irreversible, everything we do moving forward will decrease global temperatures tomorrow. This will happen if governments, vehicle manufacturers, and industrial companies work towards achieving net zero. Removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

We also can also take proactive steps by changing how we emit Co2 and other pollutants. Dynamic actions can be to implement a green living strategy at home and work.

5. Climate Change Is An Issue For The Future

If we want to prevent a climate breakdown, we must change now. If we don’t reduce Co2 in our atmosphere, and adapt to an eco-lifestyle, the effect will be devastating. Globally, we already see instability due to man-made environmental factors, from the cars we drive to industrial emissions. Not acting now and believing this is an issue for the future threatens our planet’s sustainability.