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1051. Debunking 8 Myths About Climate Change

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1051. Debunking 8 Myths About Climate Change

All over the world, record-breaking temperatures are being reported. While scientists debate the signs that the Earth's climate is changing rapidly, many people still dismiss climate change as unsubstantiated. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has addressed and debunked eight myths about climate change.

 

Myth #1: Climate change has always happened, so we should not worry about it. 
➡While it is true that global temperatures have been warming and cooling over the long term, the relative stability of the climate since the last ice age 10,000 years ago has been crucial for the development of human civilization. However, this stability is now broken. Over the past 2,000 years, the Earth has warmed rapidly, It is currently 1.2°C warmer than during the Industrial Revolution, the hottest in the past decade, especially in 2023, which recorded abnormally high temperatures. Sea temperature, sea level, and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have also broken records.

 

Myth #2: Climate change is a natural process unrelated to human activity. 
➡Climate change is a natural phenomenon, but human activity is accelerating it. Much of the anthropogenic warming is caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide concentrations have not been this high in 2 million years, and methane and nitrous oxide concentrations are at 800,000-year highs.

 

Myth #3: A couple of degrees of warming is no big  deal. 
➡In reality, even the slightest change in temperature can affect sensitive ecosystems, which in turn can affect humans and other organisms. Even a difference of as little as 0.5°C of warming, between 1.5°C and 2.0°C, could expose 2 billion people to extreme heatwaves. It could also double the number of plant species affected and nearly triple the number of insects impacted. In some regions, crop yields could be halved, leading to food security crises.

 

Myth #4: An increase in cold snaps shows that climate change is not real. 
➡Day-to-day weather and long-term climate are different, and cold snaps can occur even in a warming world. According to scientists, climate change could lead to the collapse of polar vortices, leading to extreme cold snaps in unusual regions, such as those observed in Texas in 2021.

 

Myth #5: Scientists disagree on the cause of climate change. 
➡According to a 2021 study, 99% of peer-reviewed papers concluded that climate change is caused by human activities.

 

Myth #6: It is too late to avert a climate catastrophe, so we might as well keep burning fossil fuels. 
➡While the situation is dire, there is still a chance to avoid the worst-case scenario. A 42% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 would limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

 

Myth #7: Climate models are unreliable. 
➡According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate models have consistently been able to predict global warming, and the 2020 study concluded that 14 of the 17 models developed between 1970 and 2007 were able to predict outcomes that closely matched observations.

 

Myth #8: We do not need to worry about lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Humanity is inventive; we can just adapt to climate change. 
➡While some countries and communities can adapt to rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall, many developing nations, especially island countries, are unable to adapt. Without concerted efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the impact of climate change will be more severe, and adaptation may become increasingly difficult.

 

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki, Information Program


 

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