4 Apocalypses That Never Were
Climate change is real and may cause real problems. But media outlets keep pushing hysterical myths that don't materialize.
"Climate change will make earth a living hell!" claims popular astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
I don't believe him.
The media say, "All Arctic ice will soon melt away! Polar bears are dying off! Global warming causes food shortages!"
Bunk, bunk, bunk.
They are addicted to scaring us.
My new video covers four more myths about climate change:
Myth 1: It's worsening droughts.
The Environmental Defense Fund wins donations partly by claiming, "climate change is worsening drought." Media morons parrot the claim.
It's just not true.
The Environmental Protection Agency: "The last 50 years have generally been wetter than average."
Globally, there's been no increase in drought.
Heartland Institute Research Fellow Linnea Lueken notes, "The media…completely ignore previous years where there were record-low amounts of drought. Every individual drought that occurs in the United States, or anywhere in the world, is not evidence of catastrophic climate change. It's weather."
Myth 2: Climate change is worsening wildfires.
During California's wildfires, silly people at NBC News ranted, "Climate change [is] creating infernos larger than ever."
Bunk.
U.S. Forest Service data shows fires burned much more in the 1930s.
But the climate has gotten warmer! Doesn't that dry trees out and cause wildfires?
No, laughs Lueken. "One degree of change does not dry out all of the brush.…The real driver of these issues is land management."
Poor land management. California restricts clear cutting—removing almost all trees in an area. And they don't allow small fires to burn like they once did, naturally. So, overgrowth builds up and fuels bigger fires.
Also, today's wildfires affect more people not because of climate change, but because there's more suburban sprawl. More people build more houses in the path of grass fires.
Myth 3: Sea level rise will soon cause catastrophic damage.
In 2004, The Guardian wrote, "A secret report…warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas…by 2020."
By 2020.
Last I checked, European cities were OK.
"Sea level rise is absolutely occurring," says Lueken, "but it's been slow.…About a foot per century. There is no way that people wouldn't be able to adapt to it."
Exactly. More than 100 million people already live below high-tide sea level thanks to dikes like those Holland built years ago. And the Dutch built them without the modern equipment we have.
Adjusting to rising water makes more sense than recent environmental policy: moves to ban gas-powered vehicles, giving money to politically connected windfarm developers, etc.
That costs a fortune, but it will make no noticeable difference.
Climate change is real and may cause real problems.
But we can adapt to them, rather than getting hysterical about myths.
One last myth: Coral reefs are disappearing!
The BBC writes, "Coral islands in Australia at risk of disappearing."
According to New York Public Radio, "Scientists Say The Great Barrier Reef is Officially Dying."
It's just not true.
"2024 actually saw record coverage for the Great Barrier Reef," says Lueken. "Corals thrive in tropical conditions."
Between 2019 and 2024, coral coverage more than doubled.
I'm embarrassed for my profession. They pump out nonsense.
"It drives me absolutely batty every time one of these claims is made," says Lueken. "All it takes is a quick Google search to pull up publicly available data on any of these conditions."
"If the good news is so obvious, why would they keep reporting bad news?" I ask.
"Good news doesn't grab headlines…[and] research funding and grants."
That's key.
It took me years of reporting before I realized that scientists who gave me the best, most alarming, and interesting quotes were often just wrong. It isn't that they lie on purpose; it's just that the more you study a problem, the more you worry about it.
On top of that, a scientist who says it's not a problem, or it's a manageable problem, doesn't get attention. Or those big government grants.
If you want money and attention, you need to scare people.
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