• Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Climate Change Dispatch
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Who We Are
  • Facts Vs. Fearmongering
    • Real science vs Junk Science
      • 1100-plus Peer-Reviewed Studies
      • 97% – Myth of the Climate Change Consensus
      • Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming
      • Climate change and its causes
      • Climate Science Primer
      • CO2 is not pollution
      • Deceptive Surface Temperature Records
      • Editorial: Great Global Warming Hoax
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 1
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 2
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 3
      • Why CO2 Is A Minor Player In Global Climate
      • Why Politicized Science Is So Dangerous
    • Facts Not Fear
      • A Simple Question For Climate Alarmists
      • Climate Change – The Facts
      • Climate Change Fears Are Empirically Baseless
      • Global Warming 101
      • Global Warming Q&A
      • Understanding The Medieval Warm Period
      • Ocean Cycles and Climate
      • Overview of Plate Climatology Theory
      • Precautionary Principle
      • Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?
      • The Skeptics Handbook
      • Weather Versus Climate
      • Why I’m a GW skeptic
      • Winning the climate debate with facts
      • Why Aliens Cause Global Warming
    • Greenhouse FAQs
      • CO2, Plants, & Industry
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • Is global warming real?
      • Measuring temperature
      • Swimming in CO2?
      • Scientists urge caution?
      • Today’s warming trend
      • Variations in temperature
    • Gore’s Greatest Goofs
      • Deconstructing the Truth
      • Fact-Checking Al Gore’s Latest Predictions
      • How Gore Created The Global Warming Hoax
    • Inside Real Climate
      • Closer look at the 97% Consensus
      • GW’s Amazing Story
      • IPCC gets failing grade
      • Real Climate Exposed!
      • Truth about Real Climate
      • We’ve Been Conned
      • What is there a 97% consensus about?
    • Behind the IPCC
      • 1,000 Scientists Dissent
      • Climategate: Caught Green-Handed!
      • Climategate Inquiries
      • Climategate Inquiries 2
      • NIPCC Report Now Available
      • Understanding the Climategate Inquiries
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Who We Are
  • Facts Vs. Fearmongering
    • Real science vs Junk Science
      • 1100-plus Peer-Reviewed Studies
      • 97% – Myth of the Climate Change Consensus
      • Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming
      • Climate change and its causes
      • Climate Science Primer
      • CO2 is not pollution
      • Deceptive Surface Temperature Records
      • Editorial: Great Global Warming Hoax
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 1
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 2
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 3
      • Why CO2 Is A Minor Player In Global Climate
      • Why Politicized Science Is So Dangerous
    • Facts Not Fear
      • A Simple Question For Climate Alarmists
      • Climate Change – The Facts
      • Climate Change Fears Are Empirically Baseless
      • Global Warming 101
      • Global Warming Q&A
      • Understanding The Medieval Warm Period
      • Ocean Cycles and Climate
      • Overview of Plate Climatology Theory
      • Precautionary Principle
      • Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?
      • The Skeptics Handbook
      • Weather Versus Climate
      • Why I’m a GW skeptic
      • Winning the climate debate with facts
      • Why Aliens Cause Global Warming
    • Greenhouse FAQs
      • CO2, Plants, & Industry
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • Is global warming real?
      • Measuring temperature
      • Swimming in CO2?
      • Scientists urge caution?
      • Today’s warming trend
      • Variations in temperature
    • Gore’s Greatest Goofs
      • Deconstructing the Truth
      • Fact-Checking Al Gore’s Latest Predictions
      • How Gore Created The Global Warming Hoax
    • Inside Real Climate
      • Closer look at the 97% Consensus
      • GW’s Amazing Story
      • IPCC gets failing grade
      • Real Climate Exposed!
      • Truth about Real Climate
      • We’ve Been Conned
      • What is there a 97% consensus about?
    • Behind the IPCC
      • 1,000 Scientists Dissent
      • Climategate: Caught Green-Handed!
      • Climategate Inquiries
      • Climategate Inquiries 2
      • NIPCC Report Now Available
      • Understanding the Climategate Inquiries
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Climate Change Dispatch
No Result
View All Result

The Myth Of An Overheated Planet Destroyed By Four Facts

by Alex Epstein
July 28, 2023, 9:37 AM
in News and Opinion
A A
2
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

city sun hot baked earthMyth: This year’s hot temperatures show that fossil fuels are already making Earth unlivably hot.

Truth: This year’s hot temperatures are part of a slow warming trend on a planet where far more people die from cold than from heat, and where we need fossil fuels to protect us from both. [some emphasis, links added]

Leading media outlets are portraying this summer’s temperatures as unlivably hot, and offering the rapid adoption of anti-fossil-fuel policies as a solution.

In reality, cold is a far bigger problem than heat—and anti-fossil-fuel policies will make us more endangered by both. 1

Anyone commentating responsibly on summer temps must acknowledge FOUR facts:

  1. Cold-related deaths > heat-related deaths
  2. Earth is warming slowly, and less in warm places
  3. Fossil fuels make us safer from dangerous temps
  4. Anti-fossil-fuel policies increase the danger of cold and heat

1. Cold-related deaths > heat-related deaths

When our leaders discuss the warming of the planet, they treat warming as obviously bad. But while they portray the planet as already “too hot,” the fact is that far more human beings die of cold than of heat.

Study after study has found that deaths from cold outnumber deaths from heat by 5-15 times. On every continent cold is more dangerous than heat.

Even in many countries that we think of as especially hot, such as India, cold-related deaths significantly exceed heat-related deaths. 2

The fact that far more human beings die of cold than of heat means that for the foreseeable future, even without accounting for the heating and cooling benefits of fossil fuels, fossil-fueled global warming will save more lives from cold than it will take from heat. 3

Every story about warming and human mortality should obviously mention that deaths from cold are the biggest source of temperature-related mortality.

But almost no story about warming mentions this!

This level of ignorance and/or dishonesty cannot be tolerated.

Much of the medical community has been particularly shameful in treating warming as catastrophic.

Observe how the prestigious journal The Lancet drastically exaggerated the threat of heat death by making each heat death show up 5 times larger than each cold death on this bar chart! 4

2. Earth is warming slowly—and less in warm places

So far we’ve had ~1°C of warming from a cold starting point in Earth’s history 150 years ago. And future warming will be limited by the diminishing nature of “the greenhouse effect”—as well as being concentrated in colder places. 5

If we remember that cold kills more than heat, and we compare the ~1° C (~2° F) average warming that has occurred over the last 150 years with the wide range of temps we deal with every day/month/year, we will not be scared at all.

So climate catastrophists use deceptions to scare us. 6

The “compressing the Y-axis” deception

To make the slow warming we have experienced look scary, climate catastrophists like to show warming, not on a human temperature scale but on a compressed Y-axis where 1°C is huge. This is like measuring weight gain on a scale where 1 pound is huge.

The “hottest on record” deception

We hear constant alarming-sounding claims that we are in or near “the hottest year on record.”

But given that records began at a cold time and we’re experiencing slow warming, any given year we can expect a new record. So what? 7

Given our limited temperature records, alarming us about a “hottest year on record” during a slow warming period is like a doctor alarming a patient who gains 1/10th of a pound of muscle that it’s his “heaviest year on record.”

The “hottest ever” deception

Climate catastrophists often absurdly equate a month or year being “the hottest on record”—which refers to the fewer than 200 years we have detailed temperature records—with being “the hottest ever.”

Even though Earth was 25°F warmer for millions of years! 8

July was the hottest month in recorded history. I will say that again — we just experienced the hottest month EVER in the history of the planet.

I do not want future generations to look back on this moment and ask why we did not do all we could to address climate change.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 13, 2021

The “treating local extremes as global” deception

Given the slow pace of global warming, local temp changes tend to be much larger than global ones. To scare us, catastrophists take the hottest local temps and portray them as global so we think everywhere is very hot.

An example of treating local extremes as global has been the national media’s focus on Texas when Texas has been “abnormally” hot while ignoring the many places that have been “abnormally” cool. 9

Update on meteorological summer [June-July-August] high temperatures across the Lower 48 United States:

Slightly below average. [-0.05°F]
53 of 92 days included in calculation.

Are you enjoying the comfortable summer across the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and Carolinas? 🌡️✅… pic.twitter.com/muAcxwL8YC

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) July 24, 2023

For some true perspective on heat waves, look at the US Annual Heat Wave Index from the EPA, which says: “Longer-term records show that heat waves in the 1930s remain the most severe in recorded U.S. history”

Today’s “reporting” would give you no indication that this is the case. 10

Data source: Kunkel, K. 2022. An updated version of Figure 2.3 in CCSP (U.S. Climate Change Science Program). 2008. Synthesis and Assessment Product 3.3: Weather and climate extremes in a changing climate. Source. For more information, visit U.S. EPA’s “Climate Change Indicators in the United States” at https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators.

The “treating El Niño warming as global warming” deception

On top of slow global warming, we experience additional warming due to the change from La Niña to El Niño. This is a temporary phenomenon, not a climate trend, but catastrophists exploit it to exaggerate global warming. 11

Global average surface temperature as measured by the NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) (blue); with the effects of El Niño/La Niña removed (red); and with El Niño/La Niña, solar activity and volcanic eruptions removed. Data obtained from Tamino (Open Mind), graph by Rosamund Pearce for Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

Warming so far has been slow and benign. But will future warming make the world unbelievably hot?

No, given two facts almost universally acknowledged by climate scientists: 1) the diminishing warming impact of CO2 and 2) the concentration of warming in colder places.

The warming impact of CO2 diminishes (“logarithmically”) as it increases in concentration.

Every new molecule of CO2 we add to the atmosphere has less of a warming effect than the previous one. Warming will diminish as emissions increase—the only question is at what rate. 12

Even the most wildly implausible “scenarios” from the anti-fossil-fuel IPCC include diminishing warming and a highly livable world with an increasing population. 13

Climate warming is concentrated in colder areas of the world (such as the Arctic), during colder times of day, and during colder seasons.

This means that future warming will occur more in cold situations where it saves lives than in hot situations where it causes problems. 14

All reporting on the warming of the Earth should specify not only that humans are far more endangered by cold than by heat, but also that Earth is warming slowly—and less in warm places.

That virtually no reporting acknowledges this shows that much “reporting” is propaganda.

3. Fossil fuels make us safer from dangerous temperatures

Not only is the warming from fossil fuels’ CO2 emissions slow and in many ways beneficial, the uniquely cost-effective energy we get from fossil fuels makes us both safer from cold and heat.

The portrayal of warming temperatures as a huge danger is based on the fallacy of only looking at the negative effects of something (in this case, warming), not the benefits.

Opponents of fossil fuels also commit this fallacy by ignoring the temperature-mastery benefits of fossil fuels.

The key to being protected from dangerous temperatures is to master them by producing different forms of temperature protection, such as insulated buildings, heating, and air-conditioning. All of these things require energy—which means most people require fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels are the only source of low-cost, reliable energy that for the foreseeable future can provide energy to billions—in a world where three billion people still use less electricity than a typical American refrigerator. 15

The developing world overwhelmingly uses fossil fuels because that is by far the lowest-cost way for them to get reliable energy. Unreliable solar and wind can’t come close. That’s why China and India have hundreds of new coal plants in development. 16

“Studies” that claim future warming will make the world unlivably hot are denying temperature mastery. E.g., one assessment used by the EPA absurdly assumes that if a city like Chicago got as warm as some of today’s Southern cities, it won’t adapt and just suffer mass heat death! 17

It should be common sense for reporters and leaders that if we’re going to be looking at the temperature side-effects of fossil-fuel use, we also need to consider the enormous temperature mastery benefits that come with them.

But this common sense is almost never practiced.

4. Anti-fossil-fuel policies increase the danger of cold and heat

The number one thing that will determine people’s safety from cold and heat for decades to come is the availability of cost-effective energy.

Anti-fossil-fuel policies will increase both cold deaths and heat deaths.

On a planet where people die much more from cold than from heat, but both are major threats, the key to safety is to have energy be as affordable and plentiful as possible so as many as possible can afford heating and air conditioning. For the foreseeable future, this means more fossil fuels.

Even though billions need fossil fuels to protect themselves from cold (above all) and heat, today’s media and leaders pretend that heat is the only problem and the solution is to follow anti-fossil-fuel policies that will supposedly cool the Earth.

This is breathtakingly dishonest.

Not only do anti-fossil-fuel policies deprive people of the energy they need to protect themselves from both cold and heat, these policies cannot cool the Earth for at least several decades, and only then if the whole world, including China, follows them absolutely.

Even if 100% net-zero energy is just decades away (absurd) that won’t even have a tiny cooling impact until emissions are zero (or negative) and today’s warming energy dissipates.

To portray anti-fossil-fuel policies as cooling in any way anytime soon is dishonest. 18

Dangerously cold and hot temperatures are by far the most problematic for poor people. What they need is more fossil fuel energy for air conditioning and heating now, not a climate and energy policy that prevents real future low-emission solutions and makes energy expensive now.

Anyone offering advice on how to deal with hot temperatures is obligated to give advice that will actually help human beings for the foreseeable future.

Pretending that supporting anti-fossil-fuel policies will help people anytime soon by cooling the Earth is a lie.

Not only is it a lie that anti-fossil-fuel policies will protect people anytime soon by cooling the Earth, it is a deadly lie—because in practice it means preventing people from acquiring the air conditioning they need to deal with warm temperatures today and in the future.

The only moral and practical way to reduce CO2 emissions—a global phenomenon—is an innovation that makes low-carbon energy globally cost-competitive. So long as fossil fuels are the most cost-competitive option, especially in developing nations, they will (rightly) choose to emit CO2. 19

Reducing CO2 emissions in a humane and practical way means focusing on liberating alternatives—especially the most potent, nuclear—to try to truly outcompete fossil fuels in the future.

Depriving us off fossil fuels now and pretending China will follow suit is immoral and impractical.

Hillary Clinton blaming pro-fossil-fuel “MAGA Republicans” for hot temps evades that:

  • cold is more dangerous than heat
  • warming is slow
  • we need fossil fuels to protect us from cold and heat
  • anti-fossil-fuel policies won’t cool the Earth but will kill people
  • CO2 emissions are global

Many people rightly took Hillary blaming political opponents for hot weather as beyond the pale. And it was. At the same time, she is just regurgitating climate falsehoods that have become commonplace among our leaders.

Please share these talking points to refute those falsehoods.

Read more at Energy Talking Points

  • Truth
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Gettr
  • Threads
  • gab-logo Gab
  • Mastodon
  • Buffer
  • Telegram
  • Email
  • Copy Link
  • Share Using More Networks…
Share via
  • Facebook
  • Like
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • VKontakte
  • Print
  • Email
  • Reddit
  • Buffer
  • Love This
  • Weibo
  • Pocket
  • Xing
  • Odnoklassniki
  • WhatsApp
  • Meneame
  • Blogger
  • Amazon
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Gmail
  • AOL
  • Newsvine
  • HackerNews
  • Evernote
  • MySpace
  • Mail.ru
  • Viadeo
  • Line
  • Flipboard
  • Comments
  • SMS
  • Viber
  • Telegram
  • Subscribe
  • Skype
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Kakao
  • LiveJournal
  • Yammer
  • Edgar
  • Fintel
  • Mix
  • Instapaper
  • Copy Link
  • Truth
  • gab-logo Gab
  • Gettr
  • Baidu
  • Mastodon
  • Threads
  • Bluesky

Join our list

Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously

Related Posts

Energy

How Wind And Solar Sent Energy Prices Sky-High in ‘Green’ Countries

May 8, 2025
Money & Finance

Bernie Sanders Defends Private Jet Use, Says ‘He’s Too Important’ To Fly Coach

May 8, 2025
Energy

Green Energy Suicide: The West Pays The Price For Its Net-Zero Delusions

May 8, 2025

Comments 2

  1. David Lewis says:
    2 years ago

    One thing often over looked by the warmists is the degree of warming to this point. Are we really supposed to be that just one degree warmer is causing a large number of deaths that wouldn’t happen if we had remained just a tiny bit cooler?

    The article pointed out that the earth is gradually warming. We need to remember the word “gradually.” When the media makes big headlines on “hottest ever,” it is always by a few hundredths of a degree.

    The graph showing the heating sensitivity of carbon dioxide is deceptive in that the lowest line shows the impact of a sensitivity of one degree. The green house impact of carbon dioxide is a declining logarithmic curve and the sensitivity at the higher concentrations is much less than one degree.

  2. SPURWING PLOVER says:
    2 years ago

    As Joe Friday used to say JUST THE FACTS MAM and that’s why the Globalists want to silence those who would oppose their plans for World Government under the UN

Stay Connected On Social Media

gab-logo

Donate Today

Beating back the alarmist narrative takes time and money. Please donate today to help!

Recent Posts

  • german wind farmHow Wind And Solar Sent Energy Prices Sky-High in ‘Green’ Countries
    May 8, 2025
    Adding more green energy makes power more expensive, not cheaper—due to unreliable output, required fossil fuel backup, and taxpayer subsidies. […]
  • bernie sanders fox newsBernie Sanders Defends Private Jet Use, Says ‘He’s Too Important’ To Fly Coach
    May 8, 2025
    Bernie Sanders and AOC are facing criticism for using private jets while promoting their climate-focused “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. […]
  • blackout stationGreen Energy Suicide: The West Pays The Price For Its Net-Zero Delusions
    May 8, 2025
    Green energy policies clash with reality as Europe and the U.S. face blackouts, soaring costs, and a collapsing power grid. […]
  • wright trump exec orderDOE Scraps $4.5M Website And Logo Project Meant To Showcase Green Agenda
    May 8, 2025
    The DOE canceled a $4.5 million contract the Biden admin awarded for a new agency website and logo that highlighted the green energy transition. […]
  • desantis bill signing‘Dead On Arrival’: DeSantis Signs Law Banning Geoengineering And Weather Modification In Florida
    May 7, 2025
    DeSantis has signed legislation shutting down geoengineering and weather modification projects in Florida amid rising voter concerns. […]
  • columbia protestersNo Worthwhile Research Was Lost In The Columbia Funding Cuts
    May 7, 2025
    Columbia University laid off 180 people after Trump ended grants for leftist equity and global warming research. […]
  • tree ringsHow Activists And Flawed Data Created The Illusion Of A Climate Apocalypse
    May 7, 2025
    Activist-made climate graphic misuses smoothed proxy data to exaggerate modern warming, with IPCC silence fueling ongoing alarmism and misinformation. […]
  • polar bear clappingTwo New Studies Reveal Shocking Polar Ice Gains, Upend Climate Narrative
    May 7, 2025
    Two new studies reveal unexpected polar ice trends, challenging climate assumptions and highlighting the need for pragmatic energy policy. […]
  • offshore wind farmBlue States Sue After Trump Halts ‘Green’ Projects, Seek To Revive Biden’s Wind Subsidies
    May 7, 2025
    Trump halts offshore wind leases, triggering lawsuits from 17 blue states trying to rescue Biden-era green-energy graft from the chopping block. […]
  • chris wright‘Absolute Silliness’: DOE Delays Biden-Era Fossil Fuel Ban In Federal Buildings
    May 6, 2025
    The DOE is postponing a Biden-era rule that would limit fossil fuel use in federal buildings, aligning with Trump's energy priorities. […]

Get Instant Email Notifications

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email either instantly or daily. Check your Junk folder for any verification emails upon subscribing.

Submit a tip

Please enter your email, so we know you're human.

Books We Like

very convenient warming

exposing great lie

Have a suggestion? Let us know! We swap out books based on your input. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. See here.

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

© Portions copyright Climate Change Dispatch

Share via
  • Threads
  • gab-logo Gab
  • Mastodon
  • Buffer
  • Telegram
  • Email
  • Copy Link
  • Share Using More Networks…
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Who We Are
  • Facts Vs. Fearmongering
    • Real science vs Junk Science
      • 1100-plus Peer-Reviewed Studies
      • 97% – Myth of the Climate Change Consensus
      • Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming
      • Climate change and its causes
      • Climate Science Primer
      • CO2 is not pollution
      • Deceptive Surface Temperature Records
      • Editorial: Great Global Warming Hoax
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 1
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 2
      • Rules for Climate Radicals: Part 3
      • Why CO2 Is A Minor Player In Global Climate
      • Why Politicized Science Is So Dangerous
    • Facts Not Fear
      • A Simple Question For Climate Alarmists
      • Climate Change – The Facts
      • Climate Change Fears Are Empirically Baseless
      • Global Warming 101
      • Global Warming Q&A
      • Understanding The Medieval Warm Period
      • Ocean Cycles and Climate
      • Overview of Plate Climatology Theory
      • Precautionary Principle
      • Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?
      • The Skeptics Handbook
      • Weather Versus Climate
      • Why I’m a GW skeptic
      • Winning the climate debate with facts
      • Why Aliens Cause Global Warming
    • Greenhouse FAQs
      • CO2, Plants, & Industry
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • How much have temps changed?
      • Is global warming real?
      • Measuring temperature
      • Swimming in CO2?
      • Scientists urge caution?
      • Today’s warming trend
      • Variations in temperature
    • Gore’s Greatest Goofs
      • Deconstructing the Truth
      • Fact-Checking Al Gore’s Latest Predictions
      • How Gore Created The Global Warming Hoax
    • Inside Real Climate
      • Closer look at the 97% Consensus
      • GW’s Amazing Story
      • IPCC gets failing grade
      • Real Climate Exposed!
      • Truth about Real Climate
      • We’ve Been Conned
      • What is there a 97% consensus about?
    • Behind the IPCC
      • 1,000 Scientists Dissent
      • Climategate: Caught Green-Handed!
      • Climategate Inquiries
      • Climategate Inquiries 2
      • NIPCC Report Now Available
      • Understanding the Climategate Inquiries
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Climate Change Dispatch