Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
@BjornLomborg
Sep 1, 2021 โ€ข 8 tweets โ€ข 5 min read โ€ข Read on X
Scrolly
You're being lied to:

Report claims disasters 5x over past 50 years

But because of better reporting

How do we know?

Take well-measured US tornados:

WMO thinks they've ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฏ๐˜…
In reality, ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ
library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?exโ€ฆ
bbc.com/news/science-eโ€ฆ Image
Incompetent WMO report tells you that disasters 5x over past 50 years

But because of better reporting

How do we know?

Take well-measured US hurricanes:

WMO thinks they've ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐Ÿฐ๐˜…
They haven't increased at all

library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?exโ€ฆ
bbc.com/news/science-eโ€ฆ Image
You're being lied to:

Report claims disasters 5x over past 50 years

But because of better reporting

How do we know?

Take well-measured US tornados:

WMO thinks they've ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฏ๐˜…
In reality, ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ
library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?exโ€ฆ
bbc.com/news/science-eโ€ฆ Image
Using EMDAT data to falsely suggest that catastrophes are increasing is simply dishonest

Increase is from better reporting, data does *not* support claims that # catastrophes are increasing

This lie has been exposed *so* many times

When will media stop misrepresenting better reporting as worse climate outcomes?

@MattMcGrathBBC โ€” looking at you โ€” will you update your story to highlight that this is simply better reporting?

bbc.com/news/science-eโ€ฆ Image
Maybe instead, the media could find some time to point out that societal vulnerability to climate-related disasters has *dramatically* dropped over the past century:

deaths dropped by more than 96-98% (while global population quadrupled)

facebook.com/bjornlomborg/pโ€ฆ Image
Here is my long twitter-thread from last year, when another UN organization disgracefully made the same bad report
Here are all the main categories from the disaster database โ€” *all* increase dramatically

If you with this data wrongly want to claim climate change makes more weather disasters

you also have to wrongly argue climate makes more derailings and volcanos

public.emdat.be Image

โ€ข โ€ข โ€ข

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
ใ€€

Keep Current with Bjorn Lomborg

Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BjornLomborg

Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Oct 31
Spanish floods are tragic โ€” as they are everywhere

But remember flood deaths down dramatically

Globally, floods now kill 5,400/year, down from 400,000/year in 1930s

Deaths from European floods down 7-fold to less than 100 per year today

nature.com/articles/s4146โ€ฆImage
Despite breathless climate reporting,

not only are European floods causing fewer deaths (tweet above) but

Losses from floods in Europe are declining, not increasing

nature.com/articles/s4146โ€ฆImage
Death from flooding declining (2nd row)

not only for rich countries but for poor countries

Deaths declining for almost all extreme weather for rich and poor

for flood, flash flood, coastal flood, cold and wind

and for all extreme weather

sciencedirect.com/science/articlโ€ฆImage
Read 5 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Sep 15
New study: Climate change saves 282,000 babies

Higher temperatures mean more heat, and more babies dying from heat

but it also means less cold, and many more babies not dying from cold

In total, higher temps saved 282,251 babies in 29 poorer countries from 2000-19

Did you read that anywhere?

nature.com/articles/s4146โ€ฆImage
As we have come to expect from studies of heat and cold, they use unequal scales, which makes heat and cold look about the same

โ€” they're not, as you can see on the right


nature.com/articles/s4146โ€ฆ

Image
The study is very explicit in pointing out that the change in extra heat deaths and fewer cold deaths is caused by climate change

nature.com/articles/s4146โ€ฆ
Image
Read 6 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Sep 11
EU climate policy has enormous costs

Industry electricity prices have increased 70% in real terms since 2000

EU industries now pay 2.7x the electricity price in the US (and 1.9x in China)

EU households now pay 2x US electricity price (and 3.3x China)

iea.org/data-and-statiโ€ฆImage
EU climate policy causes high electricity costs

Consequently, EU can afford much less electricity per person

In this century, the EU has managed to get access to almost as much electricity per person as the US got in 1968


iea.org/data-and-statiโ€ฆ
data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.Pโ€ฆImage
EU climate policy has enormous costs

Electricity prices for industry have increased 78% in real terms since 1978

EU industries now pay 2.5x the electricity price in the US (and 1.9x in China)

EU households pay 2x US electricity price (and 3.3x China)

iea.org/data-and-statiโ€ฆImage
Read 5 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Aug 30
Outrageously misleading climate scare from the UN

Today, 85% more old people die from heat

What they don't tell you:

There are now 86% more old people



un.org/sg/en/content/โ€ฆ
thelancet.com/journals/lanceโ€ฆ
population.un.org/dataportal/
I write about this and many other heat scares from the UN in today's WSJ

wsj.com/opinion/unitedโ€ฆ
Here is UNICEF misinforming on heat
Image
Read 5 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Aug 3
Fake news doesn't just come from foreign enemies

Friday, WHO claimed that 175,000 Europeans died from extreme heat

I pointed out that was untrue, almost 4x exaggerated

Saturday morning, WHO admitted this in the smallest possible way โ€” they simply changed their website (and address) and had some online publications delete "extreme"

But, of course, by then the story had already made its intended impact across the world

WHO believes "Climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century" โ€” which is just laughable and one of the reasons it was caught off-guard by Covid

This belief colors the 'findings' of WHO. In their Friday statement, the WHO Europe director explicitly worries about the "climate crisis" and expressed his support for climate action costing $1,000s of trillions (1.5oC target), so he obviously would like a dramatic and large number to make it around the world

Summary: WHO told us extreme heat kills 175K+, a number they've now admitted is almost 4x exaggerated. And they don't tell you that cold deaths at 657K are almost 4x bigger than all heat deaths. This is not informing you well

Journalists have to realize that when e.g. WHO says something, it also needs to be fact-checked

Friday claim:

Saturday update:

My tweet to ask for correction (which the director hasn't replied to):

The actual problem put in context:

WHO climate biggest challenge: web.archive.org/web/2024080206โ€ฆ
who.int/europe/news/itโ€ฆ


web.archive.org/web/2015100811โ€ฆImage
WHO wrongly claimed that 175,000 Europeans die from extreme heat every year

This scary but wrong story got all the headlines

When called out, WHO acknowledged it by simply changing their website (and some online publications)

โ€” but by then, all the scary stories had already had their impact

Friday claim:
Their update:

My tweet to ask for correction (which the director hasn't replied to):
The actual problem put in context: web.archive.org/web/2024080206โ€ฆ
who.int/europe/news/itโ€ฆ

Image
This is what WHO should tell you (because it is true):

Moderate cold is the biggest killer in Europe, followed by moderate heat, extreme cold, and only lastly by the smallest killer, extreme heat

But that doesn't fit the narrative

Image
Read 5 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Jul 17
Another environmental scare debunked:

Acid rain killing all forests was the main environmental scare in the 1980s

A new half-century study shows acid rain doesn't kill trees

โ€” actually, trees grow more with acid rain!

sciencedirect.com/science/articlโ€ฆImage
Acid rain scare in the 1980s delivered full-on panic

No more so than in Germany, where papers claimed "the forest is dying," called it an "ecological Hiroshima" and claimed โ€˜โ€˜the dying of the forests will have a greater impact on our country than World War IIโ€™โ€™

All falseImage
The 1980s Acid Rain scare we know now was mostly false

New study: acid rain actually makes trees grow faster

Yet, a majority of Germans in 1985 believed "all forests will be dead by 2000" because of acid rain

We were misled


bibliothek.wzb.eu/pdf/1986/iiug-โ€ฆ
sauerlaender-verlag.com/CMS/uploads/meโ€ฆImage
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(