New study: climate makes children born today experience 2-36x more climate catastrophes

Lot of media coverage

But study assumes everyone stays poor and do nothing to adapt

Not remotely true of real world

So, what's the point, except to scare?

🧵

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
To predict 2100, scary climate study assumes nobody does anything after 2005

– how does that inform real-life decisions?

They don’t even tell you this in main study – you have to read the supplementary material, almost as if they don't want you to know

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Predicting the world in 2021 with 1926 data is awful

Since 1926, sea levels risen 15-20cm so prediction: drowned significant parts of the world

But human ingenuity actually means that *more* land has been reclaimed than lost!

nature.com/articles/nclim…
Scary climate study cherry-picks events that they know will get worse

Not useful way to guide policy

but great way to scare

(they also introduce ref37, which describes all their data better
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…)
Scary climate study shows that fires burn more and more

In reality, global burned area has *declined*

But, of course, if you ignore societies controlling fire...

Not useful to guide policy

but great way to scare

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Scary climate study uses fire model that doesn’t really work

And acknowledges that human action could reverse ”any of the trends found here”

But while this is useless to guide policy

it is great for scaring

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…
Global fire history shows ever less area burns because of human fire suppression

Climate policy will make fire decline even more

This sort of information can help policy-makers

But, of course, pretty useless for scaring young people senseless

Refs here
Scary climate study claims much more fire (red line)

But 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 true if ignore CO₂ and fire suppression from society

If included, Nature study shows *completely* different outcome

Red line useless for policy, but great for scaring

nature.com/articles/nclim…
Scary study shows more flooding, but ignores social factors:

Not surprisingly, humans can avoid most flooding, if they are not poor

Ignoring obvious adaptation — like levees and dams — doesn’t inform but simply scares

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…
Compare the impact on coastal flooding from rising sea levels:

As humanity gets richer (SSP1 or SSP5), it will protect itself ever better, and ever fewer will get flooded

Informative, but not scary

pnas.org/content/111/9/…
Scary climate study finds more and more hurricanes

— although they *know* that ”most … models project fewer hurricanes in a warmer world”

While not informative, claiming more hurricanes obviously great for scare stories

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…
Scary climate study finds more and more hurricanes

— but the UN Climate Panel from 2021 finds that the frequency “will decrease or remain unchanged with increased global warming”

How is this not deeply problematic?

ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1…
Scary climate study expects more hurricanes and model that humanity will do nothing

— although we’ve always tackled hurricanes, and adaptation can ”reverse any such trend”

But great for scaring young people

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…
Scary climate study expects more crop failure and expects humanity will do nothing

— although changing cultivars, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation can reverse this

But narrative great for scaring young people

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…
Scary study predicts more and more crop failures because they ignore adaptation

WHO estimate for malnutrition: declines dramatically because of less poverty. Climate simply slows down the decline slightly

But scaring people is apparently much more fun

apps.who.int/iris/handle/10…
Scary article blatantly tells you (in supplementary material) that they only look at potentially bad stuff, but in reality, things might get better

Well, here are actual damages for global weather-related losses — declining

Scary climate article tells you: children of the future will experience many more climate disasters

But they ignore adaptation and many of their models are just plain bad

Demand policy-relevant information, not just scares

, sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

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More from @BjornLomborg

11 Sep
Global inequality is lower today than last 140 years

Ineq increase hugely in 1800s bc industrialized world pulls away

Ineq decline as poor world (China, India) starts gaining

Gini: 0=no ineq, 1= total ineq

New, amazing data from @PikettyLeMonde & co
wid.world/document/longr… Image
Income development 1820-2020:

In China, per person income dropped from 82% of world average in 1820 down to 20% in 1980, before rising to 109% in 2020

In Indonesia, it dropped from 57% in 1820 to 16% in 1950, up to 68% in 2020

wid.world/document/longr… Image
What drives global inequality?

Blue line shows domestic inequality: high, but lower in 1950s-80s

Orange line shows inequality between nations: increase dramatically after rich world industrialization, decline after 1980 as poor world is gaining again

wid.world/document/longr… Image
Read 7 tweets
6 Sep
The world’s top medical editors argue for climate action with core argument: Global heat deaths for 65+ increased 50+%

But don’t tell you that the number of 65+ has increased almost as much

Oops

bmj.com/content/374/bm…, bmj.com/content/374/bm…, thelancet.com/journals/lance…
The world’s top medical editors argue for climate action

With amateur mistake: they forget to adjust for more old people

They should correct their paper (but of course, it would also neuter it)

bmj.com/content/374/bm…, bmj.com/content/374/bm…, thelancet.com/journals/lance…
The world’s top medical editors for climate action

Vastly overstating heat deaths
And entirely ignoring dramatic reduction in cold deaths

How are we well informed by this?

bmj.com/content/374/bm…, bmj.com/content/374/bm…, thelancet.com/journals/lance… ihmeuw.org/5k7m
Read 6 tweets
1 Sep
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 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝟭𝟯𝘅
In reality, 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱
library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?ex…
bbc.com/news/science-e…
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 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝟰𝘅
They haven't increased at all

library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?ex…
bbc.com/news/science-e…
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 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝟭𝟯𝘅
In reality, 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱
library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?ex…
bbc.com/news/science-e…
Read 8 tweets
28 Aug
New Nature study shows net-zero will cost each American more than $11,000 every year by 2050

That's ~100x more expensive than what Americans are willing to pay

Current, super-expensive climate policy simply won't get net-zero past voters

nature.com/articles/s4155…
New Nature study shows net-zero will cost the US more than 12% of its GDP every year by 2050

For comparison, Social Security today costs 5% of US GDP and Medicare/Medicaid 6.4%

Implausible voters will accept such cost of net-zero

cbo.gov/system/files/2…
nature.com/articles/s4155…
New Nature study shows net-zero will cost the US more than $4 trillion every year by 2050

For comparison, Social Security today costs $1.1tr and Medicare/Medicaid $1.4tr

Implausible voters will accept such cost of net-zero

cbo.gov/system/files/2…
nature.com/articles/s4155…
Read 7 tweets
26 Aug
It seems truth often matters little when pushing climate crisis

Claim in media around world that ‘climate crisis’ makes more heat deaths

No: for constant population, both heat and cold deaths down

Thread

edition.cnn.com/2021/08/19/hea…
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
ihmeuw.org/5d6x
We only see more cold and heat deaths if we don’t adjust for population:

because more and especially many more older people

We are badly informed when media claims that this is because of climate

edition.cnn.com/2021/08/19/hea…
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
ihmeuw.org/5d6x
In general, all age groups die less of cold
Of 95+ year olds, 1.5% die each year from cold (29% die of all causes each year)

Heat deaths up, but from very low base, of 95+ year olds, 0.06% die each year

edition.cnn.com/2021/08/19/hea…
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
ihmeuw.org/5d6x
Read 5 tweets
22 Aug
Heatwave magnitude in the US was highest in the 1930s

How do we know? Follow the science:

It is the conclusion from the US Fourth National Climate Assessment "heat wave magnitude reached a maximum in the 1930s."

science2017.globalchange.gov/downloads/CSSR… p191
Heatwave magnitude in the US was highest in the 1930s

How do we know? Follow the science:

EPA has one — and only one — century-long heat wave indicator. It shows heatwaves strongest in 1930s decade and maxed in 1936

epa.gov/climate-indica…
The official climate information of the US government tells us that over the last century, US heatwaves peaked in the 1930s

This is incontrovertible

But some don't like this information

Climate scientist Dessler argues "that just doesn't look right"

Read 13 tweets

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