University of Kwazulu-Natal

Copious Evidence Proves Climate Change Is Not A Fraud

Bonisiwe Shabane
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copious evidence proves climate change is not a fraud

Multiple social media posts continue to downplay or, in some cases, outright deny the existence of climate change despite overwhelming evidence supporting the scientific consensus it exists and is fueled by human activity. One Facebook post shared Jan. 25 went as far as calling the concept a "fraud." Nick Adams, a conservative pundit, shared a post featuring a photo of himself with text superimposed on the image assailing climate change. "Global warming is the most significant fraud perpetrated on humanity this century," Adams said in the text. Adams included a caption with the photo that dismisses technology meant to combat climate change, saying, "no more windmills, no more solar panels and no more electric cars."

Climate misinformation is everywhere. This guide equips journalists to recognize and refute key myths and report the truth. The Keeling Curve, showing the rise in global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels since the pre-industrial era. (Source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography) Scientists the world over agree that climate change is real, it’s happening now, and it’s caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Still, there are a lot of myths being repeated about climate change, and even journalists can get taken in.

Most climate change myths have been perpetuated by fossil fuel companies, their political allies, and others with vested interests in the status quo. For decades, they’ve spent millions of dollars on advertising, think tank “studies,” and lobbying to confuse the public, policymakers, and the press and thereby forestall climate action. This has led some journalists to soften their coverage — for example, by not connecting climate change to extreme weather — leaving the public misinformed. This guide equips journalists to recognize and refute these myths and report the truth. "A sensational paper in top science journal Nature has found 'no change in the warming rate beyond the 1970s,' blowing holes in alarmist claims that global temperatures are surging, says Chris Morrison," an October... Other posts and climate-skeptic publications drew similar conclusions across platforms and in languages, including French, Dutch, Greek, Italian and German, following the publication of a study (archived here) in the scientific journal, Nature, on...

But using the article's conclusions to claim that there has been no additional warming since the 1970s is highly misguided, scientists say, noting that the models used in the study instead detect a consistent... "Our study affirms steadily increasing surface temperatures since the 1970s," Claudie Beaulieu, associate professor in the Ocean Sciences Department at the University of California Santa Cruz and lead author of the paper (archived here),... "It is very worrying to hear that our paper is used by climate deniers to make false claims," she said. It starts with a whisper—rising seas nibbling away at coastlines, warmer winters replacing the cold snaps of old, forests catching fire in places that once stood serene and damp. Somewhere, a polar bear drifts on a dwindling ice floe. Elsewhere, a farmer stares at the cracked, parched earth that once yielded life.

And everywhere, people are asking: Is this real? Is it natural? Is it too late? Global warming. For decades, those two words have hovered in the background of public discourse, growing louder with each passing year. Yet for every scientist shouting the alarm, there’s a social media post casting doubt.

Climate change is real, they say. No, it’s a hoax. It’s human-caused. No, it’s natural. The confusion is not surprising. When fear, politics, and profit collide, the truth often gets buried.

But today, we dig it out. Not with shouting, but with clarity. Not with fear, but with facts. This is a journey through science and storytelling, separating myth from reality, to help you understand what global warming really is—and why the truth matters now more than ever. The story of global warming is ancient, stretching back far before the Industrial Revolution. Our planet’s climate has never been static.

It has swung from ice ages to tropical epochs over millions of years, driven by natural factors like volcanic activity, solar radiation, and changes in Earth’s orbit. But something different began in the late 18th century. Humanity discovered coal, then oil, then gas. We built engines, powered factories, lit up cities, and transformed the world. And in doing so, we began to alter the chemistry of our atmosphere in ways nature never had. An ocean temperature decrease between 2013-2022 proves global warming is a hoax.

Misleading. The claim is based on cherry-picked data and evidence shows global warming is real. AAP FACTCHECK - A small decrease in ocean temperatures over eight years does not disprove global warming, despite claims being made online. A graph based on data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that shows global ocean temperature data from 2014 to 2022 is being used as evidence to undermine the science of... While the graph indicates a 0.02C decrease over the period, long-term data shows a clear warming trend. A study into global warming proves it is a hoax.

False. The study detected no change in the rate of temperatures rises, but it found the globe has indeed been warming for decades. AAP FACTCHECK – A study in a prestigious scientific journal proves global warming is a hoax because it found that temperature rises have not surged, social media posts claim. The claim is false. The study found that the rate of global warming has not accelerated since the 1970s, but it did find that temperatures have been constantly increasing. The claim is in a Facebook post sharing a screenshot of another social media post featuring a graph of temperatures from 1850 to the present day.

Multiple social media posts continue to downplay or, in some cases, outright deny the existence of climate change despite overwhelming evidence supporting the scientific consensus it exists and is fueled by human activity. One Facebook post shared Jan. 25 went as far as calling the concept a "fraud." Nick Adams, a conservative pundit, shared a post featuring a photo of himself with text superimposed on the image assailing climate change. "Global warming is the most significant fraud perpetrated on humanity this century," Adams said in the text. Adams included a caption with the photo that dismisses technology meant to combat climate change, saying, "no more windmills, no more solar panels and no more electric cars."

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