Climate-at-a-Glance condenses frequently argued climate issues into one- or two-page “at-a-glance” summaries. Bullet-points at the top provide quick, memorable information. Short summaries of a paragraph or two provide additional depth. Many summaries include powerful visual graphs. Embedded links verify the information. The menu above groups the summaries together by category. Heartland will regularly add new summaries. For climate commentary, see ClimateRealism.com
Climate at a Glance: Weather vs. Climate
Given that climate is a mathematically defined statistical description of average weather over 30 years, it cannot “drive” daily weather events as there is no physical mechanism for such a thing. Weather can be highly variable on a daily, weekly, or even yearly basis – one day it might be sunny with afternoon thunderstorms and the next it’s cold and snowing.
Climate at a Glance: Bees and Climate Change
Many media outlets have repeatedly claimed that climate change is decimating wild bee populations throughout North America. The most recent claims are based on January 12, 2021 study highlighted by Science News.1
Climate at a Glance: The Great Barrier Reef
Coral has existed continuously for the past 40 million years, surviving temperatures and carbon dioxide levels significantly higher than what is occurring today.
Objective scientific evidence refutes claims in recent decades that warming oceans and coral bleaching are resulting in a decline of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
Climate at a Glance: Livestock and Methane
Climate activists like to admonish us not to eat meat to "save the planet". American ranchers and meat consumption have virtually no impact on overall greenhouse gas emissions or climate.
Cattle and beef production account for just 2% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate at a Glance: U.S. Heatwaves
Heatwaves during recent decades remain far less frequent and severe than was the case during the 1930s – nearly 100 years of global warming ago. A majority of each state’s all-time high temperature records were set during the first half of the 20th century.
Climate at a Glance: Polar Bears
Polar bear populations are increasing dramatically during recent decades even as the planet has warmed. Speculation that polar bears are facing imminent demise defy polar bear evolution, polar bear history, and the present state of polar bear populations.
Climate at a Glance: Ocean Acidification
Science and media outlets claim Ocean Acidification is happening due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But objective data show the ocean is far from acidic.
Climate at a Glance: Coronavirus Impact on CO2 Levels
The COVID-19 aka Coronavirus pandemic is causing a worldwide shutdown in economic activity as businesses close, airlines cancel flights, energy production is reduced, and people shelter in their homes and drive less.
Climate at a Glance: El Niño and Global Warming
Climate alarmists often speculate that climate change aka "global warming" is entirely man- made.
However, the truth is, natural events, such as the El Niño, significantly add to the warming of the planet. An analysis of 21st century data that removes the effect of El Niño proves it.
Climate at a Glance: U.S. Wildfires
Wildfires, especially in arid parts of the United States, have always been a natural part of the environment and likely always will. Global warming did not create wildfires.
Climate at a Glance: Ocean Currents
For the past 20 years, alarmists have claimed the ocean currents are slowing down and global warming is to blame. They say this will cause catastrophic weather shifts.
In actuality, there's no evidence that this has occurred or that it will occur in the future.
Climate at a Glance: Cold Spells
Climate alarmists frequently respond to polar vortex events and other extreme cold weather by claiming global warming is to blame.
Not only does that defy common sense, it also defies scientific evidence and the findings of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Climate at a Glance: Greenland Ice Melt
Climate activists, including government bureaucrats, claim the Greenland ice sheet is melting six times faster than 30 years ago. Back then, the Greenland ice sheet was barely melting at all.
“Six times” almost no ice loss remains almost no ice loss.
Climate at a Glance: Crop Production
As global climate modestly warms, U.S. and global crop yields are setting new records almost every year.
The same is true for nearly all other nations, too. Thanks in large part to longer growing seasons, fewer frost events, more precipitation, and the fertilization effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide, farmers are producing more food on less land.
Climate at a Glance: Climate Sensitivity
The value of "climate sensitivity was first postulated over 30 years ago, but the actual value is still highly uncertain.
Declaring future predictions of global warming “settled science” requires a precise calculation of future temperatures; climate science still can't do it with precision.
Climate at a Glance: Antarctic Ice Melt
Climate activists, including government bureaucrats, claim the Antarctic ice sheet is melting six times faster than 30 years ago. Back then, the Antarctica was barely melting at all.
Antarctica was barely losing ice mass, and this remains so today. “Six times” almost no ice loss remains almost no ice loss.
Climate at a Glance: Hurricanes
Devastating hurricanes occurred long before the invention of SUVs and coal-fired power plants.
When we examine real-world hurricane activity data, for the entire hurricane record, it shows little or no impact from global warming.
Climate at a Glance: Drought
Despite claims of a hotter and drought-ridden future, but inconveniently, real-world data show the drought severity index in the United States has become less frequent and less severe as the climate has modestly warmed.
Moreover, the United Nations IPCC reports “low confidence” about any negative drought trends globally.
Climate at a Glance: Consensus
Science is the evaluation of evidence, not a vote or show of hands. Science is not a popularity contest.
Nevertheless, to the extent people claim a scientific consensus exists, there has been only a single science organization whose full membership has been polled on climate-change issues – the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
Climate at a Glance: U.S. Temperatures
The United States has experienced no significant warming since at least 2005. The lack of warming is documented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s U.S. Climate Reference Network, an extremely accurate network of temperature stations throughout the United States.
Climate at a Glance: National Security
Economic strength is the most important factor in determining a nation’s ability to fund and deploy a powerful military over the long term.
That is the reason why the United States has by far the world’s most capable military, even though Russia and Canada are larger in size and China and India have far more people.
Climate at a Glance: Coral Reefs
Coral require warm water, not cold water, to live. Coral cannot live outside of tropical or subtropical waters.
As Earth continues to modestly warm, coral are extending their range toward the poles while still thriving at and near the equator. This defies the predictions of coral demise.
Climate at a Glance: Sea Level Rise
Global sea level has been rising at a relatively steady pace of approximately one foot per century since at least the mid-1800s. There has been very little recent acceleration in sea level rise.
Climate at a Glance: Tipping Point – 1.5 Degrees Celsius Warming
Climate alarmists warn we must take drastic steps within the next 10 years to keep warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial conditions. They claim that warming beyond that threshold will unleash a crisis of substantially worse extreme weather events and other climate harms.
Climate at a Glance: Floods
Occasional heavy precipitation events and floods have always occurred and always will. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports low confidence in any climate change impact on floods, and even acknowledges that climate change is as likely to have reduced flooding frequency and severity as it has been to make them more common.
Climate at a Glance: Water Levels – Great Lakes
Alarmists and their media allies claimed during a recent, short-term decline in Great Lakes water levels that climate change was bringing a new normal of low Great Lakes water levels.
Climate at a Glance: Urban Heat Islands
The majority of U.S. temperature stations utilized for NOAA and NASA temperature records have been compromised by encroachment of artificial surfaces like concrete, asphalt, buildings, and air conditioner exhausts.
Heat islands contribute to the warming of the temperature record.
Climate at a Glance: Subsidies
Climate alarmists often assert that wind and solar subsidies are necessary to level the playing field regarding fossil fuel subsidies.
Climate at a Glance: Carbon Dioxide Tax
The purpose of a carbon dioxide tax is to make conventional energy so expensive that people will be coerced into buying wind and solar power, which is already very expensive.
When that happens and people purchase expensive wind and solar power, no carbon dioxide taxes are collected, so no revenue is returned to the people.
Climate at a Glance: Water Levels – Lake Mead
Even before global warming, some regions of the world experienced periods of lower rainfall and fluctuating river flows and lake levels.
Climate at a Glance: Tornadoes
Tornadoes typically form when very cold, dry air clashes with very warm, humid air.
Global warming warms the Arctic more than the tropics and subtropics, resulting in less of a clash between cold Arctic air masses and warm Gulf of Mexico air masses.
There's no evidence of increased tornado activity due to climate change.
Climate at a Glance: Snowpack
Satellites have been measuring snow cover since 1966. Snowpack throughout the Northern Hemisphere have increased in the fall and winter.
Climate at a Glance: Malaria and Mosquito-Borne Diseases
Claims that warming temperature will cause more malaria cases and deaths are contradicted by real-world evidence. As the Earth warms, malaria cases and deaths are declining in all areas of the world. If global warming causes more malaria cases, we certainly should have witnessed more malaria cases and deaths by now.
Climate at a Glance: Islands and Sea Level Rise
Climate activists often claim Pacific islands are sinking under rising seas and spawning climate refugees. Objective and published scientific evidence debunks claims that climate change is causing small islands to disappear under rising seas.
In fact, new studies have shown most islands to be growing in size, not shrinking.
Climate at a Glance: Climate Refugees
Despite claims of up to 50 million "climate refugees" by the United Nations, there has been a reduction in climate-related refugees rather than an increase.
The asserted causes of climate-refugees – increasing crop failures, catastrophic weather events, and islands lost to rising seas – have failed to occur.