Failed climate change predictions

Throughout the years, the mainstream media has predicted major climate disasters many times over, with many being disproven by time simply passing. The goalpost has continued to move as they have been proven incorrect. They claim that manmade changes will help stunt the impending disasters, which seem to not end up happening anyways.

While predictions for the future are a relatively modern phenomenon climate-wise, there are examples of climate panic going back as far as the 1930s. The Observer, a newspaper in London, claimed in 1937 that Europe's climate was drastically warming, saying that their climate within the last 5 years has "no parallel for [nearly] a century and a half", referring to the late 1770s and early 1780s.

The beginning of these predictions in the modern sense, saw a revitalization on Earth Day, in 1970. It began with fears of a global cooling that slowly, over time, evolved to concerns of global warming once it became evident that they were incorrect in their initial predictions.

In the modern day, most predictions about climate change center around either greenhouse gases for terms of global warming, or microplastics in terms of changes to the environment. Climate policy, such as the Paris Climate Agreement, is often dictated by predictions of scientists who make these predictions and projections regarding the environment and weather, but as is shown in the list below, The Science™ is often unreliable or inaccurate. A great example of their inaccuracy comes from the assertions of former National Weather Service (then called the Weather Bureau) head C.F. Marvin, who stated that "There may be trends of hotter, or colder, or drier, or wetter weather for several years, but on the whole, weather balances to about a constant factor." He then cited an example of climate scientists at the time predicting global increases in temperature, despite the fact that 8 years prior, in 1922, Washington D.C. received more than 25 inches of snow in 24 hours, which was more than had ever been recorded in New York, Chicago, Boston, or St. Paul since the NWS had began keeping records of snowfall in 1870.

Due to the nature of this article, many major climate predictions may be absent, as these are predictions that have been disproven by the advance of time, and therefore are archaic in nature. Obviously incorrect predictions made in recent years by people such as Greta Thunberg will not be present until enough time has passed that they are evidently wrong.

Ice caps

• In 1931, the Times Union expressed concern over a seemingly smaller number of icebergs than reported 20 years earlier. This has been proven to be a fallible metric for determining actual loss of glacial ice due to raw numbers of glaciers not providing any information in the physical amount of ice dispersed among the icebergs.
• In 1934, the New Castle News of New Castle, Pennsylvania, claimed that Alaska's permafrost was receding away from the south. In 2008, surveyors found that 85% of the state was still completely covered in permafrost, and that only the most southern parts of the state, as well as some inland moving rivers had land that was not frozen the entire year.
• In 1972, Bernt Balchen predicted that the Arctic would be ice-free by the year 2000.
• In 1999, the Birmingham Post predicted that the Himalayas would melt by 2009.
• In 2006, German magazine Der Spiegel claimed that climate change could cause the extinction of the Baltic ringed seal, but in April of 2013, Swedish newspaper "The Local" reported a record late freezing period in the Baltic region during the springtime.
• In 2008, James Hansen predicts that the arctic will be ice free by 2018.
• In 2009, former vice president of the United States Al Gore predicted that ice caps would be gone by 2014.
• Around 2010, Glacier National Park placed a sign saying that the park will have melted by 2020. In 2020, they removed the sign.
• In 2012, climate alarmist Peter Wadhams predicted the collapse of arctic sea ice by 2016.
• In 2013, US Naval Intelligence and fellow scientists conducted a study similar to Wadhams that claimed that the arctic circle could experience ice-free summers by 2016.

Rising sea levels

• In 1971, biologist Paul Ehrlich predicted that the United Kingdom would be an archipelago of hungry people by 2000.
• In 1988, climatologists claim that the Maldives will be underwater by 2018.
• In 1988, Climatologist James Hansen predicted that the West Side Highway in Manhattan would be submerged underwater by 2008.
• In 1989, UN environmental officials claims that entire nations would be "wiped off the face of the earth" if climate change went unchecked by 2000. Over 20 years later, this has yet to happen. Even liberal fact checkers admit fault with this statement.
• In 2003, Pentagon scientists predicted that many parts of California would be completely underwater as part of a new delta by the year 2013.
• In 2005, ABC predicts that NYC will be underwater by 2015.
• In 2017, the president of the Maldives claimed that his country would be submerged under water by 2024. As of 2022, current trends with sea level rise dictate this improbable.

Greenhouse gases/Refugees

• In 1974, a scientist tells congress that ozone depletion will cause "great peril" and that rates of skin cancer could increase to 8,000 extra people per year by 1990.
• In 1990, the Denver Post predicted that the Great Plains would turn into desert. A 2019 survey found that 91% of the Great Plains were ranches and agriculturally productive land.
• In 1990, Bill Kurtis of PBS predicted that the rainforests of Madagascar would be gone by 2000.
• In 2005, the United Nations Environmental Programme predicted that there would be 50 million climate refugees by 2010.
• In 2006, the Telegraph reported "global doom" centered in Europe after a reported "hottest year" on record in almost 350 years.
• In 2006, following the release of "An Inconvenient Truth", former Vice President Al Gore stated that humanity had until 2016 to reduce GG emissions before reaching a "point of no return".
• In 2009, prime minister Gordon Brown claimed that the world had 50 days to save Earth from irreversible climate change.
• In 2014, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius warned that humanity had 500 days before "climate chaos".
• In 2018, CNN published an article titled 'Global warming is killing the Great Barrier Reef, study says'. 4 years later, they reported, 'Parts of Great Barrier Reef record highest amount of coral in 36 years'.

Warming climate

• In 1934, the Daily News of New York claimed that the climate of New York City would become warm enough to support plants and animals of a tropical climate. Nearly 90 years later, this remains untrue.
• In 1934, the Vancouver Sun stated that the climate of British Columbia had been getting milder since the 1880s. In 1968, Vancouver's temperature reached a low of -18.3 C (-0.9 F), the lowest ever recorded temperature in the city.
• In 1939, the Paducah Sun-Democrat predicted that the entire world would experience warming climates, in one instance citing the "hottest temperature ever recorded" being that of Tripolitania, Libya, being recorded only 17 years prior at a temperature of 136.4 degrees. Modern scientists now consider the readings inaccurate, as it is most likely that the temperature was never observed in the presence of an actual human, and the temperature being so improbable so close to a body of water (the Mediterranean Sea).
• In 1989, the St. Louis Dispatch claimed that by the year 2004, New York would have the climate of Florida.
• In 1990, the Tribune claimed that there would be reverse migration away from the Sun Belt as climate change makes the climate uninhabitable. Record migration to Florida in the 2020s contradicts this statment.
• In 1990, during a PBS documentary, actress Meryl Streep stated that by the year 2000, Earth would be the hottest it had been in over 100,000 years.

Snow decline

• In 2000, climatologist David Viner stated that snowfall could become a thing of the past.
• In 2000, Mojib Latif of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology says that “Winters with strong frost and lots of snow like we had 20 years ago will cease to exist at our latitudes.”
• In 2000, The New York Times theorized that snow would become a rare occurrence in the state of New York.
• In 2004, Dr. Jeremy Williams predicts that a white Christmas in Wales (Snowdon) could soon be a "thing of the past". Snowdon in Wales temporarily closed in 2013 after being hit with massive amounts of snowfall.
• In 2004, the Guardian predicted the end of the Scottish skiing industry. In winter of 2012, Scottish skiing slopes opened early due to more snow coverage.
• In 2004, Greenpeace predicted that snow in Belgium would become "increasingly rare". In 2020, World Wanderista reported that the High Fens mountains in the country experienced an average of 43 days of snow a year.
• In 2008, the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology predicts that Europe would see snowless winters by 2021.

Season shifting/Hurricane season

• In 1997, the BBC predicted that the El Nino cycle would last for 18 years of warmth, rather than 18 months.
• In 2006, the Guardian predicts massive season shifting as a result of climate change.
• In 2006, The Ledger predicted 'super hurricanes' could become a thing.
• In 2012, the Washington Post predicts that cherry blossom trees will be blooming in Washington D.C. by wintertime.
• In 2022, President Biden warned of a "tough" hurricane season in the coming summer. Later, reports came out declaring that August may not see any tropical storms for only the 3rd time in 60 years. This contradicts mainstream narratives that climate change hastens the creation and increases the severity of hurricanes.

Pollution

• In 1969, the New York Times publishes "Everyone Will Disappear In a Cloud Of Blue Steam By 1989".
• In 1970, Life magazine predicted that all urban city dwellers would need to wear gas masks in order to survive in an air polluted climate by the year 1980, and that sunlight would only penetrate half as hard as it did due to particles in the air.
• In 1970, biochemist George Wald claimed that pollution, among other things, would bring the demise of civilization by the year 2000.
• In 1970, the New York Times said that man must conserve resources to "save the [human] race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction".
• In 1970, Kenneth Watt stated that it would only be a "matter of time" before nitrogen buildup would block all light and all agricultural land would become unusable.
• In 1980, acid rain is called a "front page concern" over the possible mass extinction events involving aquatic life.

Global cooling

• In 1970, Kenneth Watts stated that by the year 2000, the globe will have cooled by 11 degrees.
• In 1971, Dr. S. Ichtiaque Rasool predicted that the earth would enter into a new ice age within the coming decades.
• The Brown University Department of Geological Sciences predicted an ice age by 2070, which contrasts to new claims of heating crises by modern climate alarmists.^{citation needed}
• In 1975, Newsweek ran an article called "Cooling World", predicting that the climate was cooling at such a fast rate that there would be mass famine. Newsweek later retracted the claim in 2014.
• In addition to that, the "Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich claimed that 65 million Americans would starve to death in the 1980s.
• In 2004, the Guardian leaked a Bush intelligence document that predicted that Great Britain would be plunged into a Siberian-like climate by 2020.

Famine/Apocalypse

• An odd example, in 1930, Smithsonian paleontologist James A. Gidley claimed that dinosaurs slowly became extinct over the course of "several million years" due to climate change. Even today, Old Earth scientists refute this claim.
• In 1936, The Great Falls Tribune warned of the destruction of the American agricultural industry due to eroding soil. The Salt Lake Telegram made similar claims in the same year, saying, "our nation itself – may pass away because of the improper use of the soil". As of 2022, The US is still one of the top 4 largest producers of food in the world.
• In 1936, the at-the-time Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A Wallace, claimed that the United States would be affected by climate change in a way where droughts would be "a frequent occurrence from year to year." From 2010 to 2022, the only severe droughts occurring in the United States were those in California, a state already known for mismanagement of forests and wildfires.
• In 1969, Paul Ehrlich claimed that “Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born."
• In 1970, biologist at Washington University Barry Commoner said “We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.”
• In 1970, the founder of Earth Day, Denis Hayes, said that "it is already too late to prevent mass starvation".
• In 1988, NASA scientists warn of mass droughts in the 1990s.
• In 1990, IPCC author Michael Oppenheimer predicted that the North American continent would be overwhelmed by famine and crop failures by 1995.
• In 2009, Prince Charles predicted that humanity had 96 months (8 years) to save the world from severe ecological damage.

See also

• AEI - 41 Failed Doomsday Predictions
• CEI - Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions
• Watts Up With That? - 107 Failed Climate Change Predictions
• Use Due Diligence on Climate
• AEI - 18 Spectacularly Wrong Predictions: Earth Day, 1970
• Climate Change Dispatch - Earth Day at 52