CLAIM: A Twitter user, PeterSweden on Nov.12 posted on the social networking site that climate change is never a threat to humanity.
He said humans were as of that day living in freezing -50C to crazy hot +50C. A few degrees up or down, he asserted, would not make a difference.
“Climate change is not a threat to humanity. Humans today are living in freezing -50C to crazy hot +50C. A few degrees up or down won’t make a difference,” said PeterSweden in the tweet.
Climate change is not a threat to humanity.
Humans today are living in freezing -50C to crazy hot +50C.
A few degrees up or down won’t make a difference.
— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) November 12, 2022
VERIFICATION: Climate change according to Britannica is a periodic modification of Earth’s climate brought about as a result of changes in the atmosphere as well as interactions between the atmosphere and various other geologic, chemical, biological, and geographic factors within the Earth system.
This online encyclopaedia site explained that the atmosphere is a dynamic fluid that is continually in motion; in which both its physical properties and its rate and direction of motion are influenced by a variety of factors, including solar radiation, the geographic position of continents, ocean currents, the location and orientation of mountain ranges, atmospheric chemistry, and vegetation growing on the land surface.
All these factors, the research site said, change through time and some factors that include the distribution of heat within the oceans, atmospheric chemistry, and surface vegetation, change at very short timescales.
Others, such as the position of continents and the location and height of mountain ranges, change over very long timescales. Therefore, climate, which results from the physical properties and motion of the atmosphere, varies at every conceivable timescale.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its study identified greenhouse gas emissions, resulting from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, as major contributors to both climate change and air pollution.
It noted, however, that many policies and individual measures, such as transport, food and energy use choices, have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and produce major health co-benefits, particularly by abating air pollution.
The phase-out of polluting energy systems, for example, or the promotion of public transportation and active movement, according to the global health organisation, could both lower carbon emissions and cut the burden of household and ambient air pollution, which cause 7 million premature deaths per year.
“Climate change is impacting human lives and health in a variety of ways; one of such is a threat to the essential ingredients of good health – clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supply and safe shelter – and has the potential to undermine decades of progress in global health.
“Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress alone.
“The direct damage costs to health are estimated to be between US$ 2–4 billion per year by 2030.
“Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond,” said the WHO in the report on its official website.
The World Meteorological Organisation while corroborating on the climate change impact said that human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks.
People and ecosystems least able to cope are being hardest hit, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
“This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our well-being and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people and nature respond to increasing climate risks.”
The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C (2.7°F).
Even temporarily exceeding this warming level, the meteorological agency said, will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible. Risks for society will increase, including to infrastructure and low-lying coastal settlements.
Increased heatwaves, droughts, and floods are already exceeding plants’ and animals’ tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals.
“These weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage.
They have exposed millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, on Small Islands and in the Arctic.
“To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
“So far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks, the new report finds. These gaps are largest among lower-income populations,” it said.
CONCLUSION: A claim that climate change poses no threat to humanity is FALSE. Numerous research has shown that the impact of the change in atmospheric conditions is enormous and life-threatening.
This fact-check was produced by BONews Service with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, International Fact-Checking Network, and African Fact-Checking Alliance network.