Download Common Misconceptions about Climate Change

Common Misconceptions about Climate Change
Misconception: Climate change and the loss of the ozone layer are pretty much the same thing.
Fact: Climate change and the loss of the ozone layer are two different problems that are not
very closely connected.
The largest contributor to global warming is carbon dioxide gas released when coal, oil,
and natural gas (called “fossil fuels”) are burned. CFCs, gases that cause stratospheric
ozone depletion, play only a minor role in climate change. The depletion of the
stratospheric ozone layer, including the ozone hole, is a serious environmental problem
because it causes an increase in ultraviolet radiation, which can harm people, animals,
and plants. This is a different problem from the problem of climate change.
Misconception: Aerosol spray cans are a major contributor to climate change.
Fact: Using aerosol spray cans has almost no effect on climate change.
In the past, aerosol spray cans contained CFCs, which contributed to the depletion
of the ozone layer (not the same as global warming). Under U.S. law, aerosol
spray cans no longer contain CFCs.
Misconception: General pollution and toxic chemicals are major contributors to climate
change.
Fact: Most forms of pollution play little or no role in climate change. The invisible carbon
dioxide released when coal, oil, and gas are burned is the single most important contributor to
climate change.
The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, to produce energy for electricity, heat
and transportation is the primary source of carbon dioxide, which is the most important
contributor to global warming. Carbon dioxide does not contribute to general air
pollution.
Misconception: The space program is a major contributor to climate change because it punches
holes in the atmosphere.
Fact: The space program has almost no effect on climate change. The local changes rockets
make in the atmosphere soon disappear.
Gases released by rocket exhaust have no real impact on global warming. They have only
a small, largely short-term, local effect on the different problem of stratospheric ozone
depletion.
Misconception: Using nuclear power causes climate change.
Fact: Nuclear power does not contribute to climate change. If nuclear power is used instead of
coal or oil, it will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. "Renewable energy" sources, such as
solar power, can also reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
While nuclear power plants present a variety of other environmental problems, they do
not emit gases that contribute to global warming.
Excerpted from the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Information Office (http://www.gcrio.org/gwcc/index.htm)
Downloaded and reformatted 12-16-09 by Mary Kelly Klein, Instructor, Mt. Hood Community College.