Climate Talk

How to read a climate study headline without getting fooled: 5 checks

After a year of reading these comparison posts I've noticed the same traps, so here's my checklist.

1. Who did the study? A university or weather service is different from a press release by a company. 2. Estimate or count? Lots of heat death figures are modelled estimates, which is fine, but say so. 3. Compared to what? "Record" since when? 4. Read past the headline. "Joint hottest" became "hottest" in some outlets this year. 5. Check the date. Early disaster numbers change a lot.

None of this means distrust everything. It just means read like a lawyer reads a contract.