Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it simply-and the best:
This definition is the key to my philosophy on climate (and science in general). Here are a couple of examples I use to define the difference between facts and “truth”
FACT: “I am less than 6 feet tall”. This can be measured. It can be verified through measurement by others. No person with any objectivity can dispute it.
TRUTH: “I am short”. Yes, most people would consider 5’6 “short”. But maybe Tom Cruise wouldn’t (he’s supposedly 5’7″). Danny DeVito might even consider me “tall” (listed as 4’10”). “I am short” is MY truth. Others might reasonably think differently.
Here’s another example: I have just been driving and pulled over by police.
Policeman: “You were speeding. You were doing 28 mph in a 25-mph zone”
Me: “That’s not speeding. Are you going to give me a ticket when everyone goes above 25?”
The policeman stated a FACT. But my TRUTH was that I wasn’t speeding.
CLIMATE FACTS VS. “TRUTH”
First, you may notice I put quotes around TRUTH but not around FACTS. I asked Google AI and got what I think are good answers:
“The practice of putting quotation marks around “truth” while leaving facts unquoted is rooted in a philosophical distinction between the two concepts.
Nature A broader, often more subjective concept. A truth can be a belief, a personal interpretation, or a value system, such as “Honesty is the best policy”. A specific, verifiable piece of information or an objective state of affairs that can be proven.
Objectivity Can be influenced by personal experiences and beliefs. Independent of personal perspective or opinion. For example, the fact that “the Earth orbits the Sun” is scientifically verifiable regardless of individual belief.
Certainty Can be subject to interpretation and may be contested or change over time as perspectives evolve. Accepted as stable until new evidence proves them wrong. Scientific facts are provisionally accepted but can be revised with better information.
Usage Because of its subjective nature, it is sometimes used to describe a version of reality unique to a person or group. Placing it in quotes can signify doubt or distance from that claim. As a singular, verifiable piece of data, it stands on its own. Using the word “fact” asserts that the statement is objective and provable.”
CLIMATE FACTS
Air temperatures are measurable. So is precipitation. The instruments aren’t perfect, but the science world has accepted them as accurate for hundreds of years. Instruments can also accurately measure water temperatures. Satellites can measure temperatures, ice extent and thickness, and even moisture in the atmosphere. And the more measurements there are, the greater the confidence that they are accurate. And are FACTS.
So, here are examples of climate FACTS in map and graphic forms:
(We can surely assume accurate temperatures have been taken since 1951. If you have any doubts, look into Berkeley Earth-their mission was to find biases in instrument readings, but confirmed them instead)
Check out the Wikipedia link to Berkeley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Earth
One quote from the site: “The Berkeley Earth study addressed scientific concerns raised by skeptics including urban heat island effect, poor station quality, and the risk of data selection bias.”
If you don’t accept even the trend or overall message of these graphics, you are a climate denier. Period.
Science uses measurements, but they’re not perfect. Data doesn’t have to be perfect to be a FACT.
THE TEMPERATURE “TRUTH”
So, any objective view can see the fact of the global temperature rise, especially since around 1970. The real question is “WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED”? The overwhelming climate scientist’s “truth” is that this warming was caused by human activities (the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide). Your “truth” may be different. Many of us refer to those other “truths” as MYTHS. I’ll be talking about many of those myths in the future.
