Sources in the Conspiracy-Pseudoscience category may publish unverifiable information that is not always supported by evidence. These sources may be untrustworthy for credible/verifiable information; therefore, fact-checking and further investigation is recommended on a per article basis when obtaining information from these sources. See all Conspiracy-Pseudoscience sources.

• Overall, we rate Climate Etc as a pseudoscience website due to its promotion of anti-climate science propaganda.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: PSEUDOSCIENCE
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY

History

Climate Etc is the blog of Judith A. Curry, who is an American climatologist and former chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The blog publishes news and information regarding climate science and climate change from a skeptical perspective. She was a member of the National Research Council’s Climate Research Committee, published over a hundred scientific papers, and co-edited several significant works. Curry retired from academia in 2017.

According to the about page “Climate Etc. provides a forum for climate researchers, academics and technical experts from other fields, citizen scientists, and the interested public to discuss topics related to climate science and the science-policy interface.”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Judith Curry owns Climate Etc. Donations fund the website.

Analysis / Bias

Most articles reviewed minimize or deny the impacts of human-driven climate change. According to a Scientific American interview, Judith Curry admits to receiving funding from the fossil fuel industry. This article also labeled her a “climate heretic.” Further, Republicans have invited Judith Curry to testify at climate change hearings regarding alleged uncertainties regarding man-made climate change. Finally, Skeptical Science labeled Judith Curry a “Climate Misinformer.”

The website publishes blog posts by Judith Curry related to climate change, and they provide links to other sources that also promote human-influenced climate change denial, such as Watts Up With That and John Stossel, who is not even remotely a climate scientist. The consensus of climate scientists is that climate change is human-influenced, and this site minimizes that assessment. They have also failed numerous fact-checks.

Failed Fact Checks

• “The Earth is not warming.” – Pants on Fire
• “It is an empirical fact that the Earth’s climate has warmed overall for at least the past century. However, we do not know how much humans have contributed to this warming, and there is disagreement among scientists as to whether human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases is the dominant cause of recent warming, relative to natural causes” – Misleading
• “And even the IPCC says more than half. That’s from 51 percent to 99 percent. That is a big interval… I just don’t know how much is human vs. how much is natural, and I think there is a great deal of uncertainty and it is very difficult to untangle it” – Incorrect
• “Current global climate models are not fit for the purpose of attributing the causes of recent warming or for predicting global or regional climate change on timescales of decades to centuries, with any high level of confidence.” – Incorrect
• “It’s been warming for hundreds of years! And we can’t explain all of that due to human causes..” – Misleading
• Antarctic sea-ice extent is increasing to record levels. Antarctica is getting colder; its sea ice and ice cap are not melting. – Inaccurate

Overall, we rate Climate Etc as a pseudoscience website due to its promotion of anti-climate science propaganda. (D. Van Zandt 10/14/2017) Updated (05/02/2023)

Source: https://judithcurry.com/