CLAIM: NASA admitted that climate change is due to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, not greenhouse gas emissions.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. NASA has not made such a determination, a spokesperson for the agency told The Associated Press. The agency agrees with the scientific consensus that climate change is driven by greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity.
THE FACTS: A blog post falsely claiming that NASA has acknowledged in the past that climate change is being caused by the Earth’s “solar orbit,” not human activity like consuming fossil fuels, has spread widely on social media in recent days.
The blog post, which is dated August 2019, claims that NASA has known for decades that changes to “planetary weather patterns are completely natural and normal.” The post stated that, in 1958, NASA “first observed” that changes in the “solar orbit of the earth, along with alterations to the earth’s axial tilt, are both responsible for what climate scientists today have dubbed as ‘warming’.”
The AP has previously debunked similar claims made in 2019.
The false claims from the blog post reemerged on social media this week. “NASA admits climate change occurs because of changes in Earth’s solar orbit, not because of SUVs and fossil fuels,” stated one tweet shared over 15,000 times.
NASA has reached no such conclusion, Tylar Greene, a spokesperson for the agency, confirmed.
“I am not aware of any official NASA statement or announcement making that claim or determination,” Greene...
Lawsuit Filed Over Alleged Unsubstantiated Medical Cannabis Claims A class-action lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Illinois, accusing three prominent multi-state cannabis operators—Cresc...