On every Earth Day coming, attention around the world turns to environmental issues. None is more famous — or infamous — than climate change.

The winter of 2017–2018 has stirred debate about global warming. Some say the long, cold winter should quell climate alarmism. Others use it as evidence for extreme manmade warming.

Who’s right?

An Inconvenient Winter

Temperatures plummeted way below normal across the Northern Hemisphere this winter. Many cities in Canada, America, England, and Europe broke previous record lows. But it is not just the intensity of winter that has taken climate alarmists by surprise. It’s also the length.

The implications of this cold winter challenge those who believe CO2 emissions are pushing global temperatures ever higher.

Winter temperatures persist in many parts of Canada and Europe in late April. Some places received record amounts of snow. Some got it unexpectedly late. The prolonged winter even delayed spring planting in many regions.

The winter’s intensity and duration are no longer contested. The evidence can’t be denied. So mainstream media ignore it. It doesn’t reflect the preferred narrative.

Flawed Climate Models

By all measures, this winter is long and severe. The implications challenge those who believe CO2 emissions are pushing global temperatures ever higher.

For decades, climate alarmists have claimed that global temperature is on a steep upward curve to dangerous levels. Part of their claim is based on temperatures recorded since the mid-19th century. But the predictive part comes from computer climate models.

However, the models’ forecasts failed miserably during the past 18 years. Global temperature stayed well below projected levels.

Moreover, the predicted upward trend does not hold true over long periods. Most of the alarmists’ claims refer only to the period since 1870. But the earth’s temperature has displayed major ups and downs, with warm periods equaling or exceeding today’s.

The earth also went through a cold period, the Little Ice Age, during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Modern Warm Period that followed it has yet to exceed the warmth of the Medieval Warm Period that came before it. Winters like this year’s are not sufficient reason to claim an end to the Modern Warm Period. But they do subvert the claim of steadily, and swiftly, rising temperatures driven by CO2 emissions.

It’s Time for a New Approach

When it comes to global temperatures, it is safe to assert (based on hundreds of scientific publications) that nothing unusual is happening with our climate system.

Almost none of the computer climate models foresaw the 18-year absence of significant warming. No alarmist scientist warned us about the current colder-than-normal winter, which has disturbed normal life in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Harsh winters are no surprise for well-informed, unbiased climate scientists. But they are baffling for those who believe in an unprecedented, continuous, accelerating warming. The mainstream media and a select group of scientists and decision makers in institutions that interpret and distribute climate data have misled the public. This winter is a wakeup call.

It is high time for journalists and policymakers to adopt a more realistic approach to climate change. Then citizens and governments can be better prepared to meet cold swings in global temperature.

Vijay Jayaraj (M.Sc., Environmental Science, University of East Anglia, England), Research Associate for Developing Countries for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, lives in Coimbatore, India.