Slate’s Climate Extinction Scare Debunked: Why Humanity Isn’t Doomed
22 hours ago Anthony Watts
In a recent Slate article, titled “I Used to Hope Humans Were Headed for Extinction. Now I Know That Fantasy Allows Us the Easy Way Out” author Lizzie Wade argues that humanity is on the path to extinction due to climate change, suggesting that a 4°C rise in global temperatures could spell the end for modern civilization. This claim is not just alarmist; it’s absurdly wrong. The available evidence today suggests that humanity is more resilient and capable of adapting to changing climates than ever before, bolstered by centuries of technological and medical advancements.
Contrary to the doomsday narrative pushed by Slate, humanity is currently experiencing a golden age. Consider the metrics: global life expectancy has more than doubled over the past century, food production is at an all-time high, and access to clean water, healthcare, and education has dramatically improved. According to the World Bank, life expectancy worldwide has risen from 52 years in 1960 to over 73 years in 2023. This progress has occurred alongside the very fossil-fuel-driven industrialization that Slate blames for the impending apocalypse.
Historically, colder periods such as the Little Ice Age (1300-1850) were marked by widespread famine, crop failures, and societal decline. Meanwhile, warmer periods like the Medieval Warm Period (900-1300) saw agricultural expansion, population growth, and the rise of major civilizations. If warmer temperatures were inherently catastrophic, how do we explain the prosperity that characterized these warmer eras? The reality is that warmth fosters life, while cold has historically brought more suffering and death. Consider the graph below. It clearly shows as we have advanced technologically while at the same time slightly warming over the past century, human death risks from climate have approached zero.
Plotted by Bjørn Lomborg. Data: The International Disaster Database,
http://emdat.be/emdat_db/The Slate article leans heavily on the claim that a 4°C rise in temperatures will trigger societal collapse. But where does this number come from? It is based on speculative climate models that have repeatedly overestimated warming trends. A review of historical climate model performance by Climate at a Glance shows that these models routinely predict more warming than actually occurs.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/20/human-extinction-is-a-baseless-climate-scare-slate/
