Fox News personality Tucker Carlson took his climate change denial to new heights after he claimed people should be more worried about "global cooling, otherwise known as winter" during a segment on his program about the ongoing European energy crisis, which has sent power prices soaring and laid bare the continent's dependence on Russian energy.
Carlson provided viewers with a very limited and uneducated analysis about measures several countries are taking in anticipation of heating shortages as temperatures dip in the coming winter months.
He went on to suggest "more people freeze to death every year than die of heat," failing to note extreme temperatures kill millions of people each year and heat-related deaths are rising.
You can hear what Carlson said in the video below.
\u201cTucker: The real threat to people is global cooling\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1661818340
Carlson said:
“The Europeans have discovered that the real threat to human civilization is not global warming; it never was global warming. The real threat to people is global cooling, otherwise known as winter.”
“Far more people freeze to death every year than die of heat. So when temperatures in Europe begin to drop a few months from now, this is a huge problem and that will be obvious to everyone."
"It’s not global warming; it’s global cooling. That’s what’s going to kill your grandmother.”
Carlson's claims run counter to the scientific consensus stating human beings are largely responsible for anthropogenic climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil and gas) which produces heat-trapping gases.
According to the United Nations (UN), warmer temperatures over time are changing weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature, which poses risks to human beings in the form of hotter temperatures, more severe storms, increased drought, a warming, rising ocean, loss of species, a global rise in hunger and poor nutrition, more health risks such as the spread of diseases like malaria, and increased poverty and displacement.
Carlson's remarks were quickly rebuked.
\u201cGlobal ignorance concerns me more, Tucker.\u201d— BAEMax (@BAEMax) 1661864122
\u201cYou're a moron ... hotter summer and colder winter is due to climate change!\u201d— Mahendra Shrestha (@Mahendra Shrestha) 1661868782
\u201cThis is terrifying misinformation. I\u2019m pro free speech but this kind of thing makes me take pause. Also, it never occurs to him the problem is ppl unable to afford heating, not the cold itself.\u201d— Elizabeth Finneron-Burns (@Elizabeth Finneron-Burns) 1661861201
\u201cThis may be the single stupidest thing Tucker Carlson has every said on his program.\u201d— David Knowles (@David Knowles) 1661823009
\u201cPutting a pin in this for January when Tucker thinks there won't be a standing government anywhere with snow.\u201d— Oh, fer Kevin's sake!\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udfd2 (@Oh, fer Kevin's sake!\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udfd2) 1661835634
\u201cSo you have to ask yourself... Is this an act or is he really this stupid?\u201d— Sabretooth (@Sabretooth) 1661852059
\u201cThe real threat to people is Whack Jobs like @TuckerCarlson pretending to be a Scientist.\u201d— gibby (@gibby) 1661859995
\u201cHow does this moron have a TV show? Who can actually watch this garbage?\u201d— Horatio McFlabbergasted (@Horatio McFlabbergasted) 1661821023
\u201cHis assertions have been a lot more blatantly stupid lately\u201d— G (@G) 1661821947
Carlson previously hosted climate deniers on his program, including former Republican political aide Marc Morano who founded and runs the website ClimateDepot—a project of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)—an American non-profit organization dedicated to promoting climate change denial.
Earlier this summer, Morano lambasted voters who promoted "green energy and this whole war on agriculture," a claim that prompted Carlson to declare green energy is really "a war against people."
Carlson went on to add human life expectancy will “drop to the floor” if politicians "tamper with" fossil fuels, which he referred to as "our greatest blessing."
