Propaganda Buster · Issue 001
Four claims. One auditable record.
This edition checks an unsupported volcanic-emissions comparison, a fabricated NASA attribution, a correct atmospheric number used to support a false inference, and a wind-energy lifecycle quote stripped of its condition.
- Issues available
- Issue 001
- Claims checked
- 4
- Scientific sources linked
- 14
- Publication status
- Published
Every claim is followed by the evidence that checks it.
The opening slide introduces the series and this issue. Slides 2, 4, 6, and 8 show the four claims with source provenance; slides 3, 5, 7, and 9 summarize what scientific evidence shows. Slide 10 directs readers to the complete record.
Slide 01 · Meet Propaganda Buster and the four claims examined in this issue
Slide 02 · Claim: This volcano just spewed more CO2 than every car driven in history.
Slide 03 · What the evidence shows: The post supplied no eruption-specific CO2 measurement. USGS estimates all…
Slide 04 · Claim: NASA admits climate change occurs because of changes in Earth's solar orbit…
Slide 05 · What the evidence shows: NASA did not make this admission. Orbital cycles explain long-term glacial pacing…
Slide 06 · Claim: CO2 is only 0.04% of the atmosphere, so human CO2 is too small to cause…
Slide 07 · What the evidence shows: A gas's climatic effect depends on its infrared absorption and change in…
Slide 08 · Claim: A wind turbine can spin until it falls apart and never generate as much…
Slide 09 · What the evidence shows: The viral meme removes the original quote's site-specific condition. Meta-analyses…
Slide 10 · Sources, methodology, and where to read the complete fact checksCatch the claim. See the facts. Follow the next issue.
We publish new Propaganda Buster visual issues on Instagram and Facebook several times a week—usually every two or three days, between ACC's climate news updates. Each one checks four circulating claims and points back to the complete evidence here.
Read the complete fact checks.
Each permanent page preserves the original claim and explains the verdict at greater depth than a social slide can carry.
This volcano just spewed more CO2 than every car driven in history.
The post supplied no eruption-specific CO2 measurement. USGS estimates all present-day volcanoes combined emit 0.13–0.44 GtCO2 per year, while the Global Carbon Budget reports 42.4 ± 3.2 GtCO2 of total anthropogenic emissions in 2024. The claimed comparison has no evidentiary basis.
02 False — Fabricated AttributionNASA admits climate change occurs because of changes in Earth's solar orbit, not because of SUVs and fossil fuels.
NASA did not make this admission. Orbital cycles explain long-term glacial pacing, but not the rapid modern warming trend.
03 Misleading — Correct Number, False InferenceCO2 is only 0.04% of the atmosphere, so human CO2 is too small to cause substantial global warming.
A gas's climatic effect depends on its infrared absorption and change in concentration, not on whether its atmospheric percentage looks small.
04 False As A General ClaimA wind turbine can spin until it falls apart and never generate as much energy as was invested in building it.
The viral meme removes the original quote's site-specific condition. Meta-analyses and lifecycle studies find modern wind turbines normally repay construction energy many times over.