Are we currently in a global cooling period per washington post?
Executive summary
The Washington Post reported on a new 485‑million‑year temperature reconstruction and, in that long geological context, noted that Earth sits on a long-term downward trajectory compared with much hotter intervals in deep time — a characterization the paper summarized as the planet being in a “cooling period” when viewed on that multi‑hundred‑million‑year scale [1] [2]. That geological framing does not, however, mean the Washington Post or the underlying scientists are claiming current global temperatures are falling or that human‑driven warming is not underway; other reporting and expert analysis tied to the story emphasize that modern warming is unprecedented in rate and driven by CO2 [3] [4].
1. What the Washington Post actually said about “cooling”
The Post’s coverage relayed the authors’ reconstruction showing much of Earth’s deep past was hotter than today and that—over hundreds of millions of years—average temperatures have trended downward from those ancient highs, a pattern that can be described as a long‑term cooling trend across geological eras [1]. Local and popular summaries distilled that into the phrase “in a cooling period” when judged strictly on those very long time scales [2], a framing that is factually tied to the paper’s multi‑hundred‑million‑year axis but easily misunderstood outside that context [1].
2. Why that long‑term “cooling” is not the same as present‑day cooling
Scientists and communicators emphasized the distinction between geological context and current climate dynamics: the long‑run descent from past greenhouse‑hot worlds reflects tectonics, continental drift and CO2 changes on geological timescales, not the rapid, human‑forced warming measured over decades and centuries [3] [4]. SkepticalScience and other analysts pointed out that the Washington Post graphic reproduced only part of the picture (temperatures) and omitted showing atmospheric CO2 alongside it — yet the full figure makes clear CO2 and temperature move together historically, reinforcing that modern CO2 increases explain the rapid recent rise [3].
3. What contemporary temperature records and forecasts show instead
Independent short‑term analyses and forecasts — including projections produced by climate scientists such as James Hansen and modelers cited in the record‑keeping community — expect near‑term variability (La Niña/El Niño cycles) to produce temporary dips or plateaus, but they project continued high global temperatures and renewed rises as El Niño returns and human forcing persists [5] [6]. These operational forecasts and observational series rank recent years among the warmest on record, underscoring that any multi‑decadal or longer global cooling is not observed in modern instrumental data [5] [7].
4. How the Post’s framing has been used and misused in public debate
The long‑timescale wording from the Post has been seized by commentators as evidence that climate alarmism is overblown; high‑profile media moments have amplified that misreading, with critics presenting the deep‑time “cooling” label as a rebuttal to concern about current warming [2]. Coverage aggregators and climate communicators pushed back, noting the Post’s own reporting and nearby analyses stress the urgency of modern, rapid warming that threatens ecosystems and societies—exactly the point made by environmental reporting summarized from the Washington Post [4] [3].
5. Bottom line: is “we are currently in a global cooling period per Washington Post” true?
Yes and no. Strictly as a statement about Earth's multi‑hundred‑million‑year temperature trajectory, the Washington Post reported that the deep‑time record shows a long‑term decline from ancient hot intervals — a context in which one can say Earth is on a “cooling” arc relative to deep past highs [1] [2]. But the Washington Post and the underlying science do not present this as evidence that modern climate is cooling; instrument records, expert commentary and subsequent analyses emphasize rapid, human‑caused warming now and in coming decades, which is the dominant and immediate climatic reality [3] [4] [5].