Was a Michigan conference on global warming that Greta Thunberg was due to attend cancelled due to sub-artctic freezing temperatures? No, that's not true: the story originated on a satire website but many people only saw the headline on Facebook and believed it was true.
The story originated from an article published by Genesius Times on November 13, 2019 titled "Greta's global warming conference cancelled due to sub-arctic freezing temps" (archived here) which opened:
A symposium sponsored by the International Global Warming Trust was cancelled today in Michigan as temperatures dipped below -50 degrees F. Experts were quick to dispel the notion that low temperatures meant that their theory of global warming was incorrect.
Greta Thunberg, teen climate activist, had hitched a ride on a hot air balloon powered by her own fiery breath to arrive at the conference in order to yell, "How dare you?" at everyone only to be turned away with hypothermia.
"No, you see you're not nuanced enough," Klaus Fullofit of Norway said in a post-conference interview. "The fact that it's so cold doesn't mean that the planet is not warming. Only in your unscientific mind is that the case."
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Greta's global warming conference cancelled due to sub-arctic freezing temps
A symposium sponsored by the International Global Warming Trust was cancelled today in Michigan as temperatures dipped below -50 degrees F. Experts were quick to dispel the notion that low temperatures meant that their theory of global warming was incorrect. Greta Thunberg, teen climate activist, h
First of all, there is no organization named the "International Global Warming Trust". And the name "Klaus Fullofit" is a dead giveaway the story is just a joke.
The website Genesius Times that originally published the story has a header that reads "THE MOST RELIABLE SOURCE OF FAKE NEWS ON THE PLANET". In addition to that there is also a disclaimer in the footer that reads:
We strive to provide the most up-to-date, accurate fake news on the Internet. Our team of journalists, hacks, and starving writers only want one thing: to make you laugh and/or cry.
However that was not clear to many people who only saw the headline on Facebook and didn't click through to the full story. Here is just a small sampling of comments from people who seem to have taken the story at face value:
These people also didn't notice the Genesius Times ran almost the exact same story in January of 2019, including the same fake names for conference attendees:
Global warming conference cancelled due to -50 wind chill
A symposium sponsored by the International Global Warming Trust was cancelled today in Wisconsin as temperatures dipped below -50 degrees F. Experts were quick to dispel the notion that low temperatures meant that their theory of global warming was incorrect. "No, you see you're not nuanced enough,
