The “Climate Science” website, the organizer of an annual climate nonsense award, has become one of the winners of the Science Popularizer 2017 competition. The event is organized by the Polish Press Agency’s Science division and the Ministry of Science. The results of the 13th edition were announced January 15 at the Copernicus Science Center. Awards were presented by the Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin and the President of the Polish Press Agency Wojciech Surmacz.

The aim of the competition is to award people and institutions that help others better understand the world, and are able to interest persons not involved in science in scientific developments.

The “Climate Science” portal received the 2017 Science Popularizer title in the Teams category. The prize was awarded to: prof. Szymon Malinowski, dr. Aleksandra Kardaś, Marcin Popkiewicz and Anna Sierpińska. They have described (and busted) more than a hundred myths about climate change. For several years, they have been organizing the “Climate Nonsense of the Year” award. Aleksandra Kardaś and Marcin Popkiewicz are experts in the project “Energy from aNew.”

Climate Nonsense of the Year:

• In 2014, Zbigniew Ziobro, who later became the Minister of Justice, received the awardfor saying that carbon dioxide can’t be harmful, since we consume it in carbonated beverages.
• In 2015, the former Minister of Environment Jan Szyszko was awarded for his opinion,that carbon dioxide emitted in Poland is a gas of life for living nature systems, so that they become better and better.
• Last year, the honor was given to Janusz Korwin-Mikke, an MEP, who considers that most scholars say that global warming, if it exists at all, has nothing to do with human activity.
• This year, the fourth edition of the plebiscite has been launched. The energy minister, Krzysztof Tchórzewski is among the nominees, saying that Poland has the highest percentage of afforestation in Europe and as the only country has increased the share of forested area, and all others have reduced it.

The main Award of the Science Popularizer 2017 – for his overall activity – went to prof. Tadeusz Wibig from the University of Lodz. The competition also awarded: dr hab. Andrzej Katunin, Jan Świerkowski, the “Astronarium” program and the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Minister Gowin said “… I am fully aware that what the ministry does is only small support for a much broader and much more important activity, which is carried out by hundreds or thousands of people such as yourselves: real science enthusiasts, real enthusiasts of sharing knowledge about scientific achievements, scientific discoveries, as widely as possible – that is what promoters of science are” – he said, addressing the winners of the competition.

We invite you to vote on the Climate Nonsense of the Year 2017 http://www.klimatycznabzduraroku.pl/. And we hope that the fact of awarding the prize by the minister of the current government will make it much more difficult to ignore and deny climate change.