"Do you know what this is?" Standing in the middle of the US Senate, Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma rummaged in a plastic bag and produced a white lump. "It's a snowball. It's just from outside here, so it's very, very cold out... very unseasonable." Then he threw it across the room. "Mr President, catch this!"

Inhofe's stunt in 2015 was supposed to prove that there was no such thing as global warming. To anyone properly informed about the subject, it was ridiculous: climate change produces extreme conditions of many kinds, including spells of both extremely hot and extremely cold weather. But Inhofe accepted a popular myth. Below are seven more.

1 Phase craze The most common argument by climate-change sceptics is that humans are not responsible for the current crisis. Instead, they claim that it is part of a natural cycle which causes alternate periods of hotter and colder weather, such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice AgeA climate interval of much cooler weather that occurred in Britain in the 17th century and lead to several big freezes..

But these just affected part of the world and happened over huge periods of time. We are now seeing dramatic changes which affect almost the entire planet happening in decades. Global temperatures are now at their highest since records began.

2 Spotty dotty Some people blame sunspots for global warming. These can certainly affect our climate, but records for the past 24 years show no increase in the amount of solar energy reaching Earth's surface.

3 CO2 to-do It has been claimed that since carbon dioxide makes up only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, rising levels of it are irrelevant. But because it traps heat so effectively, they actually have a huge impact. In the past 150 years, levels have jumped by 48%.   

4 Disputing renewables Green energy is sometimes dismissed as too expensive and unreliable. But solar power and wind turbines are in fact the cheapest ways of generating electricity, and techniques for storing the power they generate are becoming more sophisticated.

5 Science defiance Climate-change deniers claim that there is no trustworthy scientific consensus on the subject. Studies have found that some scientists share their view - but only 3% of them. According to NasaThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration, responsible for the US space programme. scientist Kate Marvel: "We are more sure that greenhouse gas is causing climate change than we are that smoking causes cancer."

6 Zoo hullabaloo It has been suggested that animals will be safe from climate change because they can evolve to deal with new conditions, or move to new places. But the climate is changing so quickly that many will not be able to adapt fast enough. And so many habitats have been ruined by humans that moving is becoming increasingly difficult.

7 Raging at Beijing It is often argued that since China is doing so much damage to the environment there is nothing the rest of the world can do to stop global warming. It is true that China is responsible for a very large proportion of the world's carbon emissions, but it is also one of the largest investors in renewable energy.

Yes: Most people accept that radical action is needed, but it only takes a small minority of people who believe myths - such as Brazil's President Bolsonaro - to make the necessary targets unreachable.  

No: We have all the technology we need to stop and reverse climate change. It is just a case of political will - and extreme weather events are waking voters up to the reality of the issue.

Or... It is not the planet that needs saving - it is humans and animals. The Earth would survive in one form or another, and might be much healthier, if there were no humans left to interfere with it.

Little Ice Age - A climate interval of much cooler weather that occurred in Britain in the 17th century and lead to several big freezes.

Nasa - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, responsible for the US space programme.