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The CBC’s version of the story read: “Canada is, on average, experiencing warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, with Northern Canada heating up at almost three times the global average, according to a new government report.” The report in question, Canada’s Changing Climate Report (CCCR), was commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Remarkably similar news appeared regarding Finland: “Finland is warming fast — faster than scientists ever predicted and at nearly twice the rate of any other country on Earth — according to new research from the University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Society.” And there have been similar stories for several other countries. If you’re interested, just google these headlines:

Australia temperatures rising faster than rest of the world: official report

China warming faster than global average

Temperature in Sweden rising faster than world’s average

Russia Is warming disproportionately fast, environment ministry says

Britain warming faster than average

IPCC: Europe has been warming faster than the global average

Why Singapore is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world

Japan hot and getting hotter

Everybody, it seems, is warming faster than average.

Is all this just fake news? No, it’s all true. How is that possible? It’s possible because of the word “average.” The average referred to is the average temperature of the entire planet. The assertion is not that any country is warming twice as fast as the average of every other country. Rather, it is that the country in question is warming faster than the average temperature of the entire planet. But the entire planet is not just the land countries sit on, it is the land and the oceans. And, as we all learned in elementary school, the Earth is 70 per cent ocean.