Media finds hot new angle for sounding global warming alarm in Trump era
**Written by Doug Powers
“Science” in the era of Trump has taken a turn for the desperate as global warming has sparked a frightening increase in the spread of “fake news.” The mainstream media and some science publications, almost as if prompted by some sort of talking points email, latched on to a certain approach to a new government climate change report. The New York Times got the “leaked” ball rolling:
Nytimes says report on climate change leaked because source worried Trump admin would suppress findings https://t.co/XhBZRi5UvG
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) August 8, 2017
Then it caught fire quickly (Why? Climate change, DUH!)…
Popular Science:
Trending on #PopSci: A leaked government report shows we’re already experiencing the effects of climate change https://t.co/Zjd9ZN7gS2 pic.twitter.com/58gFDNlKGy
— Popular Science (@PopSci) August 8, 2017
Oh, just one little detail about the bombshell “leak,” from one of the scientists quoted in the report (via Twitchy):
Important to point out that this report was already accessible to anyone who cared to read it during public review & comment time. Few did. https://t.co/eYgsj09Z97
— Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) August 8, 2017
Good golly, BBC asked me if I leaked our climate sci report to the media. I said, NO–why bother?! It was publicly available during review.
— Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) August 8, 2017
It was available all along:
Don’t rely on NY Times for “leaked” climate report supposedly suppressed by Trump. Download directly from open gov’t servers
h/t @Revkin pic.twitter.com/wKwpigaRIU— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) August 8, 2017
Worst “leak” EVER! Bottom line: The report wasn’t “leaked,” just finally reported on with added spin to make it appear Trump’s has an interest in hiding the looming eco-apocalypse so nobody cancels upcoming wedding reception bookings at Mar-A-Lago or something.
Also, Trump might not want to bury the report anyway, because the report — to some degree — buries Al Gore. More enviro-buzzkill from a CU Boulder professor with some interesting observations:
1/ The NYT has released draft US climate assessment
I’ll share a few comments on what it says about extreme weatherhttps://t.co/ZMagzWrIZk— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
2/ But first, reminder I wrote my PhD dissertation in 1994 on political & scientific processes that were created to produce this document
— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
3/ Drought.
No increases across the US.
John Holden was wrong & I was right.
Of course I was, I was citing earlier version of this same doc! pic.twitter.com/UB1bplyGp3— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
4/ Floods.
No overall increases in magnitude or frequency in the US. pic.twitter.com/WQE7pTFGzB— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
5/ Wildfires.
A bit of a surprise.
Low confidence in “human climate change contribution” (medium for Alaska) pic.twitter.com/yQSk4bPLll— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
6/ Tornadoes.
No detection or attribution.
No news here. pic.twitter.com/HFIl1cKGHA— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
7/ Hurricanes
Low confidence in any trends.
No attribution.
No news here.
They did not find room to present a time series of US Hurricanespic.twitter.com/4Hwb1L0nL1
— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
8/ Major hurricane drought
An issue I discussed years ago is now safe to talk aboutpic.twitter.com/Ujz3JoVKnT
— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
9/ Bottom line 1
Everything I published in peer reviewed lit, testified to before Congress or written for @FiveThirtyEight vindicated here.— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
10/ Botrom line 2
Extreme weather trends a very poor choice of scientific topic to organize climate advocacy around
The science ain’t there— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) August 8, 2017
Safe prediction: The MSM will put practically zero focus on any of those details.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
