A study published on Monday in Nature Climate Change has already gotten quite a bit of attention in the UK media—unfortunately, it wasn't particularly accurate coverage.
The study found that part of Africa has gotten 10% more rain in the past few decades, possibly because of climate change. This led to headlines about warming fighting famine, or doing "what Live Aid never could." Given that reference to famine is nowhere in the study, one might assume the Live Aid reference was the invention of a newspaper editor hungry for clicks. In this case, though, it was actually the press release that used such unfounded and charged language.
Thankfully, Carbon Brief contacted the study authors and wrote a comprehensive fact check to the many stories that claimed climate change to be a good thing for Africa. The lead author himself said simply "It's very misleading to suggest that climate change is a good thing for Africa." He also pointed out that because of rising temperatures, there's "a higher drought risk regardless of changes in rainfall" because any rain evaporates too quickly to be of use to crops.
So shame on you, University of Reading press team. We know clickbait may be the name of the game for many Internet denizens, but that doesn’t mean you have to sink to their level.
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