Meteorology and climatology are two interdisciplinary fields that study many of the forces in nature. In the case of meteorology predicting tomorrow's weather is difficult. Even with Satellite tracking knowing when and where a hurricane will hit is a tricky business. Ever notice how the bands of where a hurricane will hit widen for each day away forecasters think the hurricane is away? To get more accuracy requires a whole lot more data, more data than the largest super computers can analyze.
Now to get to the New York Times article. The first sentence of the third paragraph has the phrase more recent revelations of a handful of errors in a supposedly authoritative United Nations report on climate change. Now the New York Times is taking the position that the UN report is supposed authoritative. The Times is reporting as fact what I consider is blatantly wrong. The words do not belong. The Times reporter is not qualified to make a judgment on how authoritative the report is.
One major problem Scientists have is when people who are not qualified to make judgments do. The vast majority of climatologists agree on global warming and the primary cause of global warming. So why do many news organizations, even the New York Times and the Washington Post taking issue with the experts? The answer in part is ignorance supported by those who have a financial interest in not combating global warming.
The unfortunate fact is our news media be it television or news papers is run not to report facts, but rather to make a profit. Worse the media is largely owned by a few wealthy people who do not give a dam about facts.
The internet is a help. But with Comcast owning NBC I really wonder how long MSNBC will have Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow on their payroll. And what will happen if Comcast decides not to transmit sites like TruthOut, the Real News Network, CommonDreams and even the DailyKos. What will happen when the next Jim Bunning or perhaps Jim Bunning decides to specify that NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) cannot study climate change?
I do not know. I wish I knew how to fight this misinformation. How a snow storm in DC, Maryland, and Virginia can call into question global warming where people are quoted by serious news organizations without pointing out that the experts in the field completely disagree, beats the shit out of me.
Not only must climatologists fight this, we all must. The earth is warming and as the deficit hawks say, this will affect our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren and if nothing is done we will not have great great grandchildren.
Do something.
Comments are closed on this story.