Misrepresenting studies is a staple of the climate denial toolbox, a way for deniers to appear as though they rely on peer-reviewed literature without the hassle of actually being accurate. And since their audience trusts them more than those hoax-perpetrating communists in academia, a denier can make obvious “mistakes” without much worry of being called out by their fan base.
Case in point is a story from the Daily Caller’s Andrew Follett, a former staffer for fossil-fuel-funded Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and former fossil-fuel funded CATO Institute intern. We first spotted this rising star of the Kochtopus pseudo-journalism network last November, when he spun a story out of a single study on wildfires that actually refuted the point his story sought to make. (Turns out increased wildfires are not Obama’s fault…)
In the months since, he clearly hasn’t gotten any better at reading studies. His latest spin claims that it’d be cheaper to adapt to climate change than mitigate it, because warming “will only cost about 1 percent of world economy.” He talks about the latest UN report (one of six) that estimates that losses in productivity alone, due to increased heat limiting amount of time workers can spend outdoors, will be almost $2 trillion per year by 2030. Meanwhile, the cost of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 2°C will be $16.5 trillion. And since 16.5 is bigger than 2, it’s obvious we shouldn’t bother reducing emissions
Except the Independent story that Follett links to for the $2 trillion figure includes the two words that debunk his argument in the very first sentence. Those two words being “a year.” Warming will cost the global economy $1.9 trillion every year by 2030. Which would mean we would pay off the cost of limiting warming in less than a decade.
Then, when one considers that this cost is solely for productivity losses and doesn’t include loss of life from extreme weather, loss of real estate and infrastructure from sea level rise, or any of the other five public health risks explored in the accompanying UN reports, it’s obvious that mitigation makes cents (and dollars. Trillions of them, apparently.)
But given Follett’s history, and the Daily Caller’s long history of climate garbage, it’s hard to blame him for this apparent oversight. By confusing the Daily Caller’s readers with false information that just so happens to be useful in opposing regulations that would reduce fossil fuel use, the kid’s just doing his job as a sucker on one of the many arms of the Kochtopus.
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