Energy

Liberal Journos Attack News Outlets For Not Linking All Extreme Weather To Global Warming

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Liberal journalists and activists are frustrated over the lack of media outlets linking recent natural disasters and extreme weather events around the world to man-made global warming.

From record-breaking heat in Japan and California to wildfires raging in Sweden and Greece, The New Republic’s Emily Atkin fretted “there’s no climate connection to be found in much news coverage of extreme weather events across the globe — even in historically climate-conscious outlets like NPR and The New York Times.”

“I suggested that journalists don’t need to determine whether an event was caused by climate change to make a climate connection — a journalist could merely say climate change makes extreme events such as these more likely,” Atkin wrote on Wednesday.

It’s only the latest incident in a growing trend of liberal journalists demanding extreme weather events be linked to man-made global warming, despite a lack of scientific study into the matter.

Environmental writer Eric Holthaus — a noted climate doomsdayer — went on a long Twitter rant pointing out the media’s lack of attention to global warming as a heatwave beat down on Japan.

All over the world, heatwaves are getting longer and more intense because of rising global temperatures.

This is the surest and deadliest impact of our collective failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As journalists, we *must* do better to connect the dots.

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) July 24, 2018

Cato Institute atmospheric scientist Ryan Maue noted a few of the problems with prematurely trying to link extreme weather to global warming.

In summary, the articles don’t provide any specific data analysis, new research, or information that is specific to Greece — but theories or hypotheses about the impacts of climate change on current / future weather conditions like extreme temperatures and rainfall (drought)

— Ryan Maue | weathermodels.com (@RyanMaue) July 25, 2018

The problem with the real-time attribution during the news cycle is that by time the scientists properly do the data analysis & provide firm fact/figures of the climate impact, it’s not a news story but a literature review.  No one is going to read it.

— Ryan Maue | weathermodels.com (@RyanMaue) July 25, 2018

MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes was forced to defend his networks alleged lack of global warming coverage from critics on social media. Hayes argued “every single time we’ve covered [climate change] it’s been a palpable ratings killer.”

almost without exception. every single time we’ve covered it’s been a palpable ratings killer. so the incentives are not great.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 24, 2018

NPR and NYT also felt the pressure. NPR science editor Geoff Brumfiel told TNR’s Atkin his outlet actively working on a story, trying to see what scientists think all of these events,” responsibly adding that “[y]ou don’t just want to be throwing around, ‘this is due to climate change, that is due to climate change.'”

Likewise, NYT deputy climate editor Jonathan Ellis told activists on Twitter an article on wildfires in Greece was updated with “information on the connection to climate change.”

Thanks very much for your feedback, Dr. Guenther. We’ve updated the article with information on the connection to climate change. https://t.co/nFpi93vpNZ pic.twitter.com/kY1bbBKImB

— Jonathan Ellis (@jonathanellis) July 24, 2018

But even then, NYT’s update only noted the “extreme conditions are in line with patterns that scientists attribute to climate change.” That’s because scientists have not formally attributed, through peer-reviewed science, Greek fires to man-made warming.

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