One thing that gets my goat is when mainstream media such as the Wall Street Journal (US), Daily Mail (UK), The Australian, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), and The Herald Sun (Melbourne) publish false, misleading, and misinformation about climate change, that is readily debunked by scientists that actually study climatology. What is the one thing they all have in common? They are all owned by NewsCorp (which is no surprise to some of us).
Anyway, one good site that does a fine job at debunking the climate denialist myths and this recent attempt at political propaganda is Skeptical Science. They published the debunking of the WSJ article not long after publication, and is an enlightening read that tells the real story about the current trend of climate change. Have a read, it is enlightening stuff, and has all the information you need to shoot down that brainwashed oddball at the next dinner party.
So the basis of the latest round of misinformation is that the planet has not warmed in the last xx years (insert your choice of timeline as this often changes). Well, unfortunately for us as a species, I am afraid it has. Last year was the ninth warmest year on record (according to NASA), and the warmest La Niña, which usually brings cooler weather, yet recorded. The past decade (2000-2009) was the warmest on record. Currently, nine of the ten hottest years have occurred since 2000. Meanwhile the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere is a hundred ppm (parts per million) higher than it was in 1880, hitting 390 ppm.
If you are not yet convinced, this NASA video that shows a time lapse video from 1880 to 2011 of the global temperature anomaly during those years.
Note: On the map, blues represent temperatures lower than baseline averages, while reds indicate temperatures higher than the average. As the 131 years pass, the map turns from bluish-white to increasingly yellow and red. Caused by the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, agricultural practices, and other human impacts, climate change has currently raised temperatures 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the Industrial Revolution average.
Pretty much black and white as far as I am concerned. Emotions, greed, ideologies, and politics should never enter into this debate, especially with the fate of the human race at stake. Time for action is running out fast.
It is the first of February and the temp is hovering at 1C. We are in the interior of BC in Canada. It is usually -30C or colder this time of year. We have lost a great deal of our lodgepole pines due to insect infestation caused by years of warmer temps. It sure is warming up!
Love the blog
Barb
Thanks Barb, love the real life example. The pine beetles are a very good example of the ramifications of a warming climate.
It has been catastrophic for the forest industry. Rotting pine trees are falling over, causing problems for replanting, and giving off carbon dioxide instead of absorbing it. It is so sad to see.
I sold my own car 5 years ago and walk to work each day. I am sure that there are many other things I can so as well, and so I read blogs such as yours.
Cheers! Barb
False info being published as news, blog posts on the news sites who are totally immune to any criticism under the basis of it being an opinion column, despite being endorsed by news media and therefore giving the impression of having been somewhat accurate and researched.
I’m not for censorship, but these news companies should be accountable for the drivel they’re publishing and the truth behind it. Spin isn’t news. Its disgusting. By the time they’re forced to publish a retraction –if they ever are, the damage is already done, and misinformation is already popular belief void of any truth.
Do you ever start to feel like that moment where you’re standing in the middle of a room screaming at the top of your lungs and everyone is oblivious….and then realise, its not a moment, its starting to become your life?
Keep up the good fight Gavin. The best I can manage at the moment is a derisive roll of my eyes when the oddballs start vomiting popular media opinion as fact.
xB
Cheers Bianca, my sentiments exactly!
I live in Tasmania and we have 2 salmon fish farms in our local waters. Some of the workers have just been told that there is to be 3 months of “non-production”. In other words they’ve been laid off.
Why? The temperature of the ocean is too warm for the salmon – and they’re dying.
But no, there’s no such thing as climate change, hah!
Jan
Thanks Jan, another great real life example. No fish for dinner.
Folks, don’t you just love it that when I post about climate change and peak oil that a few readers unsubscribe from email delivery. Just goes to show that a reassuring lie beats an inconvenient truth every time!
Gav x
Thankyou for the post. I have bookmarked skeptical science website. Thankyou for the link. Cheers, Wendy
You are most welcome!
Interesting post, as always , Gavin.Our Hunter Valley weather is changing too …the fact that I am changing what I can plant each season is testament to it. I cannot believe I had the fire going yesterday at the beginning of February.
I think the time to stop this is gone…there is only the time to adapt and make positive changes to stop things changing further (if that is possible).But you know what….I continue to believe in the goodness of people who care about the earth..I only need to step into my vegetable garden to know that anyone can build an eco system if they set their mind to it.
Climate change might be here, but so is an evergrowing group of people who , with every seed they plant and every tree they nuture , put a dent in the armour of those who do not wish to believe.
Thanks for that clip, Gavin. My husband and I were saying the other day that we’d like to see a time-lapse of temperature changes (the conversation started because of the recent change in the “hardiness zone” map put out by the USDA) – and here it is! 😉
I know it in my head, I feel it in my heart and I see it in my garden. That is the best visual representation I have seen.