Global
Warming Coverage: Science Left Behind
In the race for emissions
regulation, journalists are in the lead.
By Amy Menefee [1]
June 29, 2005
CNN [2] and
USA Today [3] have already declared the global warming debate over,
and theyre not alone. Media coverage leading up to the G-8 Summit,
beginning July 6, has been based on the assumptions that
human-caused global warming is occurring and it must be curbed.
The Group of Eight major economic powers meets annually
to discuss global issues and map out plans for the year. The United
Kingdom took the rotating presidency of the G8 in January 2005, and
Prime Minister Tony Blair has said Africa and climate change are the
main issues on the summit agenda.
Theres quite seriously a big lobbying effort going on
here, said Iain Murray, a senior fellow who studies global climate
change for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Murray said the
media are being bombarded with propaganda from groups seeking to
influence the G-8, and science is getting lost in the shuffle.
Reuters reported in a June 28, 2005, article carried on
CNN.com that global warming is widely blamed on emissions of
heat-trapping gases from cars, factories and power plants gases
mostly spewed from the rich world.
But that contradicted historical warming and cooling
patterns, said Dr. Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics. Baliunas worked on a review of climate change
studies published in the journal Climate Research in 2003. The
review found evidence of a warm period about 1,000 years ago as well
as a cooling period about 500 years ago.
Where we had information on temperatures, we found the
20th century was not the most extreme, Baliunas said. She added
that temperature change over the last 30 years has been very modest
and not outside the bounds of natural change.
Reuters reported that experts fear that global warming
linked to carbon emissions will have its worst impact on humanitys
cradle in Africa. The June 28, 2005, article said that past
changes in weather patterns were gradual but the pace of global
warming today could overwhelm modern Africa.
But Baliunas said, Were all carbon criminals. We all
exhale carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide warming cant explain warming
at the beginning of the 20th century.
CBSs Bill Plante chided President George W. Bush for
not embracing emissions regulations on the June 7, 2005, Evening
News. Reporting on Blairs request for support on G-8 priorities,
Plante said, On global warming, the president would agree only that
it needs to be dealt with this on a day when scientists in major
nations called for a cutback in greenhouse gas emissions, and one of
them, from Britain, said that Mr. Bushs climate policy was
misguided.
Plante didnt point out that thousands of scientists
hold the opposite view. A group of Canadian scientists, for example,
spoke out against the emissions-regulating Kyoto Protocol in a 2005
video produced by the nonprofit Friends of Science. And at least
17,000 of their colleagues have signed a petition stating that human
emissions are not causing global warming.
Likewise, the June 8, 2005, NBC Nightly News
attributed skepticism about global warming to White House doubts,
neglecting to give the scientific basis for it. David Gregory worked
from the usual assumptions about causation, mentioning the growth
of emissions that cause global warming. He said, The question
remains: Has the administration aggressively tackled global warming
or attempted to muddy the science, ensuring that any attempt to
reduce it will fail?
Meanwhile, the June 28, 2005, Financial Times sounded
the alarm on behalf of the Association of British Insurers, who are
advocating that the G-8 pursue further emissions regulations.
Correspondent Fiona Harvey wrote, Though scientists cannot say
exactly what will happen as the climate changes under the influence
of the increased burning of fossil fuels, they estimate that the
incidence of storms, floods, droughts and heat waves will increase.
The Association of British Insurers added its voice to the debate
because its predicting higher insurance costs based on these
alleged disasters.
At least part of Harveys claim was true: scientists
cant predict what will happen. Reuters said the United Nations
projects that temperatures may rise by 1.4-5.8 degrees Celsius by
the year 2100, But Baliunas said climate forecasting models just
arent that accurate.
Were all making forecasts because the government asks
for them, she said. Theyre not accurate enough to forecast whats
going to happen in 100 years.
Insurance isnt the only business that journalists are
linking to the climate debate. Tourism was the focus of The New York
Times June 26, 2005, Travel section. Timothy Egan penned a eulogy
for Alaskas glaciers titled The Race to Alaska Before It Melts.
Egan wrote that to many Alaskans, global warming is not an
abstraction or a theory and For tourists, it can mean a thrill at
seeing a landscape more dynamic than any place on earth global
warming on hyperspeed! or disappointment that something so wild
and massive is, well, shrinking.
Though some of Alaskas glaciers have shrunk, climate
change occurs on a local level, Baliunas said, so people cant
assume the same changes are occurring worldwide.. For example,
temperatures in Greenland have actually been dropping. Also,
climate includes more than temperature, she said ecosystem
changes such as rainfall, wind patterns and lake levels impact
individual regions.
The U.S. media arent the only ones who have delivered
global warming-heavy reports. In Britain, The Guardian ran an
advertisement feature article on carbon dioxide emissions and the
Kyoto treaty, titled Whitehall squabbles while planet burns. The
sponsor? The Carbon Trust, a firm that works with businesses and
the public sector to help them reduce their carbon emissions and so
minimise the long term effects of climate change, according to its
Web site.
Related Links
BMI study on media
coverage of global warming:
Destroying
America to Save the World [4]
Canadian Scientists Dismiss Threat of Climate Change [5]
Friends of Science: Providing Insight into Climate Science [6]