Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Bad news and worse news.


A piece of ice has broken free from a Greenlandic glacier and is floating free around the arctic ocean. When I say "piece", I mean a glacier that covers 3 times more surface area than the island of Manhattan. It is so large that its momentum makes the possibility of slowing it down... well, impossible.

The NPR article above places this event in the context of global warming- something that is difficult to avoid given that temperatures in the arctic have climbed 4.5 degrees since 1970 and this is the largest glacier to break free from Greenland since 1962. The implications are staggering- the Greenlandic ice sheet (which I have visited on 8 separate occasions) contains enough water to raise sea levels by 20 feet. However, the writing maintains an even hand by pointing out that it is difficult to directly tie the glacier's newly found freedom to global climate change.

I would like you to contrast this story with the following set of clips taken during the peculiarly strong snow storms that occurred in our nation's capital this past winter:


Get it? Because it's snowing on Al Gore's book, global warming is a hoax! As the description of the video points out, there's no mention that the book points out that such acute weather events could indeed be driven by global climate change. The reporters also fail to mention that while this is going on, we were in the midst of the second warmest January since 1931 (on a global scale, not in D.C.).


The stark contrast between these two reporting styles is breathtaking. The Fox News reporters are wallowing in the information they are withholding from their viewers. How could anyone dependent on this news source possibly develop an informed opinion or make an informed decision?

What is Fox News saying now? We've been in the middle of one of the warmest summers in recorded history, with a phenomenal heat wave wreaking havoc in Russia. And now, a massive piece of the Greenlandic ice sheet has broke free.

No, seriously. What are they saying? I don't watch that crap. Please let me know.

1 comment:

  1. Fox news is most likely saying absolutely nothing right now.

    Re: the ice. Call Bruce Willis to drill into it and blow it up.

    Also, be sure to catch the meteor shower tonight...I'm sure you know about it.

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