The Devil Makes Me Do This

It is incredible how the mainstream media can slant the news -- almost as bad as my blog. LOL.

From the Los Angeles Times.

First, the headline: Studies warn of abrupt environmental effects of warming.

Then, the lede:

Scientists sounded alarms Tuesday with a pair of studies challenging the idea that climate change is occurring gradually over the century and that its worst effects can be avoided by keeping emissions below a critical threshold.

A National Research Council report says the planet is warming so quickly that the world should expect abrupt and unpredictable consequences in a matter of years or a few decades. Among the changes already underway are the sudden decline in Arctic sea ice and climbing extinction rates, the report found.

Now the details, buried in the story:

• James Hansen, the climate scientist who led the study, has his own agenda (reputation and money, but mostly reputation; he is probably off the A-list for cocktail parties)
• not all scientists are in full agreement with the report's findings: Martin Hoerling, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory, said he does not agree with some of the conclusions of Hansen's group, including predictions that the 3.6-degree warming target would eventually raise sea level about 20 feet. [Everyone, except Hanson, pretty much agrees 20 feet is hyperbole)
• others finally understand the economics of all this -- other experts said a cap on carbon is pointless unless technological advances make renewable energy an affordable alternative

And then way at the bottom (this, in fact, could have been the headline and the story; it was the second-to-last paragraph and could have easily been cut):

The National Research Council report was not entirely grim.

Scientists now believe several threats once of imminent concern, including the potential shutdown of an important circulation pattern in the Atlantic Ocean and a massive release of methane from Arctic permafrost, are no longer likely to happen this century.

I am well past the feelings that the individual who posted the third comment. I agree with him, but I am way beyond that.

I'm not sure why Algore and Barry are so uptight over global warming: these "bad things" are no longer likely to happen this century. By then Algore and Barry will be long gone. Except as footnotes in high school textbooks.