A balanced view does not reflect the scientific consensus on climate change.
Credit: iStockphoto
MELBOURNE: Airing the views of climate change sceptics in the media may only be serving to keep the global warming controversy boiling, argue scientists.
Leading climate change experts have warned the World Conference of Science Journalists in Melbourne, Australia, that a balanced view does not always reflect the consensus of the research community.
Kevin Hennessy, a lead scientist with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said yesterday that media attention on "the view of a handful of climate change sceptics" amplifies their opinions and "implies that there is little agreement about the basic facts of global warming".
Hennessy is also with the marine and atmospheric division of Australian government research body, CSIRO.
Speaking in a session about climate change reporting, he said editors and journalists have a duty to ensure that facts are presented in context. Balanced reporting, he said, "perpetuates the public's perception that scientists are in disarray, which is misleading in the case of climate change".
Geoff Love, secretary of the IPCC and former deputy director of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said that IPCC assessment reports from 1990 through to this year are strong evidence of "the coming together of the scientific community."
Emphasis on the sceptic view does not help public understanding of climate change, said Love.
Media coverage has not always reflected the consensus of the majority of the scientific community, said Ian Lowe, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation a non-profit environment group. "That only makes the public and political discussion more difficult," he said.
The problem is compounded by a lack of reporting on climate change, according to Chris Mooney, a U.S.-based science journalist attending the conference. Although the 2006 hurricane season attracted a lot of media attention, Mooney presented statistics from the United States showing that climate change has never been a priority in the media.
The situation is similar in Africa, said Ochieng' Ogodoa a Kenyan correspondent for London, U.K.-based news web site SciDev.Net. Articles about deaths caused by floods or other natural disasters, and political scandals related to climate change tend to get precedence, he said.
Global warming.
When we were told that cow flatulence increased global warming.They lost me
Methane is a greenhouse gas
Methane is given off in large quantities by many biological processes.
Rice production produces a lot of methane, and yes, cattle do too. Most methane from cattle is actually released from their mouth rather than as flatulence. It's a by product of their digestion process, and with as many cattle as there are in the world today, the production of methane from this source is significant.
Methane as a greenhouse gas is around 20 times as bad as carbon dioxide and is released by agriculture (mainly rice, cattle and sheep), from landfill waste, mining, the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) as well as from natural wetlands.
What's so hard to comprehend?
Excellent lecture nails ALL junk science to the floor
http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html
You guys will love this!
It does?
To quote his website "Michael Crichton is a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER."
Enough said really.
Hey, I know, let's ask the cast and crew of Star Trek to unify gravity, the weak and strong nuclear forces and the electromagnetic force!!
Seems these Hollywood types really have the answers!
Crichton is also an MD and Biologist...you didn't look very far.
"Michael Crichton is a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author ofJurassicPark and the creator of "ER." Crichton graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College, received his MD from Harvard Medical School, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He has been a visiting instructor at Cambridge University and MIT. Crichton's 2004 bestseller, State of Fear, challenged extreme anthropogenic warming scenarios."
http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/Event.aspx?Event=12
Everything the man said is factual...and this is the best you can do? Falsely attack his credentials? Al Gore is a politician, and he's the self-annointed guru of the global warming propaganda machine. Nothing more to say...those who will not see will not see.....
Climate reporting...
Good idea...follow the examples set by Hitler and Stalin: silence the critics at all cost! What is this world coming to that only one theory is allowed to exist? These so-called scientists are as bad as religious zealots who demand death to the unbelievers.
They can't stand scrunity
The know they can't stand up to the scrutiny of public examination, so they have to shut the other side down. Such a typical resposnse from the left wingers that follow this non-sense.
Telling scientists that they can't stand up to arguments from the other side is just pure insanity. that's what science is all about!!!!
And he also let on to a key point out there. "Consensus" is not the same as scientific fact. Consensus is simply an agreement among a group of people. It's certainly not PROOF! Although they want to make you think they have it all wrapped up.
Like that moron OwlGore said, "We don't need any more debate on this subject, because it's been decided!" Who the hell decided??? If they decided, why are they trying to shut down debate on the subject!
Bunch of lying leftists.
One View Only
If the true science of climate change was as one sided and well defined as those that wish to stifle discussion claim then there would be no need for them to be concerned---the facts would prove their point.
The fact of the matter is that climate change is ongoing and very complicated. There is nothing unique about the current changes. The IPCC people only wish to view one perspective of this issue.
Sad that so-called "science" would be so unscientific, but it has happened before and will happen again! Remember if you wish to stifle discussion you may be on the other side of the issue the next time someone else tries to end discussion "for our own good".
Climate Seer
the real science
Take an hour to help learn the facts about the science... the skeptics are right, the 'consensus' is wrong... when the science is examined this conclusion is not arguable. That we are asked to stop being skeptics is hilarious.
Check this out, its free and it answers all the alarmists arguments irrefutably... enjoy,
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2332531355859226455&q=the+great+global+warming&hl=en
Loved the video....thanks!
Sharing this with others.....the voice of sanity is refreshing....