There is a great deal of fake news floating around and I was shocked to see a blatant fairy tale promulgated by a supposedly credible source in the Wall Street Journal regarding climate change. That source is one Holman W. Jenkins, a frequent conservative columnist for the WSJ. His column on Dec. 10 contains fictitious scientific information and is a perfect example of why we need to check sources and facts, especially pertaining to controversial subjects such as climate change.
In his recent opinion piece, Mr. Jenkins supports his case for denying climate change by summarizing the 2013 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He conveniently twists the panel's findings to match his magical vision, claiming that the IPCC reversed its 2007 central forecast and, according to Mr. Jenkins, the panel's latest finding is that our climate is not warming any longer. He takes the familiar climate-denier position that the science is incomplete.
The real burn here is that he uses a bonafide credible source for his argument, but lies about the facts from that source.
I read Mr. Jenkins' column seeking information, thinking that perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps I had fallen for climate change without considering all the facts. Maybe climate change is a hoax, as so many conservatives claim, including our President-elect and a few of his cabinet choices who will be advising and helping to carry out the new president's orders.
So I went to the source of Mr. Jenkins' information, the IPCC, to find out. I learned that the IPCC is the foremost body for assessing climate change and supplying governments around the world with real data regarding temperature change based on studies of hundreds of international scientists.
I found summaries of the IPCC report that Mr. Jenkins referred to. I also found more recently
published (2014) summaries.
Following are five of those IPCC summaries:
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and the ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice have disminished, sea level has risen, and the concentration of greenhouse gases have increased."
"Drivers of Climate Chamge: Total radiative forcing is positive and has led to an uptake of energy by the climate system. The largest contribution to total radiative forcing is caused by the increase in the atmosphere concentration of CO2 since 1750."
"Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming and understanding of the climate system."
"Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions."
Essentially, Mr. Jenkins has lied to his readers, most of whom are likely also climate deniers. He is clearly not a credible pundit, or whatever he claims to be. I would think that the Wall Street Journal would be embarrassed to have him foisting such distortion of facts in their pages.
