Tipping Point In The Media

Guest Post by Steven Goddard

tipping_point

Over the last year or so I have been taking an informal survey of a key news metric – Google news searches for the term “global warming.”  A year ago, the ratio of alarmist/skeptical articles was close to 100/1.  About six months ago, the ratio was 90/10, Two months ago it was 80/20, and today it hit 50/50 for the first time – including the lead skeptical story “A Cooling Trend Toward Global Warming“.  One thing that has changed is the rise of blogs written by informed citizens, complemented by the demise of corporate newspapers which make money from keeping people continually alarmed about one thing or another.

Congratulations to Anthony and all the readers for being a big part of this.  Democracy in it’s purest form – hope and change we can all believe in.

The top two items from Google news “global warming” search today.  The distribution of all stories through the first few search pages was similar in makeup as seen below:

The Tech Herald

A Cooling Trend Toward Global Warming

The New American – ‎1 hour ago‎

With the election of a president who is solidly in the globalwarming-alarmist camp – and with many high-level appointees who are bona fide climate-change

Global warming and climate change: facts and hype Examiner.com

UN global warming stand criticized Delta Farm Press

UN Con on Global Warming Nearly Foiled NewsMax.com

Opposing Views – Atlanta Journal Constitution

all 36 news articles »

New York Times

House Democrats release draft energy, climate bill

New York Times – ‎8 hours ago‎

By DARREN SAMUELSOHN AND BEN GEMAN, Greenwire Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today unveiled a 648-page draft global warming

House Democrats unveil sweeping plan to reshape energy in America MiamiHerald.com

Waxman’s clean energy draft includes cap-and-trade proposals Oil & Gas Journal

US lawmakers present draft bill on ‘clean energy’ AFP

iBerkshires.com

Get notified when a new post is published.
Subscribe today!
0 0 votes
Article Rating
133 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
April 1, 2009 10:57 am

Aron:
You are right again. The story about india it is perfectly applicable to my country Peru, in the 50´s there were thousands if not millions of poor people migrating to the capital, invading state owned lands to build their homes and their future, at the beginning formed only shanty towns. Those thousand of families, with a lot of children, against all odds and family planners´theories, those children in particular, became entrepeneurs, now owners of really big industries.That is why last year Peru´s GDP grew 9.84%, but a GDP so diversified that we still do not feel any crisis whatsoever.
This is the teaching of the hard working human race to those self indulging feeble minders who pretend to rule the world, impose the people the ideologies of a lunatics´asylum. These grown up kids, never knew, as you say, what decent work and effort is all about.
These ideologies were already tested, in the jungles of Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge sent millions to death.

Mike T
April 1, 2009 10:58 am

M Ritenour (04:49:43) :
More media publishing for science, not hype:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5067351/Rise-of-sea-levels-is-the-greatest-lie-ever-told.html
The admirable Chris Booker has been reporting in this vein for a considerable time. I look in vain for anyone else doing so here in the UK.

juan
April 1, 2009 11:12 am

“David Porter:
Either that or I’m paranoid. Could be the latter!”
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you….

Adam from Kansas
April 1, 2009 11:20 am

According to BOM.gov’s moving SOI graph the SOI dropped significantly and now seems parked right on the neutral line, SST’s may have also remained fairly even or even dropped slightly over last month as well according to NOAA’s charts. Provided there’s evidence for temperatures largely following SST’s there should be no resumed upward trend for the next few months at least.
Other observations for March, the UAH graph website says global warming should cause cooling in the upper atmosphere, but at 56,000 feet to just below the ozone layer there’s been significant warming and considering those layers have been well below the 30 year norm for temperature to begin with.

April 1, 2009 11:58 am

Apparently California’s consultants have not yet got the word that the sea is not rising, the ice is not melting, and the global air temperature is decreasing.
Furthermore, anything California does or does not do is a drop in the bucket, so to speak. Even if California used zero energy and emitted zero carbon dioxide, the impact on the world would be less than 2 percent. Reducing California’s carbon output by 30 percent, as AB 32 requires, will have an even smaller effect (roughly 0.6 percent in the world).
The CAT (Climate Action Team) issued a report predicting dire consequences from Global Warming, and urges great counter-measures. (see link below)
A quote:

“The Climate Action Team plays an essential role in the implementation of the state’s climate initiatives and is guided by these important technical studies to ensure policy decisions are based on sound science,” said Linda Adams, Secretary for Environmental Protection and Chair of the state’s CAT. “Any delay in fighting global warming would be detrimental to our economic stability – costing us billions of dollars and dampening the state’s most important economic sectors. Taking immediate action on climate change is essential to slow the projected rate of warming. We also need to make smarter decisions in order to anticipate and adapt to the changes.”

This is what we have to deal with in California…and soon nation-wide when Obama gets his way.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/550677/

jorgekafkazar
April 1, 2009 12:07 pm

Anybody have some spare time to go blogging:
http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1039695
“In October 2008, Change.org launched a blog network for social issues that has grown to more than 1 million monthly visitors and 20 bloggers in its first 6 months. The Managing Editor’s role will be to take Change.org’s content strategy to the next level — significantly expanding our team of bloggers, defining the site’s editorial voice, and building Change.org into the leading destination online for issue-based news, commentary, and action.”

Aron
April 1, 2009 12:17 pm

I’ll say this from experience. India still has a very slow moving and corrupt bureaucracy but its population has more liberty than the people do in the US and UK. They also have a free market that put us to shame. The only obstacle I found there is that you have to give a little cash under the table to get things done other bureaucrats and form fillers don’t move a finger. But on the bright side hardly anyone pays taxes as they also bribe the taxman 🙂

Mark T
April 1, 2009 12:25 pm

Roger Sowell (11:58:31) :
So, let me get this straight: delaying action on climate change may cost Billions to deal with, but taking action will cost Trillions? I’m… at a loss for words regarding this logic.
From what I understand, CA actually has nearly an equal proportion of right and left leaning mindsets, correct? How does this much nonsense manage to get through? Are people just leaving? Aren’t they trying to vote this [snip] down? I know they elected the RINO to replace Davis, and I can’t blame them in the beginning because he seemed legit, but ultimately, he is a Kennedy. 😉
Mark

H.R.
April 1, 2009 12:32 pm

in Texas (10:12:37) :
“Golf War”?
Yeah. We beat ’em 3 & 2. The MSM didn’t report it, natch.

E.M.Smith
Editor
April 1, 2009 1:04 pm

Graeme Rodaughan (21:47:40) : Might as well call them “Federal Motors” they will be owned by the US Federal Government…
Um, you are too late by about 3 months:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/110597-buy-ford-short-gm
The gubmint is about 80% ownership now (per the above estimate). I expect by the time they are done they will bankrupt the common stock leaving all ownership in the preferred stock, so that the Gov owns it all.
The suggestion it so call them Government Motors (so GM still works 😉
There is a proposal for GM to hand over $10B in preferred stock to the retirees to pay off the health care debts. I could see that happening too… the workers do need to own the means of production, after all…
Do not buy GM common. Do not buy GM preferred. You do not ever want the government as your business partner (but especially so now that they have decided to ignore contract law and want socialization of the means of production…)
Buy a GM car? I’ll leave that to your preferences but only note that if you want service on that car, government run services are not known for their, um, quality and speed…
IMHO, the best car company stocks, more or less in order, are: TM HMC (up over 9% today and running up off a bottom) F with an honorable mention for Daimler (DAI), BMW (BAMXY), VW (VALKY), and FUJHY (Fuji Heavy that also makes Subaru, up 8% today in a rising trend!) but the German stocks are sometimes thinly traded in the U.S.A. and can be tough trades.
DISCLOSURE: I have positions in FUJHY, F and TTM (also up 8% today – owns Jaguar since F sold it to them – an India car maker up off a bottom; nice long term investment gamble on 3rd world growth).
Just don’t ever ever own an airline or be partners with the government in the common stock…

E.M.Smith
Editor
April 1, 2009 1:19 pm

Starting with “Um, you are” in the last posting from me is mine (it’s easy to type so fast that the / before the i> gets left out and the whole thing stays italics…)

David Porter
April 1, 2009 1:19 pm

juan (11:12:03) :
Because I am paranoid I know they are out to get me. That’s why I’m paranoid. Cyclical, just like the climate.

maz2
April 1, 2009 1:28 pm

Exposed: Earth Hour defeated.
The intimidation/greenmail tactics of the AGW Church.
>>> “Signing up to the Charter had been necessary if the town wanted to receive grant money.”
“the revelation that some councillors do not accept an anthropogenic cause for global warming contradicts the town’s previously stated position on the subject.”.
…-
Headline:
“The Town of Smithers decided to stop the clock on Earth Hour this year.
In a Committee of the Whole session last week, councillors were divided over a proposal to endorse a one-hour power cut off on the weekend. The motion was narrowly defeated.
One of the main sticking points in the proposal was the reference to global warming, two words that ruffled the feathers of a few councillors. Council was also required to sign up to the animal-activist group World Wildlife Fund’s website.
Observing Earth Hour wasn’t itself especially controversial. But councillors balked at registering with the WWF.”
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/interior-news/news/42161922.html

Graeme Rodaughan
April 1, 2009 1:36 pm

E.M.Smith (13:04:13) :
Graeme Rodaughan (21:47:40) : Might as well call them “Federal Motors” they will be owned by the US Federal Government…
Um, you are too late by about 3 months:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/110597-buy-ford-short-gm

An interesting expansion on and “off the cuff” comment. Thanks.

Dave Wendt
April 1, 2009 2:11 pm

I’d say the tipping point was reached when Obama and his leftist cronies took over and it suddenly became all too apparent what the plan was all along. For years AGW was wrapped in feel good environmentalism, change your light bulbs, buy that Prius, recycle those cans, etc. There was no real price to pay for believing the propaganda. Now the wider public is being forced to recognize that the price for this will not be paid by just Big Oil and the evil corporations, but by each and every one of us, in incredible losses to our liberty and prosperity. The prospect of sacrificing their and their children’s future to save some guy drinking Appletinis on the patio of his beachfront mansion in Florida in 2088 from getting his ankles wet is providing a bracing hit of reality. I only hope that it has not come to late.

April 1, 2009 2:18 pm

Mark T,
The tax-and-spend voters outnumber the others by a large margin. The same is true in the two state houses, the Assembly and the Senate. Roughly 60/40 there.

E.M.Smith
Editor
April 1, 2009 2:32 pm

Roger Sowell (11:58:31) : The CAT (Climate Action Team) issued a report predicting dire consequences from Global Warming, and urges great counter-measures. […]
A quote: “Any delay in fighting global warming would be detrimental to our economic stability – costing us billions of dollars and dampening the state’s most important economic sectors.

Contrast with:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/27/financial/f112511S11.DTL
“(02-27) 18:54 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) —
California’s unemployment rate jumped to 10.1 percent in January, the state’s first double-digit jobless reading in a quarter-century.
The jobless rate announced Friday by the state Employment Development Department represents an increase from the revised figure of 8.7 percent in December. It also is 2.5 percentage points higher than the national jobless rate in January of 7.6 percent.
I mentioned the 10% unemployment rate to a friend who informed me that the latest report is 11% and rising…
I suspect that CAT (and CARB and others) will meet their reduction goals for CO2 and related gasses – but not the way they were expecting…
Tax beatings will continue until morale improves and business returns…
That they don’t see the present crisis and think that raising sales tax to 10% (as has been done) while punishing anyone who dares to try to run a business, yet somehow think doubling or tripling the cost of fuel and electricity will somehow cause economic recovery; it just boggles the mind.
“Intelligence is limited, but stupidity knows no bounds. – emsmith”
I’m betting on 14% unemployment before long. Not sure if we will reach 20% before folks start revolting. Figure about the time the State can’t borrow the money for the next unemployment / welfare checks the SHTF.
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/1296762.html
says they were running out last October and it must be worse now…
(Presently doing research on Belize but wondering about a low laying tropical island in the Pacific “threatened” with inundation from sea level rise — ought to be cheap…)

Ross
April 1, 2009 3:12 pm

Aron (02:28:26) :
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!
Also very beneficial for us, the just plain lazy and the couch potatoes.
Might stir up trouble with the “Reunite Gondwandaland” org. though.

E.M.Smith
Editor
April 1, 2009 3:16 pm

Mark T (12:25:59) : From what I understand, CA actually has nearly an equal proportion of right and left leaning mindsets, correct? How does this much nonsense manage to get through?
Partly it is the dominance of the cities over the rural. The Central Valley of California would like nothing better than to split off and toss SF into the sea (or let LA go to lala land) but is outvoted. Small power blocks control the cities, and those tilt the whole thing (see Pelosi and her secure district with unlimited seniority as an example).
Similarly, the huge area of San Bernardino county that is inland is flat out dominated by the tiny corner in the urban metroplex (despite desires to leave…), so that whole county stays ‘liberal’. At a micro scale, this repeats within voting districts so as to effectively disenfranchise enough of the conservatives to assure a workers paradise…
Are people just leaving?
Yes. Though it takes a few years for any one family to decide to up root and leave. Of my Dads family (3 siblings & me) born in California to a Dad from Iowa and a Mom from England: 2 are in Nevada now, one is preparing to retire on a State of California pension – she had the good sense to get on the gravy train early 😉 and I’m looking for what to do in the next 1 to 2 years as my kids finish up school. (One is on a full ride state scholarship; at least as long as I don’t earn too much money – I learned to get on the gravy train later; though I’m younger so I have an excuse…) If you can’t beat it; use it until it breaks. Parasite or bloodless corpse, you choose…
Aren’t they trying to vote this [snip] down?
Some of us thought that maybe the pseudo-Republican might do some good. Wasn’t much of a choice available. Look! The Republicrat won! You had a choice! Yeah, right. Why I’m a registered independent…
I know they elected the RINO to replace Davis, and I can’t blame them in the beginning because he seemed legit, but ultimately, he is a Kennedy. 😉

And that is the problem in a nutshell. One could say, literally and figuratively, that: In California the Republicans are in bed with the Democrats at the expense of the people.
I don’t expect it to get fixed until it is completely and irretrievably broken. Folks will act from their bigotries and preconceptions until forced to change by unmitigated and undeniable disaster. I give it 1/2 way through the next Governor’s term. (i.e. when it’s clearly not Bush, not AahNold -who will be out by then, AND TheNewGuy has had unemployment hit 15%+ with no end in sight and nobody willing to buy another California Welfare Bond… Basically when we’re out of jobs, out of taxes, and completely out of credit card to charge more welfare…)
At least, my 2 years and gone schedule sure hopes and depends on the wheels not coming off for another 2 years! In the next 2 years, as well, I will be strongly encouraging my kids to take their California University degrees and head for greener pastures… No reason from them to pick up the $40B and rising tab here…

Graeme Rodaughan
April 1, 2009 3:34 pm

OT.
Looks like the US Senate just got Cold Feet on CAP and Trade – perhaps another tipping point.
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/the-thune-amendment-5096
No one (very few at least) is willing to be seen pushing up energy prices during a recession.

John Galt
April 1, 2009 3:43 pm

Here’s one good thing to come from the current world-wide economic crisis — people are worried about just making a living and that makes them pay attention to the frightening economics of AGW as well as the inadequate science.
Skeptics are now being heard. Sure, the mainstream media is still on the AGW bandwagon, but who listens to/reads/watches them anymore? The media has blindly endorsed the left-wing progressive agenda and the public has responded by going elsewhere for news and information.

E.M.Smith
Editor
April 1, 2009 4:49 pm

E.M.Smith (15:16:19) :
Mark T (12:25:59) : Are people just leaving?
Yes. Though it takes a few years […] has had unemployment hit 15%+ with no end in sight

Just heard on CNBC that the housing report showed home sales up (in some cases up double digit percents) in the whole country… except the West (i.e. California / Las Vegas…) due to: Job Loss.
Home sales down about another 14% in California IIRC…
Gee. No jobs due to business leaving the state, leading to a collapsing economy. Wonder why… (And yes, I am certain that the Powers That Be really do wonder why and have no clue…)
“Tax beatings will continue until business morale improves. – emsmith”
Latest round is the announcement of an increase to around 10% sales tax rate (if varies as different places add local bits).
Wonder when the California media will reach a tipping point…

Melody
April 1, 2009 5:31 pm

I have a question; just who was it that determined what the ‘normal’ temperature of the ‘earth’ should be?
Just say ‘aaahhh’, as they stick the thermometer in a volcano.
Wake up America, before you willingly give up more of your rights for another crisis that does not exist.
Melody Scalley
http://www.melodyscalley.wordpress.com

April 1, 2009 5:36 pm

E.M.Smith, Mark T, and others interested,
To give an idea of the Sacramento mind-set: they have consultants who tell them that the green economy is going great, that investments are pouring in, and there are many green small businesses (like the dot com boomers did) sprouting all over the Bay Area.
All I can say, is, that is a darn good thing! Imagine what the unemployment rate would be otherwise! (California unemployment was 10.5 percent in Feb, data from March 20).
Also, the deficit is BAAAAACCCKKKK. We cancelled the $42 billion deficit with tax, spend, and borrow…and 3 weeks later the state is running an $8 billion deficit. The state treasury sounded surprised, naming the lack of economic activity (recession) as the reason. We should get another report on the budget deficit in about two weeks.
http://energyguysmusings.blogspot.com/2009/03/california-budget-crisis-again.html
As for people leaving, just check out the one-way rental rates for U-Haul or other hauling companies. I do that from time to time, and find that one can rent a large truck one-way from Dallas to Los Angeles for far less than the other way. (or pick any other non-California city). The cost differential has been that way for years. This is a clear indication that rental trucks are not piling up in California, just the opposite!
Does anyone remember Ahhnold (California governor for our foreign readers) offering to pay (from his own pocket!) for the moving van costs if people would begin moving to California? I think it was when he was running for governor.
California is rapidly on its way to being just the ports, the military bases, the government employees and their buildings, Disneyland, and hamburger joints. And I’m not so sure the hamburger joints will be able to pay all the taxes…
And this just in:
” SACRAMENTO – Senate Bill 14, which requires all energy providers to buy 33 percent of their energy from clean renewable energy sources by 2020 has been approved by the Senate 21-16. The bill, authored by State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) now heads to the Assembly. :
http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/view/96697
This bill will formalize Ahhnold’s executive order on the same matter. Once the Assembly passes it, Ahhnold will sign it. The current target (law) is 20 percent by 12/31/2010. This legislation is known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard.
What was that 60’s song?
“When will they ever learn, when will they ev-v-v-v-er learn….”

April 1, 2009 5:52 pm

Roger Sowell,
You just don’t understand what Arnold is saying. Here he explains exactly how green energy will help balance the budget and create sustainable jobs: click