Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell demonstrates what a biased journalist he is.
My first impression was to ignore the request for interview from Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell last week, after all, RS has pretty much blown what credibility they had after making a terrorist bomber a front page teen heartthrob.
But, I said to myself, “it’s my duty to reach people I might not ordinarily reach”. So, I responded in good faith. In exchange, I got slimed by Goodell.
Here’s the email exchange I had with him:
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thanks for this.
Jeff Goodell
Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone
518-xxx-xxxx
@jeffgoodell
My view is that AR5 is going to stillborn, mainly because it is already outdated by new science that won’t be included.
There have been 19 separate peer reviewed papers published in climate sensitivity to CO2 by 42 scientists since January 1, 2012 all describing a lower climate sensitivity.
There have been recent revelations in journals (Yu Kosaka & Shang-Ping Xie Nature 2013 and de Freitas &McLean, 2013 International Journal of Geosciences) that demonstrate ENSO (El Niño) in the Pacific is responsible for the 15 plus years of global warming slowdown known as “the pause”. These two papers strongly suggest natural variability is still the dominant climate control.
Then there is the lack of reality matching what the climate models tell us, such as this leaked graph from an AR5 draft:
Original from AR5 draft: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/ipcc_ar5_draft_fig1-4_with.png
Annotated version: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/ipcc-ar5draft-fig-1-4.gif
All this while global CO2 emissions have been growing steadily. The lack of temperature match to models, “the pause”, combined with these new ENSO findings tell us that global warming has gone from a planetary crisis to a minor problem in a Banana Republic where only a few vocal science rebels are arguing for immediate intervention.
The costs of mitigating the perceived problem are also staggering compared to the benefit, as the 50:1 project demonstrates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw5Lda06iK0
best regards,
Anthony Watts
Editor, WUWT
530-xxx-xxxx
—–Original Message—– From: Jeff Goodell
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 10:41 AM
To: awatts@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: Rolling Stone inquiry
Name: Jeff Goodell
Email: jeffgoodell@xxxxx.xxx
Message: Hi Anthony
I’m a writer for Rolling Stone, working on piece about upcoming IPCC report. I’m checking in with a few people to get their views on how they think it will be received. Thoughts?
Thanks
Jeff
Time: September 3, 2013 at 10:41 am
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And what did I get for my effort? A single word. Here is the paragraph where I appear:
But, of course, this is nothing new. In 2007, when the IPCC released its Fourth Assessment Report, it was also nearly certain that human activity was heating up the planet, with grave consequences for our future well-being. And six years before that, when the IPCC released its Third Assessment, scientists were pretty certain about it too. But phrases like “high confidence” in warming do not, to the unscientific ear, inspire high confidence in the report’s finding, since they imply the existence of doubt, no matter how slight. And in the climate wars, “Doubt is what deniers thrive on and exploit,” says Bob Watson, who was head of the IPCC from 1997 to 2002. The final report has not even been released yet, and already prominent bloggers in the denial-sphere, like Anthony Watts, are calling it “stillborn.“
(added) What is most galling, is that Goodell asked me for my opinion prior the release of the IPCC AR5 report, then chastises me in his article for giving it. Whatta guy. (/end add)
Meanwhile, full quotes exist in the article from Naomi Oreskes, Rajendra Pachauri, Bob Watson, Anthony Leiserowitz, Ben Santer, blogger Joe Romm, and last but not least the anonymous tweeting person(s) behind Organizing for Action, the successor of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Besides giving liberal use of the word “denier” in the most derogatory way possible, the article also mentions “Why the City of Miami is Doomed to Drown“. Where he fantasizes about the year 2030.
Read it all here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warming-is-very-real-20130912?print=true
I suppose it’s par for the course from people that can’t tell the difference between water vapor from cooling towers and “carbon emissions”.
The stupid, it burns! http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-denier-elite-20130912
My single word with a “denier” label to my name is what I get for talking to “The Delinquent Teenager” crowd as if they were adults I suppose. I suggest that anyone who encounters Jeff Goodell in any future interview request, simply not respond – he’s shamelessly biased, fine with hatefully labeling people he doesn’t agree with, runs in the company of fools that can’t tell pollution from non-pollution, and now proven himself to be not worth the effort.
UPDATE: Shortly after I wrote this article, Goodell took notice on his Twitter feed, and shortly after that, the erroneous caption was replaced along with a different photo of the same power station in Germany, but with no explanation as to the error. Here’s what it looks like now:
Regardless of what happens with climate change, sooner or later Miami will be wiped off the map by an extremely powerful hurricane, as will New Orleans. It is just a matter of time, whether it be five years, fifty years, or five-hundred years.
Whenever it happens, the other thing we can be sure of is that the federal government will step forward to cover the cost of the losses, thus discouraging current residents from considering a move to higher ground; and if the worst happens, encouraging the rebuilding of the city pretty much in the same place it is now.
These Green Believers know they are going to get p’owned when the IPCC report comes out and has already been killed by The Pause. This is desperation, a surprise attack, a loser’s cry.
The media is turning on them, the economic realities of their public policy disasters are coming home to roost and they are being forced to scream the same old chants just louder and louder.
Besides giving liberal use of the word “denier” in the most derogatory way possible, the article also mentions “Why the City of Miami is Doomed to Drown“. Where he fantasizes about the year 2030.
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Look at the bright side, this gent will be still be around more than likely in 2030. He forgot the prime directive of alarmist predictions/projections (same thing IMHO) make sure the date is far enough in the future that you cannot be called up on it.
Stick this one in the “alarmist prediction file” and let it simmer for 17 years.
Tom
Might I rewrite a portion of this paragraph from Jeff Goodell:
‘But, of course, this is nothing new. In 2007, when the IPCC released its Fourth Assessment Report, it was also nearly certain that human activity was heating up the planet…’
But, of course, sliming Anthony Watts is nothing new in our behavior. In 2009 or 10 we also slimed General McCrystal with a totally fabricated report where we claimed he slimed President Obama. A Rolling Stone gathers lots of slime. Not moss.
Apparently the power plant image has been used by lots of left-wing organizations.
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/24/131564499/the-new-republic-making-progress-in-mexico
But at least NPR got the description correct…
“Steam rises from cooling towers at the Jaenschwalde coal-fired power plant in Germany, a large producer of CO2 gas.”
Along with producing the harmless CO2 gas, the plant produces 22 billion kW-hr per year of energy for Germany.
Anthony, I disagree when you say exchanging ideas with reporters may be a waste of effort. If or when the light bulb comes on with folks like Mr. Goodell, and they’re intellectually honest, they can refer to what you wrote and perhaps think twice about the next contention with “consensus”. You’ve staked your position with clarity and without ad hominem attacks – you’ve maintained the higher ground. Karma can be a bitch but it can also be rewarding.
The spontaneously informal hiring boycott of contemporary rolling stoners had already achieved double digit percent success now that it’s so easy for small companies to check in on how badly job candidates have failed the IQ test that climate alarm presented. The trend remains the same! Outspoken hatred of critical reason is feral enough to qualify for a now formal boycott of all support of those who promote it.
You’ll never win against Rolling Stone or MTV. They are both on the front lines of the forces we are fighting against, since they are openly aimed at teens in a vulnerable state of mind.
Nice play by Jeff, pretending to actually give a crap about researching anything. If only people like that had a shred of honesty or the slightest capability for critical thinking…
For some reason, my son began receiving this rag at my address FOR FREE. Their circulation must be very low to give issues away. I called them and cancelled it anyway
From the article …
Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the IPCC, recently told a group of climate scientists that if we want to avoid this fate, governments must act now to cut carbon pollution: “We have five minutes before midnight.”
From Wikipedia …
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster.
The last update to the Doomsday Clock was in 2012. The cause was, “Lack of global political action to address nuclear weapons stockpiles, the potential for regional nuclear conflict, nuclear power safety, and global climate change.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock
There’s more to worry about than climate just change.
It may seem like Lucy and the football, but I think it is not a complete loss. This blog post itself will be read by people searching for actual answers, few and far between as they may be. And, the internet is forever. Some years from now, when the entire fiasco has met its timely demise, it will be included in the case file which discredits the doomsayers, and ensures we will never have to endure such a debasement of science again.
From now it’s better to deflect all such requests from dubious sources to to your UCS spokesdog, Kenji.
Okay, so that picture doesn’t show carbon emissions but it does show emissions of that deadly stuff dihydrogen monoxide.
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
Who would go to RS to get their climate knowledge up to date anyway?
His article should be bombarded with comments and his inbox filled with complaints, let alone the editor’s inbox. That is what to expect from a low information writer if you can call him that.
Once again, they get away with fraud due to the disorganization of the skeptical house.
What a waste of PC02 footprint this trash is coming out of the Rolling Stoned (no typo) people!
I propose, once again, the development of a Union of Concerned Scientists and Citizens against Fraudulent Science.
Look folks, there are many many people who get paid to post supportive information on most sites that have anything to do with climate change. They are a well organized machine which has reach far and wide in media and government and the paid scientific community. Just look how long it took Hansen (I believe) to get a peer reviewed paper, as a response to another that undermined his prior paper, through the process.
We have a bunch of inidividuals working independently for the same cause, Truth!
Why not work together in a formal structure to have a bigger impact?
Just sayin it again……….step up or step out of the way………….
“I suppose it’s par for the course from people that can’t tell the difference between water vapor from cooling towers and “carbon emissions”
So, in the analogy, “water vapor From cooling towers” would be their, uh, butts, and “carbon dioxide” would be a hole in the ground, right?
Let the cultists keep digging their hole deeper and deeper. Sooner or later everyone will know who the real deniers are.
If you are reading this Jeff Goodell please note: Is it not scientifically odd that the longer the temperature standstill continues the more certain the IPCC is that man is responsible for the recent rise in global warming? Most of their climate models did not project this standstill. What if the world cools? Will you apologise to Anthony Watts? Do you have the integrity to do this?
Comment from the “Miami Is Doomed” article.
William Head
• 3 months ago
I’ll bet anything the guy who wrote this masturbates while watching “the Day After Tomorrow”
Its like the hilarious scene out of The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – in which the alien Ford Prefect was sent to Earth to update the Hitchhiker’s Guide entry for the planet Earth (a bit of a send up of “Lonely Planet” 🙂 ).
The old entry was the single word “Harmless”.
Ford Prefect’s proposed new entry is “Mostly Harmless”.
Just to show that those years of chemical engineering studies were not completely wasted, I have to pick nits with Frank K’s comment “Yes that is steam – you know the vapor phase of H2O.” The technical reality is that steam is water vapor, a gas, and is invisible. The visible form, nicknamed commonly but incorrectly as “steam”, is actually condensed water vapor and is made up of water droplets, not vapor.
IanM
Rolling Stone Magazine still using print media.
Still trying to Flog old boring Environmentalist Alarmist out of touch sanctimonious misery Dead Horse Drivel.
Watts Up with That biggest Climate Change Blogging site in the World.
2 Million internet subscribers world wide every month .Does that not rather tell you something.
Rolling Stones is old nostalgic 1960s Jagger /Dylanesque who got old fat rich and Middle Class Counter Culture Radical Rock .The Grateful Dead are old enough to be dead . Why middle aged Punks and Hippies love yesterdays news AGW .It plays to their old established smug vanities.
Even the name Rolling Stone, anyone under 30 would not know what that is supposed to mean.
Todays youngster they want Rhianna Jay Z Twitter Itunes Celebrity TMZ Paris and Perez Hilton Kim Kardazian Bling MTV Instantaneous infotainment culture.
Anthony your story is you got out of Television and then got Online.Who needs a TV studio and a Printing Press when you only require a Keyboard and a Mouse.
We have embraced major mass free speech internet based political opportunity.Why mainstream politics and media are so scared of Climate Change Skepticism
Anthony, I think some of the commenters to this post have been ill informed.
When they refer to Rolling Stone “readers”, is it not a prerequisite for “readers” to be able to read?
Anthony: Look at it from the point of view that when people like Goodell slime you, it is because they fear you and your message. When I get into internet discussions with CAGW types, it always gets personal before its over. It’s just like when one criticizes Obama, his supporters never want to discuss the issues, just WHY they think you are criticizing his performance, your a racist.
One word for Rolling Stone: Bollocks!