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My view is that AR5 is going to stillborn, mainly because it is already outdated by new science that won’t be included.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:
Here’s his bio.
http://www.jeff-goodell.com/bio.html
UC Berkeley English major.
No science training or experience.
Seems to be a critic of “big coal”
Conclusion — another green-shirt.
The big thing to understand is we are dealing with religious fanatics. We are telling them their religion is false. Their god does not exist. Of course they react in a hateful, angry manner. That is what all religious fanatics do.
I find it curious that Anthony is promoting Kosaka & Xie when they clearly state in the abstract:
Our results show that the current hiatus is part of natural climate variability, tied specifically to a La-Niña-like decadal cooling. Although similar decadal hiatus events may occur in the future, the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase.
It’s a funny thing, but searching for the images on the Internet it turns out that this is a NUCLEAR power station. No wonder there are no smokestacks emitting ‘carbon [sic] pollution’!
No need for me to add….
Richard M says:
September 12, 2013 at 6:23 pm
The big thing to understand is we are dealing with religious fanatics. We are telling them their religion is false. Their god does not exist. Of course they react in a hateful, angry manner. That is what all religious fanatics do.
Carbon emissions from wind turbines, exactly like those from the cooling towers, that are too heavy to float up into the sky.
http://ict-aeolus.eu/images/horns_rev.jpg
(sorry)
Never trust a guy wearing one of those polarfleece beanies 🙂
Well stated, Anthony:
” …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. …”
THANKS, Anthony, for including my annotated version of leaked AR5 fig 1-4. Clearly, the Rolling Stone writer did not click on that link, else he would have instantly converted to our reasonable skeptic side. (Yeah right :^)
Although Rolling Stone reduced your reasoned reply to their invitation to comment on the soon to be released IPCC AR5 to the single word “stillborn” and then mischaracterized you (and by extension all of us at WUWT) as “bloggers in the “denial-sphere”, that does not take away from the basic truth of your (our) views.
Officially reported global temperatures have leveled off for over a decade and a half even as CO2 continues its rapid rise. That is absolute proof that CO2 cannot be the MAJOR (over 50%) cause of the warming.
ALL of the IPCC predictions, from the first to the fourth Assessment Reports, have over-estimated the temperature rise, according to the latest official temperature measurements (as shown by my animated annotations to the leaked AR5 fig 1-4). That is absolute proof that the IPCC climate models have been WRONG (FAR), WRONG (SAR), WRONG (TAR), and WRONG (AR4).
Error, and purposeful mischaracterization of the WUWT message by the left wing media, may slow general acceptance of the fact that we humans and our activities are responsible for only a fraction of the warming over the past century, that that warming has been over-estimated by the official climate “team” cooking the books on the thermometer record, and that the majority of the actual warming is due to natural cycles not under human control — BUT THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH AND WILL EVENTUALLY PREVAIL.
Ira Glickstein
Since the Weekly World News went the way of the Dodo, Rolling Stone has a nice niche to fill.
Seems like perfectly normal journolist behavior.
No, that’s not a misspelling.
It seems they have the solution – white carbon?
Jim – The pirate eye patch made up for that shortfall!
So let’s keep in mind that RS put the Boston Bomber and DR. Hook on their cover, but only gave Anthony a single word. In the end, Anthony will have had more (positive) influence than RS, or the band or the bomber.
Jeff who?
I was able to figure out his email from the above and sent him a derisive comment!:] Good for you, Anthony. Rolling Stone had its day but that day was over long ago.
Having been called a “denier.” On a point of personal privilege you should be afforded an opportunity to respond that you are nothing like a holocaust denier or even a denier regarding the dangers of tobacco smoke. The story is slowly coming to the point where it will have to be reported that the models aren’t working. Keep it up!
Bill Illis:
“You can’t fix non-objective people. They just are the way they are and there is nothing you can do about it.”
I always wondered what’s wrong with non-objective people. You see the type even in childhood, jealously guarding their “truths”. Even their things. They are typically non-sharing types. What drives these people? Fear? Greed? Habit?
I tend to think it is pure personal advantage. Some people will always manouvre themselves into a position to maximize personal gain. Truth, honour, science, be damned. Often you see the same type of people sucking up to whoever has power at any time.
I think it is a genetic trait, as it doesn’t seem to change as the individual grows up and matures.
The Mod Squad has become a Goon Squad……while getting attention for circulation. That formula plays out every day all across the country with similar ilk at lesser spheres of media attention.
Tsarnaev was never found guilty of being a terrorist. The FBI considered him a suspect and the media went crazy over it. The media story then goes he was shot dead in the face.
But I haven’t seen any evidence to support any of the media story, and i don’t know of anyone who has
Thanks Anthony for putting yourself out there. I think the word “stillborn” may have shocked a few readers into thinking; a metaphor by a single word can be especially strong.
Rolling Stone Magazine…once dedicatedly anti-establishment, now unabashedly the mouth of the establishment…
Not so sure, Michael; do a search for JAENSCHWALDE, GERMANY power plant.
Interesting images from Jaenschwalde:
http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/jaenschwalde/Interesting
Getty images:
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/steam-rises-from-cooling-towers-at-the-jaenschwalde-coal-news-photo/103526651
Trade journal article:
“Turbine retrofit in the Jänschwalde lignite fired power plant in Germany”
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/print/volume-19/issue-3/features/turbine-retrofit-in-the-jaenschwalde-lignite-fired-power-plant-in-germany.html
Increasing coal plants’ efficiency has been a focus for many years now and turbine retrofits currently being executed by Alstom will make an important contribution to raising performance. By overhauling low-pressure, intermediate-pressure and high-pressure turbines, the specific fuel requirements – and therefore the CO2 emissions – of the 30-years old Jänschwalde lignite plant in Germany, have been reduced significantly.
…
Their key focus was environmental protection. Within the scope of the comprehensive revision, the boilers in Block A were converted for low nitrous oxide combustion and the electrofilters were modernized. The same measures were subsequently performed on the other blocks. Half a decade later, decommissioning of the three old chimney stacks and commissioning of flue gas desulphurization for all blocks marked a milestone in the history of the power plant. Its emissions were now below the legal thresholds.
Anthony Watts says:
That’s a by-product. The material product of a cooling tower is cold water. Thermodynamically, it’s a cold sink that makes the operation of the power station more efficient.
Jänschwalde power station is adjacent to the border with Poland and was constructed between 1976 and 1988; under the glorious régime of the Socialists who didn’t care about pumping sulphur, mercury, other heavy metals, particulates, complex hydrocarbons etc into the atmosphere. Brown skies were the mark of a thriving socialist economy. As was the unmistakable aroma imbued upon everything produced and everybody living in such lucky places.
The power station produces another important by-product; gypsum. It’s made using the sulphur now scrubbed from the flue. Precipitators, etc minimise other emissions but the underlying combustion technology is not amenable to further cleanups. Swedish owner Vattenfall is unlikely to upgrade the plant before the nearby coal is exhausted.
Although one can’t see the CO2 emissions from the cooling towers, flue gases are now vented through the cooling towers; the older stacks having been removed during the noughties.
A few years ago, it was planned to burn something quite different from brown coal at the plant: €1.5 billion in subsidies to trial CCS.
Jeff Goodell just wrote a book on geoengineering the climate. I haven’t read the book but the first couple of paragraphs seem to start in the direction of an interesting and not wholly unreasonable perspective.
Mr. Goodell of all people should appreciate that geoengineering can’t work until the models work. But it’s become obvious to any honest reporter that the models are unsatisfactory. He should be one of the first to insist that the models will need to be seriously worked on before we can seriously start discussing geoengineering a climate. Imagine the repercussions of getting the engineering wrong and precipitating a crop failure. Maybe Anthony should invite Goodell to write something provocative for the WUWT blog on geoengineering. Presumably, centuries hence, another ice age could materialize. If so, it may be humankind’s destiny to engineer the climate.
Meemoe not found guilty? Your right. He hasn’t been tried yet, when he is ,he will be found guilty, no evidence? They are both on film . I strongly suggest you stay out of boston you piece of…….