Guest essay by Eric Worrall
What makes it even funnier is Richard Branson, whose space rocket stunt bumped the Hayhoe climate segment, fancies himself as a climate hero.
Why TV Is So Bad at Covering Climate Change
Molly Taft
Published 8 hours ago: July 14, 2021 at 11:30 pmOn Saturday, Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, tweeted that she’d be appearing on CNN to talk to Fareed Zakaria about the record-breaking heat wave gripping the West. The next day, she announced her segment had been cut. “Bumped, due to billionaire going to space,” she wrote.
Hayhoe was slated to appear on CNN as Death Valley was clocking the highest temperature ever reliably recorded on the planet, on the heels of another heat wave that killed hundreds of people across the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Meanwhile, Richard Branson spent 3 or 4 minutes weightless to advertise a spaceship that will offer seats for hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop — and earned wall-to-wall coverage on broadcast networks this weekend, many of which aired footage of his “brief joyride.”
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Booking someone as a guest on cable TV for a big show is a nightmare process. You had to make sure that the person could get to a big city with a broadcast studio on a quick turnaround to film their segment, which often rules out basically every scientist or activist living in rural areas (or those who have, you know, lives and can’t drop everything to go film at 11 p.m.). Producers also tend to prefer people with previous TV experience, meaning experts in their field who could really give the best insight on the topic or activists doing amazing work were often passed over for someone more well-known or someone with more stage presence or experience.
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“When breaking news happens, that often leads to at least one originally-planned segment getting killed — which can happen a lot to climate segments that aren’t the most pressing topic of the day,” the producer told me over text message.
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This gets at a classic, age-old problem in climate communications: How do you get people to care about the slow death of our planet when there’s a bunch of other stuff happening rapid-fire right in front of our eyes? “As a society it’s as if we have a collective cat brain: fixated on the latest shiny toy that’s waving in front of our eyes while in the meantime our tail is on fire,” Hayhoe wrote in her tweet thread.
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Read more: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/07/why-tv-is-so-bad-at-covering-climate-change/
Sorry Hayhoe, but people are just bored with climate heroes like you repeating the same tired tropes.
As for Richard Branson, we love teasing climate heroes about their air miles, but how does someone who owns an airline get to call themselves a climate hero? Someone who is pushing forward with plans to offer joy rides for millionaires to the edge of space on large CO2 belching rockets?
Don’t get me wrong, I think the rockets are pretty awesome. But burning tons of fossil fuel to give a few minutes joy ride to rich people does not exactly seem like an example of how to cut your carbon footprint to save the planet.
This post is not about Hayhoe but about Branson.
So is your comment.
This post bumped Hayhoe for Branson for the same reason TV networks did: she’s boring and going to (the edge of) space is exciting!
Who is Hayhoe?
I think she was one of the seven dwarfs.
… and here is another one as appeared on the BBC this evening
Dumpy the Dwarf. I like it!
Ed McMahon used to shout out her name on Carson.
This post about the Gizmodo piece illustrates the idiocy of false premise questions. Gizmodo article writer Molly Taft asks, “Why TV Is So Bad at Covering Climate Change?” The real world answer is they are “so bad” because they don’t ever stop covering it in some anti-science false tangent practically every day. AGW is causing illegal immigrant surges and condo collapses and a scorched desert southwest that’s being swept away by floods when weather conditions aren’t being oppressively stagnant and unremarkable, while also causing news items about Hunter Biden’s laptop and the latest news about Fulton County GA ballot questions to be bumped by stories about global hotting.
Well … he did rise the question.
Your point being?
Is it just me or does Hayhoe look like she’s a couple of can’s short of a six-pack?
“does Hayhoe look like she’s a couple of can’s short of a six-pack?”
That’s irrelevant. She should be judged on what she says.
Based on what she says, I’d say she’s 5 cans short of a six pack and the can she has is empty except for some rocks.
”She should be judged on what she says.”
Oh I have heard what she says many times and her expression matches with that very nicely.
She actually believes the Earth has a fever. And what’s more, humans are 100% responsible. Meaning, in the absence of humans, she knows that the temp today would be the same or lower than it was 200 years ago.
Correct.
Thank you.
And here is what she says.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/12/25/what-if-science/
Hayhoe’s words are much worse than her face.
On the contrary, she should be judged by both what she says & does!!! For instance, Branson says one thing, yet does another!!!
As do all the main climate carpetbaggers – Gore, Suzuki, Figueres, Obama, Kerry, IPCC, etc etc
You can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes you can tell a person is whacked by their clothes and grooming.
Exactly
Thanks to everyone who responded in terms of Hayhoe’s message rather in terms of her appearance or how her name sounds. No thanks to the latter. No thanks to the editor either, for selecting or not replacing the picture that encouraged such comments.
I don’t understand why people can’t see that posting derisive comments about personal characteristics damages the credibility of WUWT. Or perhaps there are some “false flag” operators commenting here, who do understand that?
Suppose some activist approached a “climate billionaire” for funding to damage the credibility of WUWT. I suspect the proposal would be rejected because there are already more than enough people making toxic comments here to get that job done.
Because of the uncivil comments, I avoid linking to WUWT when posting online about the climate catastrophe hoax. Sometimes I can find similar information elsewhere to make the same point, without this type of associated baggage to damage my own credibility.
You can climb down from your high horse any time you want. If you’re really concerned with insults and derisive comments, go visit any warmist website and try to post a comment.
He fails to understand that there ARE people who especially deserve all the derision and opprobrium they get. John Kerry is another who comes to mind.
Looks like my mention of “‘false flag’ operators” might have hit some nerves.
How do you react to this guy, renowned member of the Climate Cult?
Herr+Cook.gif (560×900) (bp.blogspot.com)
I should have added this one:
Yes, why DOES John Cook of ‘SkepticalScience’ and the 97% have to use identity theft in his ‘research’? – Watts Up With That?
These people are evil.
Imagine waking up to that you would need much more than a six pack
She looks like she might have already finished off a six pack or two; when she speaks I get the feeling she’s been hitting the harder stuff!
I think all of her cans are empty.
Right… female person’s appearance comment automatically invalidates any knowledge, expertise or opinion she might have.
How are things in the Stone Age?
” female person’s appearance comment ”
Huh?
Comprehension difficulties?
Who’s talking about automatic invalidation? I simply observed that something about her doesn’t look quite right (I have some experience with this)
Invalidation would require actually listening to the person’s commentary….which of course has been done……
The woman is a functioning fruitcake…..
I was gonna say “Hey hoe, shut yer pie hole!”
But that wouldn’t be woke or something. Wouldn’t want to upset the griffter.
Ooops I did.
grifter was born upset. It’s how they deal with the world.
Griff is right.
No, he’s very left.
That is probably the first time I’ve heard someone say that.
Regardless, while he may be right, nobody has done what he accuses them of doing, so he’s wrong.
He is mostly wrong, but calling him wrong when he is right dilutes the accurate rebuttals.
With people like you around, we’ll all pretty soon find out what it’s like!!!
That applies to you, too. No one takes you seriously based on your appearance, the lies and stupidity you spew just draw attention to your idiocy. What invalidates her opinion is it is wrong, just like yours.
It’s you who mentioned she was female, no one else.
Stop trying to pull the sexist card Griff.
Much warmer
So in which time period would you prefer to live?
[__] Benign low CO2 1675-1750
[__] Dangerous CO2 1950-2025
I think Peter Gleick’s appearance was also the subject of many comments. I seem to remember another picture of a male “scientist” playing a stringed instrument that received many comments.
I saw an interview a while back with a female who had to weigh at least 350. She slouched on a couch, in a dress with knees not together. They were discussing rape. That would be like me discussing brain surgery.
Was she being interviewed as a victim or a perp?
Hi ho griffo…..Hayhoe is the female version of Mikey Mann, no?
She is better presented than M. Mann though.
But so is Jabba The Hutt.
Who said anything about her looks refuting what she says?
What she says refutes what she says.
Griff,
News flash. The Stone Age is over. They ran out of stones.
Are you saying she’s female???
Well … that explains it.
Careful, your troll instructions are showing from behind the curtain
Yes, and one of the cans is leaking.
Hayhoe, and off you go.
That’s nicer than my troglodyte comment. I also am reminded of Ed McMahon on the Tonight Show
Hiiii-OH!!
But Eric, the planet doesn’t need saving. There is no climate crisis, so whatever Dicky Branson does makes not one jot of a difference. I have the sneaky suspicion that he knows that and she doesn’t.
Both of them, Hoho and Branston, burnt out shells – desperately looking to scratch a living off the backs of other burnt out humans.
e.g.
and not least, a nearly completely and literally burned out Ma Nature.
No, I am not talking about Fossil Fuel
What burned them out – Sugar
What are they really looking for…
Their next, ever larger as such things need to be, Dopamine Fix.
The fix that tells them:
“Things have never been better”
While the Dopamine is flowing, typically an hour or so (a few seconds/minutes for Branston – how desperate can anyone get) then, yes, things really do seem ‘Never better’
Trouble is, what goes up, must come down.
So it is with Dopamine highs.
And what do us ever so clever humans do – we go burn something else, selves and others included, to make ourselves feel happy again, then again, and again, and again.
Until………..
I sincerely doubt that Branson is “desperately looking to scratch a living off the backs of other burnt out humans.”
Picky-picky!
He was saving the plants this time!
Does anyone actually know what the fuel is for each of the two vehicles, and how much is burned? Just how much CO2 was emitted by this mission? Was it tons of fuel? Was it tons of CO2. Or is everyone just assuming that it is because the MSM said so?
I think everyone assumes that he didn’t use solar panels or windmills on his rocket. That means that whatever fuel he used, it originated with some sort of fossil fuel. Also the building and staging of the rocket used a lot of fossil fuel.
HTPB is very much a petrochemical, and nitrous oxide is produced from ammonium nitrate that results from fertilizer production processes relying on natural gas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyl-terminated_polybutadiene
“The vehicle’s rocket motor was designed to use a solid, rubber-based fuel called HTPB and liquid nitrous oxide as an oxidiser (a chemical that helps the fuel burn). This design, with propellants in different phases – solid and liquid in this case – is known as a hybrid rocket motor.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57798167
“….whose reaction products are particularly strong greenhouse gasses…” seems to be missing from the BBC article…
And don’t forget the Mothership fuel. The rocket was flown up to around 50,000 ft before being released and the engine ignited…
He’s just trying to establish the Modern Climate Optimum! Just a few more degrees and we can get back close to the range of the Medieval or Roman Warm Periods!
Maybe North Africa can be a breadbasket again!
“Sorry Hayhoe, but people are just bored with climate heroes like you repeating the same tired tropes”
Says it all
Heller on Heyhoe 2017: link. Nothing more needs said.
I remember that well and the uproar Heller’s article caused whenever I linked the prevailing wildfire discussion to it. He really set the cat among the pigeons.
He is a smart guy, and quite fierce when he needs to be.
“How do you get people to care about the slow death of our planet…?”
Maybe you should stop lying to them about what is killing the planet!
The Earth is in the depths of a CO2 famine that came VERY close to killing off all plant life just a few thousands years ago! Humanity’s serendipitous addition of combustion byproducts to the atmosphere could well stave off the sterilization of Earth; something that GangGreen is very upset about! For you alarmists who are too ignorant to know better; I would ask that you look at CO2 levels for the last 150,000,000 years or so, and the temperature anomaly for the last 50,000,000 and get back to me as soon as you find a climate emergency in the data!
For the smart kids, I thank you for all the additional Magic Gas you are pumping back into the air! Keep up the good work; it probably won’t save us from the next period of glaciation, but it might give us the ability to survive a colder, dryer world through the advancement of science! Real science, not Climastrology!!
If you want people to care, maybe stop with the ridiculous hyperbole (“slow death of our planet”). But then, it’s CNN we’re talking about, so lies, propaganda, misinformation, and mind-numbing idiocy is to be expected. There aren’t many other networks with a technical director on tape describing his own work as “propaganda.”
My email to BBC Politics Live, who photoshopped the digital readout which did not exist in 1913. “Yesterday with Friederike Otto and Amelia Womac deputy green leader. BBC graphics have been fiddling with imagery, again. The image you showed yesterday was of the digital readout in Death Valley showing 134F and 56C. A temperature that was recorded July 10th 1913 not in June or July this year. And is officially recognised by NOAA and all of the documents are here Death Valley high temperature record of July 10, 1913 – Watts Up With That? But you are not alone in fiddling data to impose a belief the other image is from a CNN report which says 130F or 59C but 130F is 54.44C not 59C. If the BBC wishes to indulge in miniscule minutiae to try and impose the belief that humans are warming the planet and not be accused of falsifying records to achieve that ambition they should be more careful to use correct data instead of making stuff up. I knew the image you showed was wrong because I have spent some considerable time in Death Valley. The Death Valley temperature from the official Death Valley temperature station for July 2021 is here Quick Data View: GHCND – GHCND:USC00042319; 7/1/2021 | Climate Data Online (CDO) | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (noaa.gov) For August 2020 which image of the guy with the camera refers to is here Quick Data View: GHCND – GHCND:USC00042319; 8/1/2020 | Climate Data Online (CDO) | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (noaa.gov) It shows 130F which is 54.44C which is not 59C. And for June 2021 Quick Data View: GHCND – GHCND:USC00042319; 8/1/2020 | Climate Data Online (CDO) | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (noaa.gov) which shows on day at 130F which is not the 56.667C recorded on July 10th 1913. The BBC must really think we are all stupid and can be easily fobbed off with manipulation an prevarication, slight of hand? You obviously didn’t want viewers to know where the temperature readout was so your graphics department have skewed the photograph. But having stood in front of the readout I knew immediately the BBC were again up to its tricks manipulating stuff to coerce people into believing stuff which is not true. Fraud deceptive and insane. Bizarre that the BBC should make such elementary errors using an manipulated image of a temperature readout that did not exist in 1913 when the temperature was recorded.” If you look at the temperature data there was one isolated date at 130F in 2020 and in previous years so it is not unusual. Use this link to access years and months Daily Summaries Station Details: DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, CA US, GHCND:USC00042319 | Climate Data Online (CDO) | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) (noaa.gov)
Booking someone as a guest on cable TV for a big show is a nightmare process.
Yeah, putting someone in space is a doddle in comparison. Please be aware of the real hardships global warming hustlers have to go through.
You had to make sure that the person could get to a big city with a broadcast studio on a quick turnaround to film their segment, which often rules out basically every scientist or activist living in rural areas (or those who have, you know, lives and can’t drop everything to go film at 11 p.m.).
Is that true any longer? 90% of interviews I now see on TV are over zoom or similar from peoples spare rooms...
So you admit the Gizmodo article is complete bollocks.
That’s the first time we’ve agreed Griff!
Everything from Gizmodo is automatically questionable.
Did she get to keep the fee and gift bag for appearing on that comedy show with Zakaria? That is all she really worried about.
Cable TV Keeps Bumping Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe
As Kryten might have said: A hey-ho pip and dandy moment.
It must have been “Pick on Molly Taft Day”… 🙂
I’m proud to say that Hayhoe blocked me on twitter when I posted this link:
https://extinctionclock.org/ and picked out some of the really juicy and hilariously failed predictions made by her band of thermageddonists.
Hayhoe doesn’t like being reminded of the real world.
She did the same to me when she complained that “right now we should be having another ice age but we have so screwed up the climate its not happening” When I politely informed her that during the last glaciation where she was at the time was covered with ice up to a mile thick and didn’t she understand that minus 60 apart from suffocation really does kill people she threw a huge wobbler saying you are being cut off. Long ago I remember the words engage gear before opening mouth. But the climate cult appear to believe any words they can use to further their beliefs must be heard in dumb silence and that death is preferable if you believe the sanctity of the planet is preserved because if population is reduced by whatever means it must be good.
Boris Johnson PM has just refuted taxes on salt and sugar because he doesn’t want more taxes on the hard working poor. Damn cheek. How about the cost of being Net Zero. Lord Callanan did not refute the cost per home in the UK of Net Zero at £90,000. If I had the choice think taxes on salt and sugar would be more palatable because I don’t eat very much of either.
She appears to be desiring an ice age rather than a bit of beneficial warming. What a moron she is.
Beat me to it.
Don’t worry. They bought carbon offsets to compensate, so they’re still green.
“How do you get people to care about the slow death of our planet”
Just be patient. In few billions years pass when our sun begins to die there will be lots of interest. In the mean time you might get a lot more folks interested if you focus on something with more immediate effect such as the planned dismantling of our energy systems and therefore our economy, or the not to distant return of our climate to ice age conditions when the current balmy inter-glacial ends.
Hey hey! Hayhoe! This climate alarmism has got to go!
No No No! It’s:
Hey hey! Hayhoe!
Your Climate Crap has Got to Go!
It don’t mean a thing
If it aint got that swing
Well done! My rhythm on the chant was a bit off.
The woman that claims to be a devout Christian knowingly bears false witness every time she speaks to a crowd or writes about climate.
Two points:
First: Most of the people that died in the PNW from the heat were not looked after by community, friends, or family. These deaths could have been prevented. We knew the heat was coming. [Cliff Mass was on this from the top – not climate change] And because these folks (mostly) were old and/or not in good health they could have been identified and not left isolated. Sad.
2nd: I am quite happy that some individuals accumulate tons of money. It allows them to do things that would not otherwise be done. The Carnegie Libraries are an example. Or see this list:
https://www.davidkochfoundation.org/grant-recipients
Climate Church Lady is raking in the money now.
Hayhoe is a Climate Political Scientist. In no way is she a scientist in the traditional sense of what science is supposed to be.
Hers is a consensus of politics. Science is not consensus.
Branson’s flight isn’t exactly cutting edge science. Chuck Yeager’s sound barrier flight used the same concept in 1947. Bell’s X plane program ended with the X-15 when on July 17, 1962, Commander Robert (Bob) White took the X-15 to the edge of space … 59.6 miles. That’s nearly 60 years ago almost to the day. No one had any idea what “space” could do to you back then.
I do applaud her for being exceptionally tuned in to the human “cat brain” pandemic. All agw aside, she’s on to something, get your lazer pens folks, maybe we lead the left off a cliff with them? 🙂
“As a society it’s as if we have a collective cat brain: fixated on the latest shiny toy that’s waving in front of our eyes while in the meantime our tail is on fire,” Hayhoe wrote in her tweet thread.
Seems Hayhoe doesn’t have a very high regard for a cat. Maybe she has one or never wants another!