NASA’s climate change websites may be the biggest cache of alarmism in the Federal system, but the massive website called Climate Central may be the biggest in the world and it certainly is the flashiest. They claim to do research and reporting, but what they call science and news is actually just speculation and advocacy. (NASA is one of their sponsors.) While not billed as an education site, the content is all non-technical, so it is probably widely used to teach alarmism.
Climate Central’s motto is “Researching and reporting the science and impacts of climate change” but it is mostly just model-driven nonsense. Here are some of the top junk stories, as of this writing:
Hype 1: “Planet Has Just 5 Percent Chance to Reach Paris Goal”
This is a reprint from the left-wing Guardian newspaper, predicting more than 2 degrees of warming, based on a climate model.
Hype 2: “Global Warming Is Fueling Arizona’s Monstrous Monsoons”
A climate model is used to speculate that heavy summer rains have become a bit heavier. These are then hyped as “monstrous monsoons.” And of course this is all blamed on global warming. Ironically there are several links to stories blaming less rain on global warming too. That rainfall always varies naturally is not considered.
Hype 3: “Cities Are Already Suffering From Summer Heat. Climate Change Will Make It Worse”
This is an article about how hot it will be in 2075 based on, you guessed it, a climate model. You can type in your city and get a free bogus forecast.
Hype 4 (a really big one): “More Hot Days Are Coming With Climate Change. Our Choices Will Decide How Many”
This is the actually the home page for their ridiculous climate model that forecasts how hot it will be at every point in the lower US out to 2100. No real scientist believes that this is possible, not even the alarmists among them. This blurb explains what is clearly a politically motivated hoax:
“Climate Central has developed a new web-interactive tool that brings the reality of future heat to hometowns across the U.S. Simply enter the name of your city, town or hamlet — or any place in the Lower 48 that piques your curiosity — to see how the number of days above summer temperature thresholds will change throughout the rest of the century. The interactive also shows how reducing greenhouse gas emissions can help reduce the heat.”
They say this is how local temperatures “will change,” not might change, which would still be hyperbolic and unscientific. This is purely alarmist speculation presented as factual news.
Moreover, Climate Central does not stop with putting out fake news stories. They grind out alarmism that is specifically designed to be used by TV weathercasters. This propaganda generating feature is called “Climate Matters” and they describe it this way:
“Climate Matters provides meteorologists with data & graphics on local weather events and their link to climate change. Unlike climate scientists, TV meteorologists have unparalleled access to their communities. Through Climate Matters, Climate Central provides regularly produced content on the relationship between weather and climate. Our team of data analysts, meteorologists, climate experts, graphic artists and journalists create graphics, text, animations, videos and research to aid TV weathercasters in presenting science-rooted climate information in clear, concise and relevant ways.”
These supposed links to climate change are of course just more of the model-based nonsense they report as news. This content is carefully crafted using software that is compatible with that used by the TV stations, plus it is all free. No wonder it is widely used to promote climate alarmism.
Climate Central is a major operation, with a budget estimated at about $5 million a year and a listed staff of 36 people. As a non-profit it is funded lavishly by a combination of left-wing Foundations and Federal agencies. According to their long list of funders, the Feds include NASA, NSF, DOE, DOD, NOAA, NIH and Interior. Even Google’s foundation has a piece of the funding action. Of course they also take individual small donations and you can even pick the propaganda feature that you want to support.
If the Trump Administration is still supporting this nonsense it should stop. Stop funding Climate Central. Beyond that, this is a great place for skeptics to read the hype of the day. But do not look for science, or real news, as there isn’t any. Under no circumstances should this junk be used in the classroom.
Actually it can be effectively used in the classroom to explain and show the difference between Junk and Real Science in conjunction with factual sites..
While that may be true the propaganda will smother real science and all references to real science. My child will be a leader to all those Common Core educated fools
Tha climate scandle is about to collapse and the new scare will be the effects related with the most recent eclipes. Mark my words, the earth is about to rumble in the near future and the climate will have nothing to do with it.