A scientist and former Obama energy official has joined the chorus of scientists fed up with the media’s “hottest year” hype.

‘The Obama administration relentlessly politicized science and it aggressively pushed a campaign about that politicized science,” said Steven E. Koonin, who served as Under Secretary for Science in Obama’s Department of Energy from 2009 to 2011.”

Marc Morano featured an article from “Real Clear Investigations” at CFACT’s Climate Depot.

“NOAA fixed the 2016 increase at 0.04 degrees Celsius. The British Met Office reported an even lower rise, of 0.01C. Both increases are well within the margin of error for such calculations, approximately 0.1 degrees, and therefore are dismissed by many scientists as meaningless.”

The article quotes MIT atmospheric scientist Richard Lindzen who said, “It’s typical misleading nonsense. We’re talking about less than a tenth of degree with an uncertainty of about a quarter of a degree. Moreover, such small fluctuations – even if real – don’t change the fact that the trend for the past 20 years has been much less than models have predicted.”

The media routinely posts sensationalist headlines such as “Earth Sizzles!” when discussing world temperature.  Koonin suggested more realistic alternatives such as “Global Temperatures Up 0.0X for 2016; Within Margin of Error for Last N Years,” or “Sea Level Rose 0.1 Inches Last Year, Consistent With Century-Long Trend.”

The media has been exaggerating climate stories for years. Let’s hope some in the Fourth Estate start reporting the whole story – including the remarks of bold forthright experts like Steven Koonin and Richard Lindzen.