‘Shoehorning’ a fire into the climate narrative
22 hours ago Anthony Watts 25 Comments
Note: This is a reprint of my op-ed “Editor for a Day” in the Chico Enterprise-Record, complete with links and graphs to factual references for the benefit of readers there who were directed to WUWT. The photo of the Park Fire pyrocumulus cloud above was taken by me as I observed the fire’s progress – Anthony
On July 30, The New York Times (NYT) ran an article titled “How Did the Park Fire Get So Big, So Fast?”that claims, “Heat has been breaking records all summer, and … records will probably continue to fall over the next several years as the burning of fossil fuels continues to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.”
The article provides no data or citations supporting this claim but relies on opinions from so-called climate experts who have no connection to the fire. Last week, Professor Mark Stemen wrote in an op-ed “…it was climate change that pushed that fire to Tehama County overnight.” How absurd; climate doesn’t act on short time scales or local venues.
This sort of “causality shoehorning” (to coin a phrase) is becoming increasingly common among journalists and climate advocates as they strain to fit any weather event or catastrophe into the climate change narrative.
Like Stemen’s claim, NYT’s claim of “a very clear fingerprint of climate change” on dry vegetation that fueled the Park fire is little more than personal opinion, offering no scientific citation or basis for the claims.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/21/shoehorning-a-fire-into-the-climate-narrative/
