From a nyt and long time iper Re New York Times defends hiring extreme climate denier: 'millions agree with him'

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Schwartz, John" <jswatz () nytimes com>
> Date: April 22, 2017 at 10:42:19 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re New York Times defends hiring extreme climate denier: 'millions agree with him'
>
> Dave,
>
>     However you feel about the hiring of Bret Stephens, it's important to keep in mind that he has been hired as a 
> single voice among the opinion columnists at the NYT. His hiring does not change the work being done in the newsroom, 
> by reporters, to tell the story of climate change. Nor does it affect the stance of the editorial board, which has 
> long aligned itself with the science and has consistently called for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
>
>      I'm a little self interested here, of course, in that I am one of about a dozen journalists at the NYT directly 
> involved in reporting on climate change and the environment. The management of the newsroom has built up this climate 
> team to bring these stories to the world. And we are--along with much of the rest of the newsroom--as you can see by 
> following this link:
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/section/climate
>
>       I'm not commenting on the Stephens hire. But many stories written about the decision to bring him into the 
> stable of columnists suggest that it shows The New York Times is not serious about climate change. 
>
>       Nothing could be further from the truth.
>
>       Best,
>
>       John
>
> > On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 7:46 AM, David Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: Hasan Diwan <hasan.diwan () gmail com>
> > Subject: Re: [IP] Re New York Times defends hiring extreme climate denier: 'millions agree with him'
> > Date: April 22, 2017 at 7:07:38 AM EDT
> > To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>
> >
> > Prof Farber, 
> > [for IP, should you deem fit]
> > While I'm sure that one can persuade "millions" to say "I believe the climate is not changing", the more 
> > important/relevant question to ask is "Assuming the climate is changing, should humans do anything about it?" to 
> > which the answer that my old Biology professor liked to give was that life will find a way, but maybe without us. 
> > So, if one doesn't give a toss about one's own species, then sure, deny the need to do anything about climate 
> > change, as life will find a way to cope, but I, for one, want my descendants to be born and enjoy the same (or 
> > better) lifestyle than myself. Therefore, I'm firmly in the camp of "something needs to be done about the increased 
> > frequency of extreme weather on Earth". 
> >
> > Also, let's be charitable and say that there are 1 and a half million climate change deniers on Earth, out of a 
> > total population of 7.5 billion is 2%, which is less than the margin of error in most of the polls that pass as 
> > facts in news broadcasts. -- H
> >
> > > On 20 April 2017 at 17:18, Dave Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
> > >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > > From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>
> > > Date: Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 8:17 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [IP] New York Times defends hiring extreme climate denier: 'millions agree with him'
> > > To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> > >
> > >
> > > (for IP, if you wish)
> > >
> > > This is not only incredibly tone-deaf, it's dangerous.  I've been
> > > engaged in climatology self-education for the past 15 years or so,
> > > attempting to leverage my science and engineering background into a
> > > basic understanding of the field via books, papers, IPCC reports, etc.
> > >
> > > I've lost count of the number of times a new paper or report shows that
> > > previous ones erred -- and those errors are almost invariably on the
> > > conservative side, i.e., newer work shows that the situation is worse
> > > than previously thought.  The emergence of positive feedback loops
> > > is particularly troubling; it seems like every few months another is
> > > uncovered and found to be contributing to the overall trend.
> > >
> > > The more I learn, the more horrified I become.
> > >
> > > Albert A. Bartlett wrote that the greatest shortcoming of the human race
> > > is man's inability to understand the exponential function.  We stand at
> > > an inflection point on a curve, staring at the slope rising in front of us,
> > > with limited time and resources to avoid the nearly inevitable...and the
> > > New York Times is pandering to the scientifically illiterate for the sake
> > > of some transient profits.  I would say that the judgment of history
> > > will be harsh -- but I fear that few will be left to write it.
> > >
> > > ---rsk
> >
> >
> >
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>
> -- 
>
>
> John Schwartz
>
> The New York Times
>
>  jswatz () nytimes com / twitter.com/jswatz
>
> Telephone: 212 556 7353
>
> 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
>
> Speaking only for myself since 1957



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