Today’s interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.
British meteorologists made headlines predicting
2007 the hottest year on record
it was actually lower than any year since 2001
BBC confidently proclaimed, “2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend.”
the Arctic sea ice last year hit the lowest level ever recorded by satellites, it was big news
the Antarctic sea ice last year reached the highest level ever recorded by satellites, it was pretty much ignored
was supposed to be a harbinger of the stormier world
the next two hurricane seasons were fairly calm
availability entrepreneurs changed the subject
Droughts in California and Australia became the new harbingers of climate change
never mind that a warmer planet is projected to have more, not less, precipitation over all
clipped from: www.nytimes.com