Politics, not science, sways Reading Eagle’s worldview

by Steve Reinbrecht

The leaders of the Reading Eagle embarrass the community they claim to represent with their editorial Saturday, Jan. 2.

The writers at the most important news-gathering organization in Berks County flout scientific consensus that human activity has contributed to a dangerously warming climate.

Why? Were they handed a conservative-friendly headline and told to fill the space below it with any old words? Were they really trying to support their thesis? Can’t they identify the real issues connected with global warming? Why not comment on some issue in Berks, which they should know something about and certainly needs more commentary? Who knows? This is another example of the often bizarre judgment of the newsroom leaders.

I am compelled to point out this hypocrisy or ignorance or Tea Party pandering or laziness of thought or whatever would lead grown men to publish something like this editorial in a highly visible spot in their newspaper.

Members of the community, if they want the community to improve, should also question the judgment of these opinion leaders at the Reading Eagle. 

Next, the newspaper will send investigative reporter Ford Turner – still struggling to usefully explain how opiate addicts can get treatment around here – to find out, “Did God create the world 7,000 years ago, or could Darwin be right?” He’ll interview Jon Scott, Ellen Horan and Chris Leinbach.

The Eagle editorial doesn’t even try to defend Saturday’s headline: “No doubt Earth is warmer, but what's the cause?” Its own content states that people are heavy contributors.

For some reason, it quotes three politicians -- President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Secretary of State John Kerry -- not scientists. It quotes a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, again with little relevance.

It quotes an organization called Environmental Research Letters:

"There is a general consensus among biophysical scientists across the United States that climate change is occurring; humans are contributing to it; and climate science is a trustworthy, mature and credible discipline.”

According to the Letters, [according to the Eagle] more than 90 percent of biophysical scientists surveyed across disciplines at major universities believe humans are causing rising temperatures.

So what’s the debate?

On the other side, the Eagle presents an undeniable scientist, Judith Curry, a Georgia Tech professor who told a House committee in 2013 that there's so much uncertainty about natural variation in the climate that she doesn't know what's going to happen.

But even she agrees humans are causing much of the warming.

A National Public Radio article says that Curry said “human activities are contributing to global warming, but she bridles at the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ] consensus that humans are ‘largely responsible’ — in other words, that more than 50 percent of global warming to date is caused by human activity.

“ ‘It might be around 50 percent or even a little less. I mean this is what we don't know,’ she says.”

From this, the Eagle concludes:

“There is no doubt that the climate is getting warmer, but we don't know if it is being caused by man or Mother Nature.”