How times change.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems just yesterday when Al Gore was being vilified as America\u2019s \u00fcber-exaggerator for his warning in 2006 of the coming disaster that is climate change. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although climate change is certainly no laughing matter, Gore certainly could claim to have the last laugh. In the years since Gore first entered the words \u201cinconvenient truth\u201d into our lexicon, the international scientific community has gathered hard data, put that data through state-of-the-art computer models, and concluded that human activity\u2014specifically, our addiction to the burning of fossil fuels\u2014contributes to the climate-warming trends being observed around the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

How overwhelming is the consensus? Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s hard to argue away the conclusions of the majority of climate scientists.\u00a0 Sadly, it looks like we need to come to terms right now with the reality that we\u2019ve already crossed the climate-altering Rubicon.\u00a0 (Unless, that is, if your reality is the fictional world of FOX News and conservative media, and you take seriously the false claims of congressional climate deniers).\u00a0 For those inhabiting a political\/philosophical home on the far-right shore, propaganda, disinformation, and lies about climate crisis hold sway. Over there, confusion reigns about what\u2019s fact and what\u2019s fiction, much to the detriment of all of us and the difficult policy prescriptions that we should be actively pursuing.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those of us inhabiting the world of facts, however, and looking for a nonpolitical, objective take on climate change, there\u2019s no better place to look than to NASA. Can we all agree\u2014no matter what our political leanings\u2014that NASA, an agency of the federal government, is no leftie, tree-hugging group under the influence of Al Gore and radical environmentalists?<\/span><\/p>\n

If we can agree on NASA\u2019s bona fides, then how about visiting the scientists over there to get the facts?\u00a0 What you\u2019ll find on NASA\u2019s official website is an unequivocal confirmation that 97% of global climate scientists looking at all the studies, computer models, and first-hand observational research data agree that the probable cause of climate-warming trends is human activity.<\/span><\/p>\n

And NASA provides even more hard evidence right there on its public website.\u00a0 The website refers to over 200 scientific organizations worldwide that have issued public statements on warming trends and human activity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let me repeat that number again: two hundred of the most prestigious scientific organizations in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ask yourself. When was the last time FOX News invited independent experts on climate science\u2014not scientists and pundits on the payroll of corporate interests\u2014to sit down on one of their quasi-news programs?\u00a0 Those would be reputable scientists from wonky organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Medical Association, the American Meteorological Society, the American Physical Society, The Geological Society of America, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, or the National Research Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is, you won\u2019t find those independent voices shooting the bull with Sean Hannity or Bill O\u2019Reilly. But wherever or however the deniers derive their beliefs doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 The global climate crisis is real.\u00a0 It\u2019s happening now. What those of us who choose to live in the real world decide to do with the facts of climate change is what counts. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first step is clearly in the hands of our media. Media should be, after all, a responsible gatekeeper for the accuracy of the information we get, the form in which we receive our information, and how we process with critical thinking that information. <\/span><\/p>\n

Edward R. Murrow summed up the vital role of the media not only in his time but in ours when he said, \u201c…To be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With such a solemn responsibility, isn\u2019t it about time journalists and media outlets follow Murrow\u2019s lead and stop giving climate-change deniers a pass and an uncritical forum for their fairy tales? It\u2019s way past time to call out the deniers on their spin and their disregard for scientific fact. <\/span><\/p>\n

On October 5, 2013, the Los Angeles Times took the lead and did just that. Paul Thornton, editor of the Los Angeles Times\u2019 letters section, set off a firestorm when he announced the paper\u2019s decision to stop publishing letters containing factual inaccuracies about climate change.\u00a0 Explaining the policy shift, Thornton wrote, <\/span><\/p>\n

Just last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2014a body made up of the world\u2019s top climate scientists\u2014said it was 95% certain that we fossil-fuel-burning humans are driving global warming.\u00a0 The debate right now isn\u2019t whether this evidence exists (clearly, it does) but what this evidence means for us. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He concluded,<\/span><\/p>\n

Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published.\u00a0 Saying \u201cthere\u2019s no sign humans have caused climate change\u201d is not stating an opinion, it\u2019s asserting a factual inaccuracy.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that the Los Angeles Times has broken from the pack, the question is which other newspapers and media outlets will have the courage to follow?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image information: Carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere are rising. Both images show the spreading of carbon dioxide around the globe as it follows large-scale patterns of circulation in the atmosphere. The color codes in these two pictures are different in order to account for the carbon dioxide increase from 2003 to 2007. Image credit: NASA\/JPL\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How times change. It seems just yesterday when Al Gore was being vilified as America\u2019s \u00fcber-exaggerator for his warning in 2006 of the coming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":26551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1763,451,77,1555],"tags":[446,2520],"yoast_head":"\n