H2O

Agree with this author: it's maddening.

‘Both-Sidesing the Climate Story’
#ColumbiaJournalismReview #KylePope
#ClimateJustice #ClimateChange

“It is maddening that, this far into the #ClimateCrisis, #news outlets continue to dither as to whether a single #weather event is related to the now-undeniable, violent changes in Earth’s weather. …

“The overwhelming #ScientificConsensus is that Earth is #warming, that man-made causes are to blame, and that one result is more extreme weather precisely like what we’ve seen this week on the #WestCoast. And yet the search for definitive causation—for hard proof that global shifts in climate produced a single event in one corner of one town—has become an odious tendency among journalists looking to create tension when there is none.”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/california_storms_climate_crisis_eric_sorensen.php

Both-sidesing the climate story

<p>The recent storms in California have been tragic, killing at least nineteen people and soaking nearly the entire state, including cities, such as Palm Springs, that are more used to drought. But is climate change driving it? It is maddening that, this far into the climate crisis, news outlets continue to dither as to whether […]</p>

Columbia Journalism Review
Jan 30, 2023 at 4:16pmWeb
Show threadkbkorbJan 30, 2023

@H2O

"Did the warming of the planet produce the water that pulled a five-year-old boy from his mother’s arms as he was on his way to school in San Luis Obispo County on Monday? It no doubt had a role."

Having a role is just what causation is.

"Is the cause and effect immediately and directly provable, on a chart or in a document? Of course not."

This is what causation isn't, some unique necessary and sufficient condition. The world isn't like that, and philosophy and science figured that out decades ago. Causation is stochastic. Smoking kills. So does CO2.

See my "How Extreme Weather Events Are Attributed to Anthropogenic Global Warming" at https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/95/

Or have a look at https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/

#ClimateCrisis #Weather #WeatherAttribution

How Extreme Weather Events Are Attributed to Anthropogenic Global Warming