Mark Eakin
Ian Plimer op-ed in The Australian again presents long list of false claims about climate
“This article is a mixture of misdirection, misleading claims, and outright falsehoods. The author attempts to paint a picture of current climate change as simply a continuation of natural changes that have occurred in the past. But this neglects the clear evidence that climate change over the last two centuries has been shown to be largely man-made, that it is much more rapid that anything we have seen in the last two thousand years if not longer, and that it is occurring in the context of a globe with more than 7 billion human inhabitants.”
NBC News story accurately covers research on two millennia of climate history
“This accurately describes new peer-reviewed research and asks independent scientists with relevant expertise to provide important context, such as how these results rely on limited southern hemisphere data. Simplifications help readers understand important points without misleading them.”
NPR story accurately describes ecological consequences of altered spring timings in a warming climate
“This article at NPR discusses what happens when warm spring weather arrives earlier because of climate change. Animals must adjust to changes in the timing of plant flowering, for example, leading to noticeable desynchrony in the ecosystem…”
Futurism story on Great Barrier Reef compromised by sensational headline
“The content is almost all correct, but the attention-grabbing headline is wrong and isn’t supported by the quotes from two scientists or by the rest of the content.”
Analysis of "Large Sections of Australia’s Great Reef Are Now Dead, Scientists Find"
While natural temperature fluctuations (due to El Niño, for example) have always occurred, they are now superimposed on a warmer background due to human-induced global warming. That causes mass coral bleaching to happen more frequently.
The world’s coral reefs are severely threatened by climate change and other human impacts, as ABC story notes
Claim:
90 per cent of the world's coral reefs will disappear in the next 35 years due to coral bleaching induced by global warming, pollution and over-development.
Analysis of "U.S. scientists officially declare 2016 the hottest year on record. That makes three in a row."
“The article accurately conveys the US agencies’ declaration of 2016 as the hottest year on record. It provides some good background material on why the agencies’ numbers differ slightly (treatment of the Arctic) and the contributing roles of El Niño and man-made global warming.”
Analysis of "Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has worst coral die-off ever"
“This article is mostly accurate … the frequency of massive bleaching events is increasing, will continue to increase in the near future, and these events do not need to occur annually to kill the reef. The variability of El Niño Southern Oscillation on top of the background warming trend of surface temperatures means that we will exceed the bleaching thresholds more frequently.”
Analysis of "Scientists are exaggerating carbon threat to marine life"
“This article misses some major intellectual points about ocean acidification, thanks to what seems to be a willful misunderstanding and misquoting of an interview with Dr. Browman on an Ocean Acidification special issue journal.”
Analysis* of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si
“The evidence presented in support of the anthropogenic footprint of environmental problems in general and climate change in particular was overall accurate and relevant. ”