Article Reviews
“Is this article consistent with the latest thinking and knowledge in science?”
“Would experts in this field endorse the main message of this article?”
These are the types of questions our “feedbacks” are designed to answer. If the feedback is positive, you can generally assume the information you’re reading is of high credibility. If it’s negative, however, you may want to read with extra care and attention — some of the information contained and conclusions reached are not consistent with science.[1]
Guardian coverage of essay on potential of future “hothouse” climate is generally accurate, but misstates some details
in The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts
"The article reasonably summarizes a new study published in PNAS, which describes the potential of tipping elements to enhance climate warming and the potential for the Earth to transition into a hot-house climate state. The article is careful to point out uncertainties and thus avoids being sensational. However, there are many small errors scattered throughout the article."
— 09 Aug 2018
Washington Post story puts recent weather extremes in accurate climate change context
in The Washington Post, by Joel Achenbach, Angela Fritz
"This article accurately describes the broader climate context of recent heat extremes throughout the Northern Hemisphere. There are a couple spots where specific claims are somewhat stronger than justified by the existing scientific evidence, but in general the piece gives an accurate impression regarding the role of climate change and recent advances in extreme event attribution science."
— 31 Jul 2018
NPR story accurately describes ecological consequences of altered spring timings in a warming climate
in NPR, by Nathan Rott
"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..."
— 27 Jul 2018
USA Today story accurate but lacks clarity regarding timescales over which warming could be underestimated
in USA Today, by Doyle Rice
"An accurate and balanced article that gives readers a good flavour of the research but the reference to “Earth’s history” might confuse some when it otherwise refers to the studied period: the past 3.5 million years. Neatly explains a lot of the key points in a small word count, but..."
— 10 Jul 2018
Daily Mail correctly reports that climate change leads to more severe heatwaves, but explanation of recent weather is off the mark
in Daily Mail, by Joe Pinkstone
"Mostly this article is accurate in its reporting of the recent heat over North America and Eurasia. However, there are a few misleading statements, including the headline, that exaggerate both the scale of the event and the likely role of climate change."
— 07 Jul 2018
Financial Post commentary misleads about warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions by cherry-picking studies
in Financial Post, by Ross McKitrick
"This is an opinion piece in the "lukewarm" category, arguing that climate models are wrong, future warming will be small, based on carefully selected publications, misleading presentation, and incorrect reporting of the underlying data."
— 22 Jun 2018
Washington Post article accurately describes latest estimate of accelerating Antarctic ice loss
in The Washington Post, by Chris Mooney
"The article presents the results of the study accurately, and uses multiple comments from scientists both involved and not-involved in the study to highlight the key findings. Some of the explanations are simplified, and there is a slight attempt at the end to downplay the results by suggesting scientists can’t predict the future. It is correct that the study presented is not making predictions, rather documenting past changes, but the positive trend is what we would expect based on the longer record of change we have for glaciers and ice caps."
— 15 Jun 2018
National Geographic accurately covers research pointing to slower-moving hurricanes
in National Geographic, by Craig Welch
"This is an important topic and the article explains the new research findings clearly... Highlighting how this result about slowing storms is consistent across two studies that employ very different methodologies further helps convey to the public how we try to use multiple lines of evidence to understand how our world works and how it may chance in the future."
— 08 Jun 2018
New York Times story accurately describes Rio Grande’s climate context
in The New York Times, by Henry Fountain
"The issue of water resource management in the western US and how it fits within a changing climate is extremely complex and spans many disciplines from climatology to hydrology to city planning to population dynamics, and so on. This article does a nice job presenting the very basics of the climate science involved and tying the greater changes to the personal stories of people in the region."
— 31 May 2018
Wall Street Journal commentary grossly misleads readers about science of sea level rise
in The Wall Street Journal, by Fred Singer
"The article has almost nothing to do with the modern state of sea-level science. The author tries to call into question that global warming causes sea-level rise, and does so by cherry-picking a short segment of data from 1915-1945, a time when data quality is poor and the warming signal small—a bizarre approach that could never pass scientific peer review and is apparently aimed at misleading a lay audience."
— 18 May 2018
[1] Note: These feedbacks do not constitute endorsements of the author’s political or economic ideology, rather they are assessments of the scientific foundations and reasoning of the argumentation contained within each article.