Here& #39;s a little dissection of why Michael Shellenberer& #39;s attempt to gamergate Australian climate journalism fell comically flat, and what we actually need to worry about.

Spoiler: it isn& #39;t about ethics in climate journalism.

https://ketanjoshi.co/2020/07/05/why-an-attempt-to-gamergate-australian-climate-journalism-fell-flat/">https://ketanjoshi.co/2020/07/0...
You can see Lomborgian tropes being used here. Eg: pretending a number represents something it doesn& #39;t.

MS uses total burned area as a metric for & #39;worst& #39; - but Black Summer was unique due to *what* burned, now *how much - @pepcanadell explains here: https://futureearth.org/2020/01/14/a-rapidly-evolving-new-normal/">https://futureearth.org/2020/01/1...
The problem here is that there *isn& #39;t* really a single measure for how bad a bushfire was. The threat of a bushfire can escalate, while human responses increase too. That& #39;s why MS uses fatalities and homes damaged as his measure - both decreasing due to people *preparing*
There& #39;s some old school selective quoting too, where the word & #39;cause& #39; is intentionally conflated with & #39;ignition& #39; ( @nytimes bears some blame for screwing up their wording here), with regards to fires in the Amazon:
One thing I couldn& #39;t figure out is this claim that Aus fires are caused by & #39;more homes& #39; near forests. I keep seeing it, and I& #39;ve never seen that claim anywhere.

Thankfully, @Cullinyan has the book, and found the reference......an Andrew Bolt interview! https://twitter.com/Cullinyan/status/1279759589810950146">https://twitter.com/Cullinyan...
I don& #39;t know why I did this but I watched the damn thing, and of course it& #39;s entirely about the & #39;they& #39;re not doing controlled burning& #39; conspiracy theory that dominated Sky and The Oz. The only mention of more homes? It& #39;s from Andrew Bolt himself.
Here& #39;s the thing though, folks: there& #39;s actually a new study that attempts to actually answer the question of *how bad* Black Summer was.

Spoiler alert: it was the actual worst, "in terms of impact on all areas". Most Australians know this already.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666449620300098">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
First, the conditions - we know with a high degree of certainty that very, very high temps led to dry conditions perfect for the ignition of forest fires. That& #39;s caused by climate change.
This study goes back two decades - which is important, because we& #39;re comparing modern preparation and fire-fighting. And when we do that, it& #39;s clear Black Summer& #39;s impact was horrific and unprecedented:
The smoke - remember the smoke? And the wildlife impacts too - both unprecedented and incredibly impactful. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666449620300098">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
And no, this research wasn& #39;t from some evil lefty think-tank. This was from The Bushfire and Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre. A massive, national research effort focusing on so many aspects of fires in Australia.

I mean massive: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/about/organisations-partners">https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/about/org...
I think Shellenerger will Shellenberger, he& #39;s noticed that his anti-renewable stuff hasn& #39;t really worked so he& #39;s trying to edge into Lomborg& #39;s lukewarmist lane. None of this is remarkable or even interesting.
This is what& #39;s interesting, to me: The @Australian was truly outraged by at the charge that they& #39;re climate deniers or that they were lying about science during an actual bushfire crisis that was choking Australia.

Six months on, look where we are now. https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1215842566542962689">https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/s...
It feels like so many big & #39;media moments& #39; - framed as turn-arounds in self-awareness and an acknowledge of wrongdoing - are really just temporary backtracks.

See: Today Show / Pauline Hanson.
You can follow @KetanJ0.
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