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NY Times Losing Readers after Skeptical Editorial on Climate Change

<p>Angry readers are cancelling their subscription to the <em>New York Times<&sol;em> after the paper published an op-ed column in which author Bret Stephens argues against the scientific &ldquo&semi;consensus&rdquo&semi; on global warming&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Stephens&comma; a former writer for the <em>Wall Street Journal<&sol;em>&comma; is a neoconservative pundit and notable climate change skeptic&period; Unlike many <em>Times<&sol;em> readers&comma; he doesn&&num;8217&semi;t blindly believe the claim that mankind&rsquo&semi;s behavior has had an effect on climate trends&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his article&comma; Stephens compares scientists&rsquo&semi; constant warnings about global warming to the media&rsquo&semi;s certainty that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election&period; &ldquo&semi;There&rsquo&semi;s a lesson here&period; We live in a world in which data convey authority&period; But authority has a way of descending to certitude&comma; and certitude begets hubris&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Claiming total certainty about the science&hellip&semi;creates openings for doubt whenever a climate claim proves wrong&period; Demanding abrupt and expensive changes in public policy raises fair questions about ideological intentions&comma;&&num;8221&semi; writes Stephens&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is a fair argument&period; Just last week&comma; former Energy Department Undersecretary Steve Koonin admitted that the Obama Administration used misleading press releases&nbsp&semi;about climate change to support political initiatives&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Stephen&&num;8217&semi;s article has also&nbsp&semi;prompted backlash from the scientific community&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;I enjoy reading different opinions from my own&comma; but this is not a matter of different opinions&comma;&rdquo&semi; argues Stefan Rahmstorf&comma; head of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research&period; &ldquo&semi;The <em>Times<&sol;em> argued that &lsquo&semi;millions agree with Stephens&period;&rsquo&semi; It made me wonder what&rsquo&semi;s next &ndash&semi; when are you hiring a columnist claiming that the sun and stars revolve around the Earth&comma; because millions agree with that&quest;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to <em>Times<&sol;em> editorial page editor James Bennet&comma; Stephens was hired as part of an effort to &ldquo&semi;further widen&rdquo&semi; the paper&rsquo&semi;s range of views&period; &ldquo&semi;&lbrack;There are&rsqb; many shades of conservatism and many shades of liberalism&comma;&rdquo&semi; notes Bennet&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;There&rsquo&semi;s more than one kind of &lbrack;climate change&rsqb; denial&period; And to pretend like the views of a thinker like Bret&comma; and the millions of people who agree with him on a rage of issues&comma; should simply be ignored&comma; that they&rsquo&semi;re outside the bounds of reasonable debate&comma; is a really dangerous form of delusion&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As Stephens points out&comma; there is a giant gap between what scientists are learning and what global warming advocates are claiming&period; As I wrote in a previous article&comma; a Dutch study found that over 50&percnt; of climate scientists don&rsquo&semi;t agree with the so-called &ldquo&semi;consensus&rdquo&semi; on anthropogenic climate change&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Author&&num;8217&semi;s Note&colon;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>To me&comma; hearing all sides of a story is the best way to increase one&rsquo&semi;s understanding of it&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s why the&nbsp&semi;<em>Times<&sol;em> decided to hire Stephens&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the liberal media is so in love with the idea of global warming&nbsp&semi;that just a single dissenting view is causing them to boycott the <em>New York Times<&sol;em>&period; Unbelievable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong>&nbsp&semi;If you care to read the article&comma; it was not denying climate change and was actually rather tame&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But climate change is a religion&comma; Stephen&&num;8217&semi;s editorial was&nbsp&semi;sacrilegious&period; Anyone not see this coming&quest; &nbsp&semi;It is actually a bold step by the NYTimes though&period; An olive branch&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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