Monbiot's disaster journalism
I once appeared on the Jeremy Vine show opposite the Guardian columnist George Monbiot, who made some surprising claims about drought in East Africa, which he said had been getting worse for decades. Shortly after the show, I did some digging and failed to turn up anything that would support his view.I was reminded of this when I saw a tweet that the great man put out yesterday:
It's interesting to see how climate science deniers are falling silent around the world, as climate disasters kick in. Like all professional liars they discard their own histories, in the hope that we forget. But we should not. They have pushed us towards #climatebreakdown.
Leaving aside his customary abusive language, I couldn't help but wonder what climate disasters he is suggesting are kicking in. Hurricanes are not getting worse. Droughts are not getting worse. They haven't been able to detect any changes in floods. The IPCC is singing from the same hymn sheet. In fact the news is mostly good: the world seems to be getting greener. Crop yields continue to increase. People are living for longer.Is it just me, or does George just make it up as he goes along?
