It's no secret General Electric (NYSE:GE) has a lot to gain from the regulation of greenhouse gases, so is it a coincidence NBC, a GE product, offered more anecdotal evidence that global warming is putting the planet in danger?
"NBC Nightly News" provided yet another report on Sept. 20 agonizing about anthropogenic climate change melting ice in Greenland.
"There are new concerns tonight about the effects of global warming," "Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt said. "A new study warns rapidly melting ice in Greenland could result in a colossal rise in ocean levels."
But for every report "Nightly News" has shown over the years claiming the ice melt as evidence climate change is occurring, there are many contrary anecdotes the network ignores. For example, ice in Antarctica is expanding according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado (The Australian reported the growth of ice in Antarctica in April 2009), which has gone unreported by NBC.
Yet NBC chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson reported on the massive ice deterioration in Greenland, not the expanding Antarctic ice.
"Recently the ice here has undergone a dramatic change," Thompson said. "Just a short 10 years ago, the ice was 45 feet higher than it is today."
That increase in melting in Greenland is a result of greenhouse gases, Thompson declared.
"Increased melting caused by greenhouse gases warming the earth," Thompson explained. "For thousands of years, Steffensen says the earth's climate has endured changes, but slowly enough to allow humans to adapt. Now change is picking up speed."
Thompson's report was based on the work of J. P. Steffensen, a scientist that has specialized in studying the effects of climate on Greenland and other cultures in history. But he even admitted the models might not be able to get it right.
"It worries me that we might be able to trigger a global change which is much faster than even the models can predict," Steffensen said.
