In 2007 the average number of google hits for a news search for “global warming” was around 20,000 stories. It then steadily declined until just before climategate it was around the 10,000+ news articles.
When climategate hit, of course it jumped up again, but not to the 20,000 but for a short time closer to 15,000 stories. At which point I started considering tracking Google news hits – and even considered putting online an up to date graph, until that is we discovered that Google itself was not beyond altering its search engine to promote global warming alarmism. So, I’ve never before publicly tabulated the results.
But slowly, creaking and groaning … slowly … well I can only describe it as a race watching a slug which constantly gets distracted by silly news events, only to get on the track back to oblivion, but slowly slowly I watched the figure drop first through the 9000 barrier, then 8000, then I was amazed to see it drop to 7000s then it was regularly in the 7000s, then it would go annoyingly back up to the 8000s, then back and back up and down.
Then today, I got up early to do some real work, and as usual turned to WUWT, where nothing in particular took my fancy – mainly because the video of a windmill breaking down is years old (sorry Anthony). So, I turned to that old resort of trying to find something interesting about global warming that hasn’t been said before.
Nothing!
The top story was: “The Low-Carbon World Needs $500 Billion a Year to Slow Warming, WEF Says“, and you’ll forgive my ignorance if I admit I have no idea who WEF is. Someone was repeating the weeks old: “Airplane contrails worse than CO2 emissions for global warming: study“. Some bloggers were ranting: “International Action on Global Warming: Where is it headed in 2011?” and isn’t it strange how alarmist rants make it to google when their far better known target doesn’t even get found by google news:
Climate skeptics lose their cool
“Is there anything angrier than a climate skeptic scorned? On March 6, Anthony Watts, operator of Watt’s Up With That, one the most industrious global-warming-is-not-happening (and if it is, it certainly isn’t caused by humans) websites on the Internet, expressed his high hopes that a new review of surface temperature data conducted by University of California, Berkeley, “… etc.
And then I spotted it….
Of course, the sad part is, that if one day there is a real catastrophe that can be foreseen, the media will probably behave the same way!
So there is an asteroid hurtling towards earth due in 50 years time – most of us will be dead in 2090 – boring!
So the banks are going to return to their criminal ways and run up another ludicrous debt!
What newspaper would care about such a story in 2040 when William and Kate’s first born child is due to get married in just 105 days!
We are fortunate that apathy to global warming seems to be for the best, but the media is certainly part of the craziness of the age!
People are the most fickle breed of bipeds on the planet. No wonder so many newspapers, publishers, Pubs, and Mom&Pop Corner Grocery Stores are cashing in their chips. Its impossible to keep up with their hissyfits and tantrums and cravings and bents. (Well… it is if you’re trying to keep up with the mob 😉 )