Who Checks The Factcheckers? | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT--
By Paul Homewood
"You may recall that I posted an article last month called “Green ideology, not climate change makes wildfires worse”.
The post is here, but essentially it was sourced from an article last March by the Volunteer Firefighters Association of NSW, which pointed out that the major factor in why Victoria’s bushfires at the time were so bad was poor management of national parks and the failure to reduce hazardous fuel loads and clear vegetation.
My post was shared on Facebook by the Friends of Science, a group of active and retired earth and atmospheric scientists, engineers, and other professionals, based in Canada:
So far so good!
However, Facebook in their infinite wisdom decided to flag the post as “Misleading”, based on a report by the self proclaimed Factcheck site, Climate Feedback.
A quick look at their website confirms they are not an impartial site, and regularly push climate alarmism...
Below is the “judgment” by Climate Feedback:
DETAILS
Misrepresents a complex reality: While authorities in Australia are investigating the source of some of the bushfires, this does not preclude other factors from being important for some aspects of these fires. For instance, the magnitude of wildfires is controlled primarily by the conditions of the fuels.
The important contribution of climate change to fires is not in starting fires (although increases in lightning are possible) but in making fuels drier. The current fires in Australia are not so extreme because fires were sparked, but because 2019 was the hottest and driest year on record, with dry and windy weather patterns in place as the fires burned. The source of ignition for each fire is not relevant to understanding whether climate change contributed to their extent and intensity.
REVIEW
CLAIM: "Authorities in Australia have confirmed the bushfires were caused by arsonists and a series of lightning strikes, not ‘climate change’ as many activists have claimed."
Dozens of outlets, blogs and social media users have made the claim that climate change has no influence on the bushfires currently burning record areas in Australia because authorities are investigating who or what started some of these fires, suspecting some fires were ignited by people and many more by lightning..."
Much more, read all!
...The decision by Facebook to flag the post is extremely troubling in a number of ways.
Firstly, who decides who should be the arbiter of facts, and how is this decision made? Why should Facebook trust Climate Feedback anymore than any other expert source?..."
Read all!
