“What in the fake news is this”
Introduction
There are many issues going on in the world today. From police brutality, climate changes,
political issues, to endangered species. We hear and see people discussing these issues and
topics all over the world, in newspapers, magazines, on the tv, during speeches and coming out
of out of the President’s Mouth. Unlike the past we are now living in a time where technology
has taken over and we are now seeing it via social media: Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook,
Instagram ect. These social Media outlets have a bigger effect and impact on the world. The
information given out spreads so quick that sometimes you do not even realize false
information is being spread. This brings me to the topic I would like to discuss. With all the
“fake news” being spread throughout the world it is hard to determine the real from the fake. I
would like to bring to light the “Fake news” about climate change and other geology news.
Why is fake news generated?
In an article written by John Nolte called “Scientists Prove Man-Made Global Warming Is a
Hoax” talks about how he doesn’t believe humans are the cause of global warming because in a
study that recently just came out it said that the currently our CO2 levels which has reached
410 parts per million (ppm) are about the same as they were 3 million years ago. He goes on to
say that this cant is true because not only were humans not around 3 million years ago not in
the same sense as we are today . Humans then were not driving cars or eating the meat that
requires cow farts; we weren’t barbecuing or refusing to recycle or building factories; there was
no Industrial Age, no plastic, no air conditioning, no electricity, no lumber mills, no
consumerism, no aerosols. So how is it possible that we’ve caused climate change? He then
talks about the Ice Ages and how according to the study, scientists also discovered that during
this period of Global Warming “there were no ice sheets covering either Greenland or West
Antarctica, and much of the East Antarctic ice sheet was gone.” He is basically saying again if
humans weren’t around when this happened don’t you think it’s the earth doing this on its own
whether we live here or not.
To debunk this article, I went to a website called Union of Concerned Scientist. In their article
called “How Do We Know that Humans Are the Major Cause of Global Warming?” it states that
every single year since 1977 has been warmer than the 20th century average, with 16 of the 17
warmest years on record occurring since 2001, and 2016 being the warmest year on recorded
history. A study from 2016 found that without the emissions from burning coal and oil, there is
truly little likelihood that 13 out of the 15 warmest years on record would all have happened. It
also goes on to says that, though we know that warming and cooling has happened in the past,
and long before humans were around. Many factors (called “climate drivers”) can influence
Earth’s climate—such as changes in the sun’s intensity and volcanic eruptions, as well as heattrapping gases in the atmosphere. Its not what is causing the warming, but humans are the
cause instead.
It speaks about how different scientist have come to together with different methods to answer
their questions. Meteorologists and oceanographers compare the climate patterns they
observe with patterns developed using sophisticated models of Earth's atmosphere and ocean.
By matching the observed and modeled patterns, scientists can positively identify the "human
fingerprints" associated with the changes, and they can also attribute the proportion of those
changes to human activities. Human fingerprints on Earth's climate are turning up in a diverse
range of records and can be seen in the ocean, in the atmosphere, and on the Earth’s surface
The Scientist are agreeing to say that humans putting too much carbon in the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main heat-trapping gas largely responsible for most of the average
warming over the past several decades. Humans are causing globe warming and climate change
include heat-trapping emissions from burning coal, gas and oil in power plants and cars, cutting
down and burning forests. According to our textbook “Foundations of Earth Science” For the
past two centuries Earths industrialization has fueled the CO2 levels this includes burning fossil
fuel, coal, natural gas and petroleum. The are the most prominent ways humans are adding co2
to the atmosphere. Excess Co2 is absorbed in plants or taken into the ocean. This type of
human induced Global warming is causing sea levels to rise and with it will cause severe
weather changes.
Conclusion:
In a world where fake news is so easily spread it is our job/duty to know what where are talking
about before we are sharing information. This is not only harmful, but it could also be
extremely dangerous. We cannot take everything we see on the news or internet for what it is,
we have to do our own research and use factual information not just the words from a tweet,
or 15 second Instagram video. It is our duty as human beings living on this plant to want to
learn about the truth and find better ways to educate ourselves, share and pass on REAL NEWS
and knowledge.
Your research paper will focus on discussing provided examples of fake climate/geology
news and comparing it with reviewed papers. Based on the recent studies 75% of the
US population cannot tell the difference between a fact and someone's opinion that is
not based on facts. (Links to an external site.) The topic of the paper should be focused
on provided examples where scientific fraud is an issue. We will compare someones
opinion describing the same process with the mainstream scientific view point and
scientific data. The paper should be based on the information from multiple scientific
sources such as: a library search, online search, or textbooks (you must use at least
two different sources for each of the discussed statements). The paper is expected to
be at least 4 pages long.
Some examples of fake scientific topics that may be discussed:
1 "Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the
seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those
oceans, because the bottom is moving up. Erosion plays a significant role in sea-level
rise. California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover tumble into the sea every year,
and that contributes to sea-level rise. He also said that silt washing into the ocean from
the world's major rivers, including the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile, is
contributing to sea-level rise " Representative Mo Brooks (AL)
2 "To solve climate change challenges, we first need to acknowledge the uncertainties
that exist," Smith said in his opening remarks. "Then we can have confidence that
innovations and technology will enable us to mitigate any adverse consequences of
climate change." Rep. Lamar Smith (TX)
3 "Scientists said in the 1970s that the Earth was cooling" Rep. Bill Posey (FL)
4 " Scientists Prove Man-Made Global Warming Is a Hoax"
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/09/nolte-scientists-prove-man-made-globalwarming-is-a-hoax/ (Links to an external site.)
While working on the Paper start from1. Topic Selection and search for a fraudulent Science article (I would start from
Breitbart News or a similar site run by Russian Government funded trolls, or fossil fuel
industry funded trolls).
2. Search for Peer reviewed paper describing identical topic.
3. Prepare the Paper outline.
4. Write Introduction.
5. Write main body of the paper (describe the data used in both papers indicating how
data was manipulated and distorted).
6. Write the Conclusion Section. Search for the author credentials on Linkedin or on
Google. Add information about the Authors credentials in the conclusion of the Paper.
Please read the following CNN link that describes how fake news is generated and why
people believe it.
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/media/the-macedonia-story/ (Links to an external
site.) (Links to an external site.)
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/opinions/why-dont-facts-matter-sharotopinion/index.html (Links to an external site.)
How do you determine whether an article qualifies as being a peer-reviewed
journal article?
First, you need to be able to identify which journals are peer-reviewed. There are
generally four methods for doing this
1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals only.
Some databases allow you to limit searches for articles to peer reviewed journals
only. For example, Academic Search Complete has this feature on the initial search
screen - click on the pertinent box to limit the search. In some databases you may
have to go to an “advanced” or “expert” search screen to do this. Remember, many
databases do not allow you to limit your search in this way.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to determine if the journal is indicated as
being peer-reviewed.
If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, you will need to
check to see if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed journal. This can be done
by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Go to the alphabetical listing of
databases (Links to an external site.) and click on the “U”. Select Ulrichsweb.com. It
helps to type in the exact title of the source journal including any initial A, AN, or
THE in the title. If you don’t find the journal you are interested in, you may want to
utilize Method 3 below. If your journal title IS displayed, check to see if the journal is
indicated as being refereed by having the symbol next to the title.
3. Examining the publication to see if it is peer-reviewed.
If by using the first two methods you were unable to identify if a journal (and an
article therein) is peer-reviewed, you may then need to examine the journal
physically or look at additional pages of the journal online to determine if it is peerreviewed. This method is not always successful with resources available only online.
The following steps are suggested:
1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, then identify the most current entire
year’s issues.
2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This oftentimes consists of a box
towards either the front or the end of the periodical, and contains publication
information such as the editors of the journal, the publisher, the place of
publication, the subscription cost and similar information.
3. Does the journal say that it is peer-reviewed? If so, you’re done! If not, move on
to step 4.
4. Check in and around the masthead to locate the method for submitting articles to
the publication. If you find information similar to “to submit articles, send three
copies…”, the journal is probably peer-reviewed. In this case, you are inferring
that the publication is then going to send the multiple copies of the article to the
journal’s reviewers. This may not always be the case, so relying upon this
criterion alone may prove inaccurate.
5. If you do not see this type of statement in the first issue of the journal that you
look at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included.
Sometimes publications will include this information in only a single issue a year.
6. Is it scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the article format approximate
the following - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion,
and references? Are the articles written by scholarly researchers in the field that
the periodical pertains to? Is advertising non-existent, or kept to a minimum? Are
there references listed in footnotes or bibliographies? If you answered yes to all
these questions , the journal may very well be peer-reviewed. This determination
would be strengthened by having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies
submission requirement. If you answered these questions no, the journal is
probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Find the official web site on the internet, and check to see if it states that the journal
is peer-reviewed. Be careful to use the official site (often located at the journal
publisher’s web site), and, even then, information could potentially be “inaccurate.”
Helpful hint!
If you have used the previous four methods in trying to determine if an article is from a
peer-reviewed journal and are still unsure, speak to your instructor.
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