WILL WATSON: Here's the hard reality of climate change

Twice in two weeks, Meridian columnist Bill Crawford has exhorted Sun Herald readers to be skeptical of what he calls "truth management" in the media, specifically warning that biased "think tanks" and duplicitous "institutes" have lied about such topics as tobacco use, asbestos, vaccinations and auto safety, for decades in some cases.

It's excellent that Mr. Crawford points this out, but, unfortunately, he engages in the very "truth management" he condemns.

He does this by omitting any mention of the decades-long, multimillion-dollar campaigns of global warming denial waged by Exxon, Koch and others, including members of Congress and a current GOP presidential candidate, Ted Cruz.

Such an omission should bother anyone living as close to tidewater as we do on the Coast. It certainly bothers me.

NOAA thinks that global warming will hit us with about 3 feet of sea level increase in this century, even with the most stringent CO2 restrictions. In south Louisiana, rising seas combined with subsidence will create the world's highest sea level gains, perhaps 6 feet

Yet Mr. Crawford doesn't even utter the words "climate change" or "sea level increase."

Nor does he mention that we've just lived through the two warmest years on record, nor that there were two tropical storms -- Alex and Pali -- simultaneously this month, well outside of regular hurricane season, nor that oceans are acidifying faster than they have in 300 million years. That's exactly what climate change looks like, and science agrees almost unanimously.

Anyone who says differently is engaging in "truth management." So is any writer who remains silent on the topic, like Mr. Crawford.

Journalists and editors have a responsibility to clarify and illuminate the hard reality of man-made climate change.

I don't see that happening in this newspaper, or anywhere else here, and it needs to.

WILL WATSON

Long Beach

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 7:07 PM with the headline "WILL WATSON: Here's the hard reality of climate change ."