Beetle battle: NY Times Misses Beetle / Warming Link

One of the good things about the Web is that it increases accountability.  Those questioning the so-called "mainstream media" (MSM) don’t have to hope that a stingy editor will find a few column inches to publish an op-ed to have their views heard. So while I’m a regular reader of The New York Times, I was happy…

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One of the good things about the Web is that it increases accountability.  Those questioning the so-called "mainstream media" (MSM) don’t have to hope that a stingy editor will find a few column inches to publish an op-ed to have their views heard.

So while I’m a regular reader of The New York Times, I was happy to see this article at grist.org  panning the Times’ story on the beetle epidemic which is killing off hundreds of thousands of acres of pine forest in the Rocky Mountains.  The "Newspaper of Record" omitted the key fact that global warming is playing a key role in the beetle epidemic.  That’s because beetles are typically killed off when subzero temperatures last for days in the forest, something that hasn’t happened for years.

It’s a key aspect of the beetle story.  And kudos to grist.org for telling it.

Ted was an attorney in the Rocky Mountain regional office from 2003–2018. He protected wilderness, roadless areas and the planet's climate on behalf of conservation groups in the Four Corners' states.