Nick Kristof, the man responsible for the crappiest New York Times column ever, has produced one of the crappiest tweets in recent memory.
He implies that the shrinkage of Lake Chad, once the eighth-largest lake in the world, constitutes clear-cut evidence of “climate change,” by which he means global warming caused by rising man-made carbon dioxide emissions.
According to this report by Worldlakes.org, however, Lake Chad “completely dried up four times between 1400 and 1910” a period of time that largely preceded increases in industrial carbon dioxide emissions.
The Lake started to dry up again by the end of the 1960s, due to drought: “Within a decade the lake had shrunk to about one-tenth of its normal area.” This was in the 1970s, when some people were more worried about global cooling than global warming.
As Twitter user @VictorB123 notes, inefficient irrigation projects contributed to the lake’s shrinkage:
@SooperMexican @sean_hickin @NickKristof unsustainable irrigation projects by Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad,
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
@SooperMexican @sean_hickin @NickKristof diverted water from both the lake and the Chari and Logone rivers.
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
Even Kristof had to admit “all that’s true” but he continued to blame changes in the local climate:
@VictorB123 @SooperMexican @sean_hickin All that's true. But entire Sahel climate is manifestly changing as well.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) July 10, 2013
Of course, climate changes. Always has, always will.
@NickKristof @SooperMexican @sean_hickin Climate ALWAYS changes. Never stable. Always warming or cooling.
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
@NickKristof @SooperMexican @sean_hickin Jet streams change, persistent pressure areas change in decadal scales
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
@NickKristof @SooperMexican @sean_hickin Places can have decades of drought followed by decades of flood.
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
@NickKristof @SooperMexican @sean_hickin Inter-tropical convergence zone varies on decadal and century scales.
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
@NickKristof @SooperMexican @sean_hickin Climate in any given place is rarely stable for very long anyplace on earth.
— Crosspatch (@VictorB123) July 10, 2013
Kristof’s got two Pulitzer prizes, but @VictorB123 has got facts and logic on his side. It was no contest.
(Hat tip: Sooper Mexican.)
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