Kolbert: Stop Writing ‘Scientists Say’ Before Phrase ‘GHGs Are Chief Cause of Global Warming’

We are as certain that humans are dramatically changing the planet’s climate as we are that smoking causes cancer.  So nothing justifies this lame phrasing in a New York Times article on Obama’s forthcoming carbon pollution rule:

Coal plants are the nation’s largest source of the greenhouse gases that scientists say are the chief cause of global warming.

Elizabeth Kolbert, one of the country’s top climate reporters, slammed the Times in a tweet:  #ScientistsSay

One of the country’s top climatologists, Michael Mann, tweeted back some sarcasm: “Scientists say plants photosynthesize … gravity exists.”

Given how many articles will be written on greenhouse gases and climate change in the coming weeks, it’s important to underscore why the “scientists say” formulation is wrong.

First off, it’s been decades since the New York Times qualified its statements about the dangers of smoking with phrases like “scientists say.”

Kolbert: Stop Writing ‘Scientists Say’ Before Phrase ‘GHGs Are Chief Cause of Global Warming’