Viral ‘Global Warming’ Photo Takes Internet by Storm ... But It's Nearly Identical to a 1984 Pic
Every picture tells a story, doesn’t it?
There are few things environmental alarmists love more than a gripping photograph, and a picture that rocketed around social media in June showing sled dogs splashing through melted ice in Greenland seemed to fit the climate change crowd’s agenda to a T.
As it turns out, the photo didn’t tell the whole story at all.
When the photo, taken by Danish meteorological scientist Steffen Malskær Olsen, came out, the usual suspects had a field day gloating about how it proved the case for global warming. Liberal media outlets CBS, CNN and The Guardian ate it up.
“Photo of sled dogs walking through water shows reality of Greenland’s melting ice sheet,” CNN’s headline proclaimed in no uncertain terms.
This photo of sled dogs walking through water shows the reality of Greenland’s melting ice sheet https://t.co/36q2KSh3jf pic.twitter.com/JFFEoVyOKl
— CNN (@CNN) June 18, 2019
CNN’s tweet got the exact responses liberals wanted.
“And Trump still won’t acknowledge climate change is real and sadly he would say that photo is ‘fake,'” one Twitter user wrote. “Climate denialism will kill more environment, animals and yes, people!”
And Trump still won’t acknowledged climate change is real and sadly he would say that photo is “fake”. Climate denialism will kill more environment, animals and yes, people!??
— Erika Dienaite (@edienaite) June 18, 2019
The photo isn’t exactly “fake,” but as an Italian news source pointed out, it’s extremely misleading.
Melted ice in the area is not unusual in June, and a similar photo taken in roughly the same place in Greenland 35 years ago shows conditions were almost exactly the same, Il Post reported, according to an electronic translation.
The Italian news outlet said the Olsen photo caught the attention of Peter Heide Jørgensen, a professor at the Greenland Natural Resources Institute, who had taken a different photo proving the “reality” in the Olsen photo wasn’t all that unusual.
Conservative commentator and activist Jack Posobiec posted the Jørgensen photo from 1984 next to the 2019 OIsen photo.
Well this is awkward pic.twitter.com/IBIclzgT33
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) June 24, 2019
He got plenty of responses mocking CNN for its “facts first” slogan.
You mean CNN was deliberately misleading their viewship to push a liberal agenda? No. No way. Nope. Impossible. pic.twitter.com/0UFENfYb7o
— Paul Geren (@KeysRetired) June 24, 2019
CNN MaKinG FaKe NeWs I aM sO sHocKeD
— Gᴀʙʀɪᴇʟ (@ChamaLlama16) June 24, 2019
Bwahahahahahahaha
This is CNN – “The most trusted name in news” “Facts first” “The worldwide leader in news” “Reporting from around the world” “The world’s news leader”….. Blah, Blah, Blah“Liars and the Worst” should be their new motto!#WalkAway #KAG #SpyGate
— El_Spartan (@ElSpartan13) June 24, 2019
Neither Il Post nor Professor Jørgensen appear to be climate change skeptics. Jørgensen just wanted to make clear that what the Olsen picture showed is not what the climate hysterics were claiming:
“I don’t want in any way to diminish the effects and importance of global warming, which we observe in a tangible way in Greenland, but the water above the pack ice is a normal thing in Greenland, and it was still before the levels were raised of carbon dioxide,” he told Il Post, according to the translation.
Jørgensen’s position might be too nuanced for the 12-years-until-doomsday crowd. The environmentalists love pictures – whether it’s a sea bird covered in oil after a spill, or polar bears used for propaganda – because images appeal to emotions, not reason.
That’s what the picture of the “melted Greenland ice” was intended to do.
But thanks to a picture from 35 years ago, we know there was much more to the story.
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