On Sunday's Velshi show, MSNBC host and NBC News senior business correspondent Ali Velshi hyped fears about global warming as he linked recent examples of extreme weather and natural disasters to human activity, and promoted UN secretary general Antonio Guterres's recent hyperbolic claim that humanity is "waging war on nature."
Even though wildfire seasons were actually worse more than a decade ago, Velshi opened his commentary citing recent wildfires as unprecedented evidence of a dire future:
For many of us, 2020 has felt like a raging hellscape. On the West Coast where I am right now, you would be forgiven for taking that analogy literally. Record wildfires torched their way through millions of acres of land from Oregon to Washington, California and Colorado. Oregon had a particularly devastating wildfire season -- more than 1.2 million acres burned across the state this year. That doubles the 10-year average of 557,000 acres.
He soon added: "Wildfires feed off of dryness, wind, and, you guessed it, heat. 2020 is on track to be the third hottest year on record. No coincidence, by the way -- the planet is overheating. Human-caused climate change is holding the flame."
Velshi then started reciting items in a recent U.N. report as evidence of global warming, starting with the large number of named storms in the most recent hurricane season: "The United Nations released an apocalyptic climate report last week. Here are just a few of the downright horrifying records we have broken in 2020: 30 Atlantic named tropical storms and hurricanes -- twelve that made landfall in the United States."
But veteran meteorologist and global warming skeptic Joe Bastardi has argued against the environmental alarmism over the recent storm season.
The MSNBC host then focused on recent examples of high temperatures:
The aptly named Death Valley in California hit 129 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature the world has seen in 80 years. Central Europe experienced extensive drought, including a 43-day dry spell in Geneva, Switzerland. And, get this -- record wildfires in the Arctic -- the Arctic. A heat wave in Siberia culminated at 100 degrees Fahrenheit -- triple-digit heat in Siberia, a country with an annual average temperature of 23 degrees.
But Siberia -- which Velshi incorrectly identified as a "country" -- is a part of Russia that has had a wide range of temperatures, with high temperatures not as unprecedented as he made it sound.
And the recent high in Death Valley also did not break the observed record set more than 100 years ago.
Velshi quoted some of the U.N. secretary general's recent hysteria as the MSNBC host concluded:
Are you listening yet? If not, the U.N. secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has a stark warning for the world. He says, quote, "To put it simply, the state of the planet broken. Dear friends, humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back. And it is already doing so with growing force and fury." End quote. There's no messing with Mother Nature, but, as they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
This all a bit ironic, since Velshi spent three of the Obama-Biden years hosting a show on Al-Jazeera America, funded by the oil-soaked Emir of Qatar.
This episode of MSNBC's Velshi show was sponsored in part by Keeps. Their contact information is linked.
MSNBC
Velshi
December 6, 2020
9:37 a.m. Eastern
ALI VELSHI: For many of us, 2020 has felt like a raging hellscape. On the West Coast where I am right now, you would be forgiven for taking that analogy literally. Record wildfires torched their way through millions of acres of land from Oregon to Washington, California and Colorado. Oregon had a particularly devastating wildfire season -- more than 1.2 million acres burned across the state this year. That doubles the 10-year average of 557,000 acres.
Southern California is on fire as we speak. Residents who had been told to stay home because of the pandemic are now making hasty investigation plans to escape the flames that are burning out of control. Officials say it could last through the week. Wildfires feed off of dryness, wind, and, you guessed it, heat. 2020 is on track to be the third hottest year on record. No coincidence, by the way -- the planet is overheating. Human-caused climate change is holding the flame.
The United Nations released an apocalyptic climate report last week. Here are just a few of the downright horrifying records we have broken in 2020: 30 Atlantic named tropical storms and hurricanes -- 12 that made land fall in the United States. The aptly named Death Valley in California hit 129 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature the world has seen in 80 years. Central Europe experienced extensive drought, including a 43-day dry spell in Geneva, Switzerland. And, get this -- record wildfires in the Arctic -- the Arctic. A heat wave in Siberia culminated at 100 degrees Fahrenheit -- triple-digit heat in Siberia, a country with an annual average temperature of 23 degrees.
Are you listening yet? If not, the U.N. secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has a stark warning for the world. He says, quote, "To put it simply, the state of the planet broken. Dear friends, humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back. And it is already doing so with growing force and fury." End quote. There's no messing with Mother Nature, but, as they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
