On Wednesday, both NBC’s 3rd Hour Today show and CBS This Morning engaged in climate change hysteria as they touted dire predictions that huge portions of land around the world would be underwater by 2050 and displace hundreds of millions of people. The network hosts all blindly accepted the warnings as true without pointing out that such wild claims have been made for decades without coming to fruition.
“And speaking of climate change, on the flip side of that, too much water actually becoming an issue....rising seas could affect way more people than they previously thought....this is an estimate for 2050, which is only 30 years from now,” co-host Dylan Dreyer proclaimed early in the 9:00 a.m. ET hour for NBC’s Today. “It shows that 150 million people are now living on land that will be below high tide by 2050,” she hyped.
Worried co-host Sheinelle Jones gasped: “Really?” Dreyer continued:
...they say southern Vietnam could be totally underwater. It’s mostly – the research that they did, it doesn’t include the United States, but we can assume some of this information for the United States as well. I mean, think about Miami, think about New Orleans, think about areas that are right on the coast. And people love to live by water.
Weatherman and co-host Al Roker chimed in: “Well, 60% of our population in this country live along the coast....But look at Vietnam, that’s 20 million people who could theoretically be displaced.”
Moments later, Roker increased the fearmongering: “In fact, just last year, the Department of Defense said that climate change is probably the number one threat to homeland security because so many of our defenses and defense facilities are along coasts.”
As the discussion concluded, Jones lamented: “It seems like a bad movie and you see it happening and there’s nothing you can do.”
Missing from the coverage was any acknowledgment that such radical predictions have been pushed for years without actually happening. Just recently, NBC repeated a claim that Washington D.C. could soon be underwater – the same prediction the network made thirty years ago in 1989.
“In this morning’s Eye on Earth, a stunning new report shows many major coastal cities around the world could be underwater by 2050, in our lifetime,” co-host Tony Dokoupil declared on CBS This Morning. Leading off a segment late in the 8:30 a.m. ET half hour, he touted: “Scientists from Climate Central say that means 300 million people would be waterlogged in just 30 years.”
Turning to Bernadette Woods Placky, the chief meteorologist for the climate activist group, Dokoupil feared: “So the original projections were already frightening. Now we have new projections, even more concerning.” Placky asserted: “And this is a nice piece of the puzzle in understanding more about how climate change is really affecting the people, places, and things that we love.”
Later in the conversation, Dokoupil piled on the doomsday predictions: “...if people are displaced, that creates conflicts, that creates wars for resources. U.S. Military involvement could follow.”
Co-host Gayle King remarked: “So now that you’ve scared the bejesus out of us, can you explain simply why is it happening and what we can do?” Placky professed: “So my goal’s not to scare you, it’s to inform you. To inform everybody that this is what we’re looking at if we don’t make changes.”
She proceeded to suggest some of those changes: “And that’s why there’s an urgency to change to cleaner sources of energy, electrify our transport, make for refined ways of working our buildings, our heating and lighting systems, and focus on our farming and our agriculture where we have some opportunities with our soils.”
In response, Dokoupil made a campaign pitch: “I can’t personally redefine our electricity system, but I think what you’re saying is people can vote for people who do.” Placky agreed: “That is one of the ways.” In other words, CBS was instructing viewers to vote for Democrats.
Wrapping up the segment, King recalled an off-camera exchange with Placky: “I thought it was funny when I said, ‘Doesn’t it drive you crazy when he people still don’t understand climate change?’ You go, ‘Yeah, like my dad.’”
The media are constantly looking for ways to frighten people into signing on to extreme left-wing policies like the Green New Deal and other favorite Democratic Party agenda items.
Here is a transcript of the October 30 segment on NBC’s 3rd Hour Today:
9:06 AM ET
DYLAN DREYER: And speaking of climate change, on the flip side of that, too much water actually becoming an issue. It was an article that was published in Nature Communications. It suggests that rising seas could affect way many more people than they previously thought. So I was just thinking, it’s 2019, this is an estimate for 2050, which is only 30 years from now. It shows that 150 million people are now living on land that will be below high tide by 2050.
AL ROKER: Wow.
SHEINELLE JONES: Really?
ROKER: Yeah.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Underwater?; New Research Predicts Rising Seas Could Cause Dire Situation]
DREYER: I mean, especially southern Vietnam, they say southern Vietnam could be totally underwater. It’s mostly the research that they did, it doesn’t include the United States, but we can assume some of this information for the United States as well. I mean, think about Miami, think about New Orleans, think about areas that are right on the coast, and people love to live by water, people love to live on the coast.
ROKER: Yeah, well 60% of our population in this country live along the coast.
JONES: Is it that high?
ROKER: Yeah, oh yeah. But look at Vietnam, I mean, that’s 20 million people who could theoretically be displaced.
DREYER: Lose their homes.
CRAIG MELVIN: This [graphic on screen] is courtesy of The New York Times.
JONES: So then help me understand how this works. So if we say in 30 years, which is in no time at all, right, so is it so gradual that you don’t, I mean, you obviously see it happening, so will people have to move in a few years. You what I mean, like?
DREYER: Well, I think it’s a situation – for example, let’s use Miami, when they get their king tides, you know, they get those high tides on a perfectly sunny day with no storm around and the water just inundates the city. So eventually there’s going to be a point where more and more water comes in, more and more water comes in, buildings are compromised.
ROKER: They’ve already invested, in Miami alone, about $3 billion in pumps and moving and raising street levels. It’s really crazy. In fact, just last year, the Department of Defense said that climate change is probably the number one threat to homeland security because so many of our defenses and defense facilities are along coasts.
DREYER: Right on the coast.
JONES: So can we – with that statistic, can we change the tide, so to speak, no pun intended, but can we do anything to change that?
DREYER: I don’t think there’s much you can do. Putting in pumps requires a lot of work and a lot of maintenance.
ROKER: A lot of infrastructure changes.
JONES: It sounds like a bad movie and you see it happening and there’s nothing you can do.
Here is a full transcript of the segment on CBS This Morning:
8:21 AM ET
TONY DOKOUPIL: In this morning’s Eye on Earth, a stunning new report shows many major coastal cities around the world could be under water by 2050, in our lifetime. Scientists from Climate Central say that means 300 million people would be waterlogged in just 30 years. Take a look at these images, here are the original predictions for 2050, and then these are the Climate Central’s new projections. Take a look at the dramatic impact in places like Bangkok, Thailand, Alexandria, Egypt, and closer to home, coastal Louisiana. It shows each area almost completely underwater.
Bernadette Woods Placky is chief meteorologist at Climate Central and she joins us now. Bernadette, good morning.
BERNADETTE WOODS PLACKY: Good morning.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Coastal Crisis; New Research Shows Many Major Cities Could Be Underwater By 2050]
DOKOUPIL: The original projections were already frightening. Now we have these new projections, even more concerning. First question, why the change?
PLACKY: Well, first of all, thank you for having me here to talk about this very important subject. And this is a nice piece of the puzzle in understanding more with how climate change is really affecting the people, places, and things that we love. What we did with this study is we looked at land beneath our feet. Sea level rise projections in the past were based on this wonderful global data set from NASA. But what it did was read our land as a satellite went around the Earth. And what that land was reading was trees, buildings, and land that was way above where we actually walk.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah, wow.
PLACKY: So when we were able to correct this elevation data set, it brought land closer to where we live. So when you have the same amount of water and land went from here to here, there’s a lot more at risk.
ANTHONY MASON: What are the most vulnerable areas here in the U.S.?
PLACKY: In the United States, actually our data set has not changed that much, because we have a really robust, wonderful scientific system and we use what’s called LIDAR data, so it’s a little more refined. So we already know major areas at risk. As we showed, Louisiana, Florida, all of the entire southeast coat. And even we saw just this past month with king tides, water coming up with no storm system from Virginia, New Jersey, all the way up into Boston.
DOKOUPIL: But the reason this matters to Americans, even if the flooding is happening somewhere else, is because if people are displaced that creates conflicts, that creates wars for resources. U.S. military involvement could follow. Instability is bad for global security and for security here at home. I noticed that Asia teams to be particularly hard hit. Why?
PLACKY: Well, one of the reasons, it is so highly populated and there’s a lot of low-level ground. And with population levels so high and not much protection there, you already are seeing those are some of the places already at risk. But then when you correct this data set, it just raises those numbers off the charts.
GAYLE KING: So now that you’ve scared the bejesus out of us, can you explain simply what – why is it happening and what we can do?
PLACKY: So my goal’s not to scare you, it’s to inform you.
MASON: Well, you’re doing a good job.
PLACKY: To inform everybody that this is what we’re looking at if we don’t make changes. But we do still have the opportunity to make changes. I kind of compare it to a diet. You know, even if you choose to eat healthy, it’s going to take a while to see those impacts on your body.
KING: Yes.
PLACKY: Our greenhouse gases stay in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. And that’s why there’s an urgency to change to cleaner sources of energy, electrify our transport, make for refined ways of working our buildings, our heating systems, our lighting systems, and focus on our farming and our agriculture where we have some opportunities with our soils.
DOKOUPIL: I can’t personally redefine our electricity system, but I think what you’re saying is people can vote for people who do.
PLACKY: That is one of the ways.
KING: I thought it was funny when I said, “Doesn’t it drive you craze when people still don’t understand climate change?” You go, “Yeah, like my dad.” [Laughter]
PLACKY: That’s right, that’s right.
KING: So you’re dealing with it even in your own house.
DOKOUPIL: Alright, Bernadette Woods Placky, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
PLACKY: Thank you.
