Misleading climate imagery

As a guy with a trained eye for detail, I often see ridiculous claims in advertising, in politics, and now in the almost daily dose of climate change warnings. For this reason, I wish to share my observation of a major error in a recent newspaper article: “Climate reality check: Global carbon pollution increases,” Dec. 6 (from Associated Press).

The photograph accompanying the article shows a Polish lignite (soft coal) facility (power plant) emitting water vapor from a series of cooling towers. However, the caption describes the scene as “plumes of smoke” in a deliberate or ignorant attempt to instill fear of unchecked air pollution. Similar tactics frequently appear in news about nuclear power plants showing the cooling towers emitting the same thing – harmless water vapor from the heat exchange process.

Both examples mislead less-observant readers into believing the plumes are hazardous emissions, and we must submit to the urgent calls for action or else we will all suffer under the expanding list of doomsday scenarios.

The political climate on the subject might benefit if there was some cooling of the overheated rhetoric expelled by the tag-teaming news media.

Jim Bohn

Mead