Topic: CNSNews.com
Ryan Kierman misleads in a July 1 CNSNews article, under the headline "Obama: 'Planet Will Boil Over' If Young Africans Are Allowed Cars, Air-Conditioning, Big Houses":
President Barack Obama said at a town hall event in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday that unless we find new way of producing energy "the planet will boil over" if people in Africa are allowed to attain air conditioning, automobiles and big houses.
Omitted from that lead paragraph is the proper context for Obama's statement, which Kierman waits until the second paragraph to include (emphasis added):
“Ultimately, if you think about all the youth that everybody has mentioned here in Africa, if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got air conditioning, and everybody has got a big house, well, the planet will boil over -- unless we find new ways of producing energy.”
Kierman goes on to attack Obama for claiming that global warming constitutes “the biggest challenge we have environmentally,” asserting that "the President’s statements do not reflect statistics released by the United Nations" because air and water pollution kill more people. But Kierman fails to mention that addressing climate change by cutting carbon pollution will help solve those other problems as well:
Building on efforts underway in states and communities across the country, the President's plan cuts carbon pollution that causes climate change and threatens public health. Today, we have limits in place for arsenic, mercury and lead, but we let power plants release as much carbon pollution as they want - pollution that is contributing to higher rates of asthma attacks and more frequent and severe floods and heat waves.
Cutting carbon pollution will help keep our air and water clean and protect our kids. The President's plan will also spark innovation across a wide variety of energy technologies, resulting in cleaner forms of American- made energy and cutting our dependence on foreign oil. Combined with the President's other actions to increase the efficiency of our cars and household appliances, the President's plan will help American families cut energy waste, lowering their gas and utility bills. In addition, the plan steps up our global efforts to lead on climate change and invests to strengthen our roads, bridges, and shorelines so we can better protect people's homes, businesses, and way of life from severe weather.
Kierman's goal with this article was not to tell the truth but to attack Obama, which probably makes him an ideal CNS reporter.