{"id":293860,"date":"2024-01-05T12:13:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T11:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293860"},"modified":"2024-01-05T12:13:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T11:13:24","slug":"bbc-claims-climate-change-is-behind-increased-lightning-deaths-in-bangladesh-but-its-utter-nonsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293860","title":{"rendered":"BBC Claims Climate Change is Behind Increased Lightning Deaths in Bangladesh \u2013 But It\u2019s Utter Nonsense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0DAVID HANSARD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Will 2024 bring any respite from the BBC\u2019s relentless climate propaganda? It doesn\u2019t look like it. As if to set the tone for the next twelve months, on New Year\u2019s Eve it published a real gem. The central claim its article makes contains a very big but easily debunked falsehood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when the evidence is sparse or non-existent, the corporation is always eager to tell us that every wildfire, flood, storm or drought is a sign that the planet is doomed and we must all submit to Net Zero. The BBC seems unconcerned that it has now racked up an ever-growing litany of examples<\/a> of climate misinformation, while it regularly accuses others of doing the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its attempt to drill into its readers the idea that we are on the brink of disaster, the BBC usually uses what its reporters think is a tried and tested method, or a combination of several. Where there is nothing more than a correlation between variables, it frames an article in a way which implies there is causation. Or it is selective with the evidence, ignoring anything that is inconvenient, including choosing a truncated period of time which suits its views, while disregarding longer-term data which would cast doubt on them. More generally, it simply emphasises some things and downplays others, guiding readers from the beginning of the article to the end along a path clearly signposted \u2018Climate Catastrophe\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, however, it went a step further, and its article is a good example of how bold (or reckless \u2013 take your pick) it is prepared to be in pushing a narrative of impending environmental calamity. The central claim it made to support its case is demonstrably untrue. It claimed<\/a> that a big increase in deaths from lightning strikes in Bangladesh is linked to climate change \u2013 the story is unambiguously headed \u2018Bangladesh sees dramatic rise in lightning deaths linked to climate change\u2019 \u2013 because in recent years there have been more thunderstorms. Yet, on the contrary, data show that in the years when deaths greatly increased, there was not an increase in thunderstorms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, of course, leaves aside the important, related question of whether more thunderstorms would have been evidence of climate change over the long-term \u2013 something the BBC and other believers in climate dogma simply assume is the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not as if the BBC is suggesting climate change may<\/em> be the cause. When the BBC says the increase in deaths is linked to climate change, it is clearly implying there is causation, not just a correlation. It also seems to be implying that climate change is probably the major cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article links to a\u00a0web page<\/a>\u00a0on the United Nations Capital Development Fund\u2019s website. No, I\u2019d never heard of it either. In hyperbolic language typical of the UN, it states there has been an increase in the frequency of thunderstorms in this part of Asia and that this is a cause of the increase in lightning strike deaths. It doesn\u2019t provide supporting evidence, but a bit of googling reveals that in Bangladesh, over the last 40 years or so, there has indeed been a rising trend in the number of thunderstorms each year.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Unfortunately for the BBC, the UN and other alarmists, who are determined to show we are on a \u201chighway to climate hell<\/a>\u201c, between 2000 and 2010, while the number of reported deaths suddenly increased and was\u00a0significantly higher<\/a>\u00a0than in all previous years, over the same period the number of thunderstorms each year did not increase but remained constant, as the authors of\u00a0this study<\/a>\u00a0state, and as can be seen in their graph, above. In fact, there were fewer storms during that period than in the early- and mid-90s, before the rise in deaths. If that wasn\u2019t enough to further embarrass the BBC and the UN, between 2011 and 2020, the number of thunderstorms\u00a0decreased<\/a>\u00a0while the number of recorded deaths began to rocket.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Despite there being no evidence that the increase in the number of deaths is caused by more thunderstorms, and therefore climate change, the BBC goes on to say that NASA and the Government of Bangladesh also say climate change is the cause. But on the page it links to on NASA\u2019s Earth Observatory website<\/a> no evidence is provided to support the claim. Instead, the Earth Observatory merely links to a page on the Anadolu Agency\u2019s website<\/a> \u2013 a state-run news agency in Turkey. Here, the assertion is repeated, and a Bangladesh Meteorological Department official is quoted, but again no evidence is provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make matters worse, other (more likely) reasons for the increase in deaths are discussed openly in the Earth Observatory\u2019s article, while the BBC only mentions one non-climate related reason, passing over it as briefly as it can, in its effort to emphasise climate change. Despite the Earth Observatory\u2019s unfounded claim about climate change as a cause, unlike the BBC it mentions what it believes are a number of other possible causes. And it links to research<\/a> where those causes are discussed in more depth. While more research is required, the consensus among those not obsessed with climate is that there are myriad contributory factors that have led to a steep rise in deaths in Bangladesh from lightning strikes. None of them are associated with climate change. The main reasons appear to be an increase in the reporting of deaths, as a result of more widespread electronic communication; an increase in the population, leading to more people \u2013 in particular agricultural workers \u2013 being vulnerable to lightning strikes<\/a>; and deforestation, especially the felling of taller trees, which previously afforded significant protection during storms. Increased mobile phone use is also considered a possible hazard during thunderstorms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC\u2019s article only briefly mentions one of these factors, suggesting planting more trees would help. But one gets the strong impression that the reporter thinks it of relatively little consequence compared with the larger problem of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increasing number of deaths in the country is tragic for all involved, but the way the BBC has spun it is bunkum, not to mention self-regarding. There is a considerable amount of evidence (and plain, common sense) to show that more deaths from lightning strikes in Bangladesh are caused by things which have nothing to do with climate change, and no evidence to show climate change is the culprit. But the BBC still brazenly insinuates that it must be down to the climate, regardless of the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC journalists \u2013 and for that matter, the UN, politicians, bureaucrats, activists and others \u2013 are of course bent on sustaining a febrile narrative about climate change. Whether, in each case, it is a result of ideology, mendacity or unthinkingly following a narrative to maintain personal reputation among peers and superiors, and for some to retain lucrative funding, is a moot point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what is clear, if the BBC\u2019s article about Bangladesh is anything to go by, is that it will stop at nothing to achieve its aims, even when it means exploiting the deaths of others. Its journalists should show some respect to the families of those who have died and also stop taking their readers for fools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Hansard blogs\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will 2024 bring any respite from the BBC\u2019s relentless climate propaganda? It doesn\u2019t look like it. As if to set the tone for the next twelve months, on New Year\u2019s Eve it published a real gem. The central claim its article makes contains a very big but easily debunked falsehood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":293869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Will 2024 bring any respite from the BBC\u2019s relentless climate propaganda? It doesn\u2019t look like it. As if to set the tone for the next twelve months, on New Year\u2019s Eve it published a real gem. 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It reveals the BBC\u2019s persistent exaggeration and false information when it comes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":411993,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411993","url_meta":{"origin":293860,"position":2},"title":"The BBC\u2019s Top 50 Pieces of Climate Misinformation \u2013 Part 2","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In\u00a0Part 1\u00a0we looked at 25 examples in the last couple of years or so of how the BBC is misinforming the public about climate change and climate-related policies. 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