SansPretense

Sometimes, I just have to wonder about those journalism degrees universities hand out. This afternoon, Drudge linked to an Associated Press story that was on CBS News’ website claiming that earthquakes are getting more powerful due to global warming. I will not quote from the AP story because AP has decided they’re going to be douches towards bloggers. Whatever. However, I will quote from the MSNBC version of the story since I don’t see an AP tag on them (though it appears almost identical):

MT BEST, AUSTRALIA - New research compiled by Australian scientist Dr Tom Chalko shows that global seismic activity on Earth is now five times more energetic than it was just 20 years ago.

The research proves that destructive ability of earthquakes on Earth increases alarmingly fast and that this trend is set to continue, unless the problem of “global warming” is comprehensively and urgently addressed.
…

The article goes on to explain how if we don’t get global warming under control the Earth is going to shake us all to death, or something (paraphrasing), quoting solely Chalko and his work. I’ll leave the part where I explain why physically this is crackpot science and focus on the great journalism aspects of the article. At NO POINT does it say in the CBS article where Chalko is employed or what field he’s in or where his work was published. So I googled Tom Chalko and got links to several sites with his name on them, but I thought it surely had to be a different Chalko (because it’s SUCH a common name). Then I found the MSNBC article, which did a better job than the AP/CBS article in explaining at the end of the article:

For further information please read Dr Chalko’s scientific article published at NU Journal of Discovery. http://nujournal.net/EarthquakeEnergyRise.pdf

Dr Tom Chalko, MSc, PhD, former Melbourne University academic (between 1982-2001) is Head of Geophysics Division at Scientific Engineering Research, Mt Best, Australia.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=782087

Contact:
Dr Tom Chalko
Scientific Engineering Research
ph (+61 3) 5681 6361
email Email Contact
© MarketWire 2008

Some things stand out. First, I’ve never heard of NU Journal of Discovery, and I have never heard of a reputable, peer reviewed…(more after the fold) journal, that links directly to the PDF titled in such a simplistic way. So I click on the PDF and it’s obviously not a professionally made journal article, and hacking the URL shows that NU Journal has a lot of publications from only one author: Dr. Chalko, who also happens to be one of the editors of the “journal.” And by the way, it’s NOT a professionally done website. The publisher of the journal is Natural University, which is NOT a real university, and shares the same logo as the journal. The logo, by the way, appears to have some physics equations that look similar to Maxwell Equations, but with some extra terms that I don’t recognize. However, the speed of light equals infinity on top and zero on bottom with the Earth inbetween is a clear indicator of crackpot science. Scanning the titles of Chalko’s work shows that the crackpot part is definitely true.

Second red flag: He’s no longer associated with Melbourne University as of 2001. Instead he’s running a division at “Scientific Engineering Research” (website found via a google search). Now going to the website shows that it is definitely HIS website/company. It even has his picture on the front page. Again, I’m not going to address why his work is crackpot science (Auras? Come on, do I really have to explain this? If you’d like me to, please leave a comment), I’m just pointing out the lack of journalistic oversight.

And by the way, my initial google search with all the sites that I dismissed as another Chalko? Here they are:
The Freedom of Choice (advertising Chalko’s book)
Thiaoouba.com (WTF?)
Bioresonant.com (also advertising his book about Auras)
SelfHealing.net (more auras)

SAME GUY.

This guy is NOT a scientist. He’s a crackpot. He’s certainly not a reputable scientist that ANY mainstream journalist or news site should EVER quote, link to, or take seriously. Somebody, and probably more than one, needs to be fired for not doing their jobs. How does something like this get by those guys? Has their desperation for news stories really gone that far? More than likely, I think, someone’s left-leaning, evironmentalism got the better of them and they took this doomsday idiot’s word that he was a reputable scientist and quoted him because he said what they wanted to hear.

Now, let’s look at the science. Global Warming theory (whether you believe it or not) states that more heat is getting trapped between the ground and the upper atmosphere due to green house gases. The model predicts a rise in temperature of the air of around 1 degree (give or take). At no point, does it predict a significant increase in the core temperature of the much more massive (compared to the atmosphere) Earth. Yea, surface temperatures rise, but not enough to trickle down and cause a significant increase in earthquake energy. There’s just not enough energy being absorbed and trapped for us to significanly raise the the temperature of the inner Earth. I’m not going to bother with the calculations. It’s just unreasonable. This article should never have made it to the presses. Someone with half a brain should’ve questioned the source, but someone should’ve asked for a second opinion. They didn’t. I wonder if Chalko wrote the article and sent it to someone who was foolish enough to post it?

And get this: in 2001, Chalko wrote an article theorizing that the “greenhouse effect” can actually cause a “meltdown condition” due to the nuclear reactions heating the inside of the earth. This could, he predicts, cause the planet to EXPLODE. Nevermind that the Earth was a LOT warmer in the past than it is today and didn’t explode - at least as far as I can tell, but what do I know? Crackpot.

Seriously, someone needs to be FIRED. I want this story retracted, and AP, CBS, and MSNBS (and Market Watch?), but any chance of that?

I sure hope some other bloggers run with this. This is quite an outrage. It offends my scientific sensibilities to the deepest levels, but as a somewhat intelligent and informed reader of the news, it’s quite an insult. What do we pay these journalists for again?

Updated: According to Climate Donkey / Climate Audit, Chalko’s findings simply aren’t true. Earthquakes have NOT been more intense since 1990; they may even have decreased.

Update 2: Other bloggers have picked on on this bit of nonsense, too, e.g., here. Back in Dec 2007, another Nashville blogger noticed Chalko’s exploding Earth theory. Amazingly, the man even made news back in 2005 on Treehugger.com.

Update 3: Just wanted to say thank you to D.S. Hube for the Newsbuster’s link. It is very much appreciated.