WUWT more selective translations

Mike says: November 19, 2010 at 2:53 pm

The quote allegedly from Edenhofer at the top of the article is fake. It has been ‘massaged’ if you will.
“Climate policy has almost nothing to do anymore with environmental protection, says the German economist and IPCC official Ottmar Edenhofer. The next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world’s resources will be negotiated. – Ottmar Edenhofer”

But also the headline is not a quote from an IPCC official. It does not appear in the interview. Edenhofer did not say it. It is someone else’s take or spin on what he said. This is about learning how to read critically. This means reading past the headline for a start.

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Mike says:November 18, 2010 at 6:34 pm
The lead quote is fake. Read the interview carefully – though I’d be leery of the translation too. They pasted together some of Edenhofer’s remarks out of context and added a few words out of thin air. This is a propaganda trick. The headline looks like a quote and frames how you read the interview. In fact many readers won’t even read the whole interview but will come away with a false impression. Some of you above have already taken the fake quote and put quotation marks around it. This will spread to other blogs and even op-ed pieces. This is how the propaganda mill works. You are seeing happen. Pay attention to the man behind the curtain!

REPLY: The original headline:
Klimapolitik verteilt das Weltvermögen neu
The online translation:
Climate policy distributes the world’s new wealth.
Seems OK to me. – Anthony
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Mike says: November 19, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Let’s look at the German:

«Klimapolitik verteilt das Weltvermögen neu»
Klimaschutz hat mit Umweltschutz kaum mehr etwas zu tun, sagt der Ökonom Ottmar Edenhofer. Der nächste Weltklimagipfel in Cancún sei eigentlich ein Wirtschaftsgipfel, bei dem es um die Verteilung der Ressourcen gehe. Interview: Bernhard Pötter

And compare with:
IPCC Official: “Climate Policy Is Redistributing The World’s Wealth”
Climate policy has almost nothing to do anymore with environmental protection, says the German economist and IPCC official Ottmar Edenhofer. The next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world’s resources will be negotiated. – Ottmar Edenhofer
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In the original, the headline is not directly attributed to anyone. GWPF added the “IPCC Official:” as though this was direct quote. It is not. “However, it looks like you added the “– Ottmar Edenhofer”. That’s not on the GWPF version. Probably that was an honest mistake. Only you know.

The German says “Klimapolitik” which is “Climate politics” not “Climate policy.” Climate politics is not, in most of the world, about debating the science – like here. It is about solving the problem. And “Klimaschutz” means “Climate protection” not “Climate policy.” These are subtle differences but they affect the tone. That last sentence should read: “The next world climate summit in Cancún will actually be an economic summit concerning the distribution of the resources. ”

It is true that purpose of the Cancun summit is not to debate the science. They will assume the overwhelming majority of scientists are correct – as they should – and instead discuss economic issues like who should pay for adaptation measures in poorer countries. And if there is a price on carbon then the net wealth of coal and oil reserves will decrease and the value of nuclear power plants with incraese. These are important matters on which reasonable people can disagree (and I’m sure will). But, saying the purpose of the summit is to redistribute the world’s wealth is putting a great deal of right leaning spin on it.

The interview itself was interesting a worth reading. I do wish I had the time to check the entire translation for accuracy and “interpretative license.”
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BTW: It you want to read something interesting check out the December issue of The Atlantic.

Dirty Coal, Clean Future
To environmentalists, “clean coal” is an insulting oxymoron. But for now, the only way to meet the world’s energy needs, and to arrest climate change before it produces irreversible cataclysm, is to use coal—dirty, sooty, toxic coal—in more-sustainable ways. The good news is that new technologies are making this possible. China is now the leader in this area, the Google and Intel of the energy world. If we are serious about global warming, America needs to work with China to build a greener future on a foundation of coal. Otherwise, the clean-energy revolution will leave us behind, with grave costs for the world’s climate and our economy.
By James Fallow
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/dirty-coal-clean-future/8307/