[slipperybeluga]

This garbage article is a great example of why NPR taxpayer funding should never be restored. Ridiculous, unsubstantiated claim here. No evidence whatsoever of any link to climate change is presented. These mosquitoes came via ship and are thus like any other invasive species. Mosquitoes flourish in Siberia, Greenland, Canada, and the northernmost parts of Alaska, all places hundreds of miles north of the Arctic circle.

[technothrasher]

If you read the source article, it mentions in passing at the end that Iceland in general has seen more insects lately, partly due to climate change. It doesn't connect the mosquitos themselves to climate change. But the NPR article does indeed incorrectly connect the two. "taxpayer funding should never be restored" seems a bit of a histrionic reaction to this sloppy reporting, however.

[lukas099]

There’s probably been a constant flow of mosquitoes to Iceland via trade for decades, but they weren’t able to establish before. You’re right though, the article could have done better showing the link.

[sigmar]

They're just reporting what the institute said. You sound very angry.

>The institute noted that the mosquitoes were one of a number of new insect species discovered in Iceland in recent years due to a warming climate and the growth of international transportation.

[johnnienaked]

It's normal to get angry at lies and propaganda

[slater]

So you're a climate change denier, or what?

[johnnienaked]

That's what you read out of my comment?

In short, no. But this article is absolutely not evidence of it.

[slater]

Not sure what to read out of your comment, hence the question. You just appear super-angry at "lies and propaganda", which the linked article is neither/nor.

[johnnienaked]

Well here's one way to think about it.

When the media or even scientists stretch out facts to support a thesis they don't actually support, they directly undermine the believability of that thesis to the general public. In a world cooking itself, that's probably not the greatest strategy. They do it so often it sometimes makes me wonder if that's not the true intent.

[jghn]

Well obviously they didn’t spontaneously manifest there and were imported somehow. But perhaps they are gaining a foothold know when they might lot have 100 years ago?

[ynab6]

Like Jesus before him: they hated him, for he told them the truth.

[alexandre_m]

Who needs evidence when there’s a good narrative to sell? The addicted crowd will clap on cue.

[CursedSilicon]

It's saddening that a community as self-assured of its own intellect as HackerNews would still be debating Climate Change

I guess you both grew up really enjoying that one episode of South Park and just can't let go?

[alexandre_m]

What’s more saddening is seeing intellectually curious people who can’t recognize their own biases.

It’s troubling how many accept this half-baked story without questioning the shaky correlations it draws.

It’s similar to what happened when the Maui wildfire started, many people, and more worryingly, journalists, were quick to blame climate change in their initial reports. That narrative turned out to be inaccurate.

In fact, scientific studies (including those published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire) show that most wildfires are actually caused by human activity. But people love sharing headlines that reinforce their existing biases, even when the facts tell a different story.

[laichzeit0]

There were similar such comments during Covid where people were saddened that people were still debating whether it was a lab-leak or not. Dogmatism, on which ever side, unless maybe in a field like mathematics which is entirely deductive, is not good.

[hammock]

Which episode is that?

[WickyNilliams]

Manbearpig I assume