The New York Times - A Climate Lie Every New York Minute
Variances in elocution erupted after the American Revolutionary War and somewhat the War of 1812, with the United States declaring and maintaining full independence from Britain while Canada remained connected. Thus, British English, in both manner, style, and spelling, is still exercised in Canada.
After conversations with Canadian friends, my wife claims I acquire some Canadian nuances in my voice. I don’t categorize them as having a Canadian accent; it’s just that certain words, as I explain above, have a more varied enunciation in Canada than they do in the United States. Other people say I must come from Minnesota, where the manner of speech resembles that of Canada. One Montana woman went so far as to emphatically say, “You ain’t from around here, are you, boy!”
With its numerous lakes, geologically ancient rock outcroppings, and dense evergreen forests, with smaller stands of other species of deciduous trees, the topography of Minnesota, especially its northern sector, is comparable to its northern Canadian neighbors in Northwestern Ontario and the eastern edge of Southern Manitoba. Southern Minnesota, on the other hand, is generally flat, open prairie with some gently rolling areas.
During the warmer periods of later spring, summer, and early fall, the dense forests of Northern Minnesota are prone to wildfires. In May of 2025, three such wildfires were:
Camp House Fire: Started on May 11, 2025, near Brimson;
Jenkins Creek Fire: Started on May 12, 2025, near Hoyt Lakes, and,
Munger Shaw Fire: Started on May 12, 2025, near Cotton.
All of these fires were in relatively close proximity, north of Duluth, Minnesota, the farthest from that city being Hoyt Lake at 50 miles distant, and were all human-caused.
The climate campaigning New York Times (NYT) took this opportunity to write, Minnesota as a Refuge From Climate Change? Three Wildfires Show Otherwise” subtitled, “Wildfires are common in the state. But scientists say this week’s damaging blazes in a northeastern region are a sign of more severe effects from a warming planet.”
They use the plural of scientist rather loosely identifying perhaps one, Lee Frelich, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology, who said, “The region’s fire season has two peaks, one in mid-May and another larger one in August and September” to which I say with great sarcasm, “I suppose May 11th to the 12th is long before mid-May.”
The NYT admitted that “The enormous boreal forests that extend across Canada and into northern Minnesota are designed to burn, scientists say. The second deadliest fire in U.S. history was in 1918 in this very part of Minnesota, and is believed to have killed more than 1,000 people”.
Before human intervention, which includes vast improvements in combating wildfires, slashing, scarification, and hand-planting or aerial seeding, fire was nature’s way of forest regeneration. As I write in A Brief Sunday Statement, “There are more trees in all of North America than prior to the story of Columbus’ reported discovery of the continent in the year 1492. This is all because now forest fires or wildfires are extinguished and unlike in a time prior to Columbus, wildfires would continue until the arrival of winter. Cut forests are also replanted with ‘private’ companies doing the vast share of this work.”
Another major issue, as was the case here, there were no or fewer careless people to cause these fires – or as many of the fires in California, the violent act of arson.
In this case, using data, graphical illustrations, and common sense rationale, “Climate Realism” challenges the usual climate change advocacy of the New York Times.
The New York Times further declares that this area of Minnesota is or has been a “Refuge From Climate Change.” I took that deceptive assertion to task in the article “Idealism and Betrayal”.
