Statistician Nate Silver acknowledged to Jon Stewart Thursday night that a climate change piece on his new site FiveThirtyEight was facing some serious backlash.
The data-driven news site launched just over a week ago, and, as Stewart put it: "You are taking a rash of sh*t in a week and a half like nobody I've seen in a long time."
The climate story, by Roger Pielke Jr., argues that natural disasters are costing more, but not due to climate change. Numerous scientists quickly refuted points from the article.
Climate scientist John P. Abraham suggested that "Pielke has a history of climate claims which have been criticized by scientists." Abraham went on to argue that "a review of the evidence shows that [Pielke's] view is not supported by much of the scientific literature."
A UN panel recently warned that burning fossil fuels is contributing to an increase in greenhouse gases, which is changing the Earth's climate. Their reports suggest threats posed by climate change are immediate and have already been observed.
The criticism against Pielke's climate change piece hasn't gone unnoticed. Silver acknowledged to Stewart that the article is "a piece where we did have a lot of concern from our readers. We don't pay much attention to what media critics say, but that was a piece where we had, you know, 80% of our commentators weigh in negatively, so we're commissioning a rebuttal for that piece."
Silver added that the criticism against his staff is "like someone's throwing apples at your kids or something."
Watch an extended interview with Silver below:
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