Global Warming Contrarians ( "confusionists" ) Exposed ... (article & video )

[RedEarth]

Global Warming Contrarians Exposed - Must See Free Video

By Denny Burbeck

12 February, 2008
Countercurrents.org

An extremely informative, in-depth account of four of the major global warming "confusionists" is available free-online.

Naomi Oreskes of the University of California, San Diego Science Studies Program is currently giving a lecture about the people at the center of the denialist camp. It is exceptionally well researched back to the first scientists to raise a red flag about the rising CO2, and who have been proven to be correct with alarming accuracy in their projections of climate change.

She very powerfully dismantles the idea that "nobody could have predicted what we now know to be true". The answer to that is: "Not only could they have, but they did".

But people weren't very concerned in the 50's and 60's, seeing the problem as one far off in the future.

After making an indisputable account of the scientific community's knowledge before the eighties, she examines the people who have seemed to ignore what was known, and more importantly, why they continue to this day to argue that 'the debate is not over'. This is the purpose of the lecture and video as the title is "The American Denial of Global Warming".

"We think that the scientists are still arguing about it, because this is what we have been repeatedly told" (by the press) states Oreskes. Journalists feel a need to give balance to their work and rightfully so. But in the case of a handful of deniers against a couple thousand scientists, the need to hear from the very few is ridiculous and, as she explains, harmful.

The famed republican strategist who gave us such wonderful phrases as "The Clear Skies Initiative", "No Child Left Behind", "Healthy Forests Initiative" (which have all been proven to be spin) Frank Luntz wrote "...you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue". Mr. Luntz has since given up that idea, but other republicans, sadly, have not, Oreskes says.

She uncovers revealing documents and some humorous facts about the deniers and their tactics. "The plan was never to debate fellow scientists in the halls of science, but rather in the mass media", says Oreskes, with the main goal to confuse the public instead of proving a scientific fact.

It was the same tactic for confusing the public about the link between cancer and cigarettes, and ......... not surprisingly ........ it is some of the same people doing it now on the CO2 issue.

I highly recommend this video. It very clearly explains a situation that is causing much harm to the American public's understanding of a very dangerous situation.


The American Denial of Global Warming, 12/12/07, free on-line, 58 min.
http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.asp?showID=13459


http://www.countercurrents.org/burbeck120208.htm

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. This video was promoted on this board a while back

I watched it on YouTube at the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T4UF_Rmlio

I also recommend it, although you probably won't convince anyone with it who isn't already convinced.

[Speck Tater]

2. K&R Wow! A reak eye-opener. NT

[kristopher]

3. Thank you, and here's another

Have you ever seen this from the Union of Concerned Scientists?

ExxonMobil’s Tobacco-like Disinformation Campaign on Global Warming Science
UCS report finds that the oil company spent nearly $16 million to fund skeptic groups, create confusion

A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists offers the most comprehensive documentation to date of how ExxonMobil has adopted the tobacco industry's disinformation tactics, as well as some of the same organizations and personnel, to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue. According to the report, ExxonMobil has funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science.

Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to "Manufacture Uncertainty" on Climate Change details how the oil company, like the tobacco industry in previous decades, has

* raised doubts about even the most indisputable scientific evidence
* funded an array of front organizations to create the appearance of a broad platform for a tight-knit group of vocal climate change contrarians who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings
* attempted to portray its opposition to action as a positive quest for "sound science" rather than business self-interest
* used its access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming

Available for download at:
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/exxonmobil-smoke-mirrors-hot.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Or...

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1653

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Administration Oversight, Environment, Politics and Science

Committee Report: White House Engaged in Systematic Effort to Manipulate Climate Change Science

For the past 16 months, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating allegations of political interference with government climate change science under the Bush Administration. During the course of this investigation, the Committee obtained over 27,000 pages of documents from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Commerce Department, held two investigative hearings, and deposed or interviewed key officials. Much of the information made available to the Committee has never been publicly disclosed.

This report presents the findings of the Committee’s investigation. The evidence before the Committee leads to one inescapable conclusion: the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming.

In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute developed an internal “Communications Action Plan” that stated: “Victory will be achieved when … average citizens ‘understand’ uncertainties in climate science … (and) recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the ‘conventional wisdom.’” The Bush Administration has acted as if the oil industry’s communications plan were its mission statement. White House officials and political appointees in the agencies censored congressional testimony on the causes and impacts of global warming, controlled media access to government climate scientists, and edited federal scientific reports to inject unwarranted uncertainty into discussions of climate change and to minimize the threat to the environment and the economy.

The White House Censored Climate Change Scientists

The White House exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues. It was standard practice for media requests to speak with federal scientists on climate change matters to be sent to CEQ for White House approval. By controlling which government scientists could respond to media inquiries, the White House suppressed dissemination of scientific views that could conflict with Administration policies. The White House also edited congressional testimony regarding the science of climate change.

...

(Extensive documentation available at the site.)