Fact Checking: “Beware of Global Warming Extremists”
1. “Shoot the messenger, accuse them of being “funded by the oil industry.”
This summer at the GOP Convention in St Paul the issue of climate change will be on the table. McCain supports cap and trade, but some in the Republican Party dispute climate change.
There is ample evidence indicating the oil industry is complicit in commandeering a misinformation campaign to dispute global warming.
The ACU (The American Conservative Union), the nation's oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization is going to fight against climate change initiatives in the Republican platform this summer at the GOP Convention.
The organization’s stated purpose is to “communicate and advance the goals and principles of conservatism through one multi-issue, umbrella organization.
http://www.conservative.org/about/default.asp [1]
According to the Washington Post, “Government action to address global warming is the centerpiece of his [McCain’s] campaign. He supports a cap-and-trade emissions plan that many conservatives oppose, and he has talked about trying to reach a global-emissions agreement that includes China and India.
"It is something that we are very concerned with," said Donald J. Devine, vice chairman of the American Conservative Union, which will have a convention operation to monitor proposed changes to the platform. In past years, the ACU has produced an alternative conservative platform as a guide to those working on the real one.
Devine said he is hopeful that the environmental planks in the platform will focus on McCain's support for nuclear power plants and his willingness to revisit offshore oil and gas drilling. But he is prepared for the worst. "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/06/AR200807... [2]
Oil Industry Spent $16M to fund skeptic Groups to Create Confusion about Global Warming
The UCS, (Union of Concerned Scientists) says, “that the plain fact is the oil industry spent nearly $16 million to fund skeptic groups and create confusion about global warming according to scientists’ report documents on Exxon Mobil’s tobacco-like disinformation campaign. A full PDF report is available at the URL below.
“ExxonMobil-funded organizations consist of an overlapping collection of individuals serving as staff, board members, and scientific advisors that publish and re-publish the works of a small group of climate change contrarians. The George C. Marshall Institute, for instance, which has received $630,000 from ExxonMobil, recently touted a book edited by Patrick Michaels, a long-time climate change contrarian who is affiliated with at least 11 organizations funded by ExxonMobil. Similarly, ExxonMobil funds a number of lesser-known groups such as the Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy and Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. Both groups promote the work of several climate change contrarians, including Sallie Baliunas, an astrophysicist who is affiliated with at least nine ExxonMobil-funded groups.
Baliunas is best known for a 2003 paper alleging the climate had not changed significantly in the past millennia that was rebutted by 13 scientists who stated she had misrepresented their work in her paper. This renunciation did not stop ExxonMobil-funded groups from continuing to promote the paper. Through methods such as these, ExxonMobil has been able to amplify and prop up work that has been discredited by reputable climate scientists.
"When one looks closely, ExxonMobil's underhanded strategy is as clear and indisputable as the scientific research it's meant to discredit," said Seth Shulman, an investigative journalist who wrote the UCS report. "The paper trail shows that, to serve its corporate interests, ExxonMobil has built a vast echo chamber of seemingly independent groups with the express purpose of spreading disinformation about global warming."
"ExxonMobil has used the laudable goal of improving scientific understanding of global warming—under the guise of "sound science"—for the pernicious ends of delaying action to reduce heat-trapping emissions indefinitely. ExxonMobil also exerted unprecedented influence over U.S. policy on global warming, from successfully recommending the appointment of key personnel in the Bush administration to funding climate change deniers in Congress.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacc... [3]
Republicans Buying into the Denial Industry's Climate Skepticism
Pew Research came out with a poll in May of 2008 which revealed there’s a partisan divide on the issue of global warming.
http://people-press.org/report/417/a-deeper-partisan-divide-over-global-... [5]
ExxonSecrets Blog Funding of Denial Industry
In June of this year James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute issued the strongest warning against CEO’s of major companies, singling out Exxon and others for the continued funding of the denial industry, peddling confusion and doubt in the public. This week also saw an new poll in the UK paper, The Observer, pointing out the rise of climate skepticism, which follows an earlier poll in the US saying the same thing. The US poll, though, showed that the rise was amongst Republicans. "
Crimes against humanity?
Tue, 24 Jun 2008
"The tipping point on global warming is close, according to James Hansen, director at NASA's Goddard Institute for space studies. In his speech to congress on 23 June, Hansen has issued his strongest warning yet about the state of the climate. He focuses, at one point, on the CEO's of major companies, singling out Exxon and Peabody in particular. "In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried ...
Who's being cute, Exxon?
Tue, 10 Jun 2008
Who's being cute, Exxon? While Exxon may have dropped some groups and is starting to admit that they "divert attention" CEO Rex Tillerson reverted immediately to type in comments made to the media after the shareholder meeting. He duly trotted out the Bush/Exxon/Lee Raymond "more research" [therefore no action] line on climate, and told the Canadian Financial Post"W...
Exxon finally admits denialists cause problems
Tue, 27 May 2008
Exxon has admitted - for the first time - that the climate deniers it funds are causing problems for action on climate change. This is a first for the company which has spent, since 1998, $23 million funding the climate denial industry.�And it's official - Exxon made this statement in this year's Corporate Citizenship Report, released in time for its shareholder meeting.��The statement reads: &qu...
Read entire text at this URL:
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/exxon-... [6]
2008 Earth Impacts Linked to Human-Caused Climate Change- May 14, 2008 According to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies
“A new NASA-led study shows human-caused climate change has made an impact on a wide range of Earth's natural systems, including permafrost thawing, plants blooming earlier across Europe, and lakes declining in productivity in Africa.
Image at the URL below: Areas of significant changes to Earth systems observed in North America over the last 20 years, represented by various symbols, are linked with areas of rising temperatures, noted in red. Credit: NASA (Larger image)
Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science in New York and scientists at 10 other institutions have linked physical and biological impacts since 1970 with rises in temperatures during that period. The study, to be published May 15 in the journal Nature, concludes human-caused warming is resulting in a broad range of impacts across the globe.
"This is the first study to link global temperature data sets, climate model results, and observed changes in a broad range of physical and biological systems to show the link between humans, climate, and impacts," said Rosenzweig, lead author of the study.
Rosenzweig and colleagues also found the link between human-caused climate change and observed impacts on Earth holds true at the scale of individual continents, particularly in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Image at the URL below: When permafrost melts, the layer of loose soil deepens and trees lose their foundations and tip over. Similar impacts across Earth are likely due to human-caused climate change. Credit: Jon Ranson
To arrive at the link, the authors built and analyzed a database of more than 29,000 data series pertaining to observed impacts on Earth's natural systems. The data were collected from about 80 studies, each with at least 20 years of records between 1970 and 2004.
Observed impacts included changes to physical systems, such as glaciers shrinking, permafrost melting, and lakes and rivers warming. Biological systems also were impacted in a variety of ways, such as leaves unfolding and flowers blooming earlier in the spring, birds arriving earlier during migration periods, and plant and animal species moving toward Earth's poles and higher in elevation. In aquatic environments such as oceans, lakes, and rivers, plankton and fish are shifting from cold-adapted to warm-adapted communities.
The team conducted a "joint attribution" study. They showed that at the global scale, about 90 percent of observed changes in diverse physical and biological systems are consistent with warming. Other driving forces, such as land use change from forest to agriculture, were ruled out as having significant influence on the observed impacts.
Image at the URL below: Impacts from warming are evident in satellite images showing that lakes in Siberia disappearing as the permafrost thaws and lake water drains deeper into the ground. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory. (Larger image)
Next, the scientists conducted statistical tests and found the spatial patterns of observed impacts closely match temperature trends across the globe, to a degree beyond what can be attributed to natural variability. The team concluded observed global-scale impacts are very likely because of human-caused warming.
"Humans are influencing climate through increasing greenhouse gas emissions," Rosenzweig said. "The warming is causing impacts on physical and biological systems that are now attributable at the global scale and in North America, Europe, and Asia."
On some continents, including Africa, South America, and Australia, documentation of observed changes in physical and biological systems is still sparse despite warming trends attributable to human causes. The authors concluded environmental systems on these continents need additional research, especially in tropical and subtropical areas where there is a lack of impact data and published studies.”
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20080514/ [7]