Paying for the science they want: ExxonMobile and the global climate change 'hoax'

by Plutonium Page

"[The threat of catastrophic global warming is the] greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." 

                                                                    -- Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla), Senate Floor Statement

Melting Antarctic, Arctic,  and Himalayan glaciers.  Villages are being engulfed by the sea.  The evidence of global climate changes is piling up... but what do a few graphs and studies mean?  It's all a "hoax", right?

And that's exactly what ExxonMobile wants you to believe.  They'll even pay for it.

The story's below the fold.

On January 28, 2005, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), a rightwing think tank, held a "Science Policy in the 21st Century" event.  The guest speaker was novelist Michael Crichton, who discussed his new book, State of Fear.

From the New York Times review:

In Mr. Crichton's ham-handed novel, the dangers of global warming are nothing but a lot of hype: scare scenarios, promoted by shameless environmentalists eager to use bad science to raise money and draw attention to their cause.

It's the perfect propaganda tool for Inhofe and the public policy groups, including AEI, to which ExxonMobile has given money to perpetuate the talking point that there is thin evidence for global warming.

An article in the May/June issue of Mother Jones tells all:

There is overwhelming scientific consensus that greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are causing global average temperatures to rise. Conservative think tanks are trying to undermine this conclusion with a disinformation campaign employing “reports” designed to look like a counterbalance to peer-reviewed studies, skeptic propaganda masquerading as journalism, and events like the AEI luncheon that Crichton addressed. The think tanks provide both intellectual cover for those who reject what the best science currently tells us, and ammunition for conservative policymakers like Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who calls global warming “a hoax.”

This concerted effort reflects the shared convictions of free-market, and thus antiregulatory, conservatives. But there’s another factor at play. In addition to being supported by like-minded individuals and ideologically sympathetic foundations, these groups are funded by ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company. Mother Jones has tallied some 40 ExxonMobil-funded organizations that either have sought to undermine mainstream scientific findings on global climate change or have maintained affiliations with a small group of “skeptic” scientists who continue to do so. Beyond think tanks, the count also includes quasi-journalistic outlets like Tech CentralStation.com (a website providing “news, analysis, research, and commentary” that received $95,000 from ExxonMobil in 2003), a FoxNews.com columnist, and even religious and civil rights groups. In total, these organizations received more than $8 million between 2000 and 2003 (the last year for which records are available; all figures below are for that range unless otherwise noted). ExxonMobil chairman and CEO Lee Raymond serves as vice chairman of the board of trustees for the AEI, which received $960,000 in funding from ExxonMobil.

(If you have any doubt that AEI is a conservative think tank, read this article and this article written by Robert P. George of AEI.  Also, check out their Scholars and Fellows, who include Richard Perle and Newt Gingrich.)

The Mother Jones article discusses Crichton's accusation that environmentalists are politicizing global climate change, and points out the hypocrisy of that accusation.  Note Crichton's outrageous analogy:

During the question-and-answer period following his speech, Crichton drew an analogy between believers in global warming and Nazi eugenicists. “Auschwitz exists because of politicized science,” Crichton asserted, to gasps from some in the crowd. There was no acknowledgment that the AEI event was part of an attempt to do just that: politicize science. The audience at hand was certainly full of partisans. Listening attentively was Myron Ebell, a man recently censured by the British House of Commons for “unfounded and insulting criticism of Sir David King, the Government’s Chief Scientist.” Ebell is the global warming and international policy director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which has received a whopping $1,380,000 from ExxonMobil.

We're used to the more obvious rightwing propaganda about the Iraq war, terrorism, and morality.  Oil company donations to GOP campaigns is also old news.

However, this article points out something more subtle, and rather alarming, at least to a scientist like me: the politicization of pseudo-science.  It's propaganda, and it's dangerous.

Comments

[Blue the Wild Dog]

Chris Mooney, the author of the Mother Jones article, has a *lot* more stuff about the right-wing assault on science at his blog. Try, for example, googling this -

"Plan B" site:www.chriscmooney.com

[Plutonium Page]

Blue the Wild Dog:

Thanks so much! I've been digging around the internets for GOP quasi-science stuff, and that link helps a lot.

Also, he's written a book that's supposed to be out in September. It looks pretty interesting:

The Republican War on Science

[Blue the Wild Dog]

If you haven't seen it, you might also want to check out Tim Lambert's blog. He's most famous for exposing John Lott as a fraud, but he has some good stuff on global warming, particularly McKitrick. This item will make you guffaw.

[DHinMI]

The New Yorker is in the midst of publishing a three-part series by Elizabeth Kolbert on "the reality of climate change." First installment is here.

[Blue the Wild Dog]

Oh, and thanks for the link to the book! Mooney won't lack for material, that's for sure.

[BoulderDuck]

Good Lord.

I was thinking that the Climate Change deniers had jumped the shark, as they say, when Tech Central Station 'published' some nonsense a year or so ago about how there is no such thing as average temperature. Pure physical baloney. (I may have learned about this from Chris Mooney's blog!) Afraid to leave a shark unjumped, they hire Crichton to invoke Godwin's law.

Thanks for a good link, Page. Knowing how politics works, especially in the circles that Inhofe travels in, we should be glad to see this - it's similar to seeing Bush trotting out the 8-year old on the Bamboozlepalooza tour. It means that the dead-enders are running out the string. They don't know it, but literally everyone to the left of McCain knows it. Now, we are not going to see anything good happen for a while, obviously. But we are seeing the common wisdom shift. There is not much doubt about that.

And folks, you do have a choice when you buy gas. I try to buy it from BP Amoco, because I think they are actually trying. But I make a much bigger deal about NOT buying gasoline from Exxon Mobil. It's the right thing to do.

[emptywheel]

I'll second BoulderDuck's assertion that there IS a difference between gas companies. I'm suspicious of what BP has done with it's TX plant (with the recurring accidents), but at least 10 years ago there was a significant difference between BP's management ability and interest in doing things right and that of the biggest American companies (ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil now; also back then Amoco at least followed the intent of safety and environmental laws, whereas the big companies would just assume a lawsuit settlement was cheaper than actually fixing things).

I've found myself having recurrent discussions with folks in China about this. They just can't fathom why a country would squelch good science like this.

[Oskar Shapley]

I'm all for global warming research but the 'sinking village' example may be wrong evidence.

A simpler explanation may be that the tectonic plate is sinking/relocating. Decades ago there was a huge earthquake in Alaska, which has risen some parts of the land, and lowered others. The same process can be happening in Shishmaref.

P.S. For me, melting glaciers are proof enough for global warming. My aim here is to warn you against using arguments which can be easily refuted by the warming deniers.

[ROBIN WHITTAKER]

If one goes back to thirteenth century Europe, there was a period of warming. One can see the remains of farms above the current cultivation line for instance on Cornish mountains near Camelford. There was a series of floods in North Friesland and the Netherlands. If one goes to Niebull today, one can get cards showing all the villages ubder the sea that existed before 1270. Interestingly this was a period when about half of Europe's forests were cleared and the Asians planted extensive methane producing paddy fields. I wonder if there was some connection? Or, was it all down to solar fluctuations?

[ROBIN WHITTAKER]

If one goes back to thirteenth century Europe, there was a period of warming. One can see the remains of farms above the current cultivation line for instance on Cornish mountains near Camelford. There was a series of floods in North Friesland and the Netherlands. If one goes to Niebull today, one can get cards showing all the villages ubder the sea that existed before 1270. Interestingly this was a period when about half of Europe's forests were cleared and the Asians planted extensive methane producing paddy fields. I wonder if there was some connection? Or, was it all down to solar fluctuations?

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