“They claim there is an extensive network of lobby groups and scientists involved in making the case against the IPCC and its reports. Automobile, coal and oil companies have coordinated and funded past attacks on them, the scientists say. Sometimes this has been done through Washington lobby groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), whose officers include Myron Ebell, a former climate negotiator for George W. Bush’s administration. Recently, the CEI made television advertisements arguing against climate change, one of which ended with the words: “Carbon dioxide, they call it pollution, we call it life.” CEI’s past funders include ExxonMobil, General Motors and the Ford Motor Company.”

New Scientist has an extensive article about the calculated career and character assassination that scientists who participate in the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports are subject to. As the quote above notes, these attacks are orchestrated by the energy industry and other companies who may be forced to change their businesses should climate change prove to be real. One wonders why Ford Motors wouldn’t look at millions of dollars in losses and not figure out that something out there was changing. Instead they spend money on lobbyists to cover up climate change?
Go figure.

The recently released UK government report compiled by respected economist Sir Nicholas Stern (summary here) shows quite compellingly that ignoring climate change or even intentionally suppressing references to it, is going to cost us big time. He projects worldwide economic conditions worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, driven by widespread drought, the spread of disease and damage to coastal areas from rising ocean levels, all in the next 20-40 years.
Tracking the news on climate change and warming, as I do daily, gets increasingly alarming, especially as our (US) interest in doing anything about it seems to wax and wane with the price of gasoline. I am wondering why Al Gore doesn’t broadcast his film, An Inconvenient Truth, on PBS and freely distribute DVDs to schools. It would serve two valuable purposes: raise the alarm and put Gore into the spotlight as I believe we need a President who will make this issue the focus of their presidency- unlike this idiotic debacle in Iraq.

With Dennis Hastert in the news over reports that he apparently was willing to cover up alledged child abuse activity for the purposes of political expediency (saving a ’safe’ seat for a Rep with big fund raising abilities), I was reminded of an incident that took place a few months ago. I was eating a late dinner in a local restaurant when the staff began whispering that Hastert was on his way in for dinner. For Rochester this was a celebrity-sighting even though most of them didn’t really know who, exactly, he was.

Minutes later five huge black SUVs rolled up and crew of stocky guys without necks in black suits came in and surveilled the place. They took up places around the bar and then Hastert came in with a group of the most literally ‘fat cats’ I’ve ever seen- big white guys in suits. The picture associated with this post is very complimentary- this guy does not look healthy and he obviously hasn’t walked more than a few feet in years. They had dinner and left.

I was left wondering a few things: Do they drive all those SUVs to every place he goes? Does a guy with that much protection have any idea what ordinary Americans are concerned about? Obviously not, based on this week’s revelations.

What I saw is a man addicted to power.

These are the people telling you that global warming is a myth and climate change is not our problem.

Throw the bums out.

There have been rumors going around that the Bush administration is going to do a turnabout in their policies on global warming. Not surprisingly this was denied yesterday while they reiterated their belief that ethanol is the answer. This is not an energy independence policy- ethanol is the route the oil companies want us to take:
- Ethanol based on plant material is extremely dependent on fossil fuels for its production, requiring oil for farm equipment and the production of fertilizers
- An ethanol economy would require the exact same distribution model as gas, keeping the oil companies firmly in control of their cash cow
- Very few cars burn ethanol and it is extremely corrosive, creating all kinds of problems with delivery and usage, not to mention the potential for environmental damage
The conversion of farms to grow plant materials for fuel will have a major impact on food production worldwide. Currently it is very inefficient to grow plant material for ethanol production and we will see there being a choice, in the new future, between feeding the world’s poor and driving.
What we are not hearing from Bush is any conservation requirements whatsoever. If we required automakers to build 50MPG cars in two years, which they can easily do, we wouldn’t need this ill-conceived ethanol boondoggle (which, BTW, we are paying for via farm subsidies).