Journal Article

Consensus Denied: Holy War Over Global Warming

Ewen, Alexander

1999

Overview

The institute sought to recruit a \"cadre of scientists\" and would train them in public relations. As many as 20 \"respected climate scientists\" would \"inject credible science and scientific accountability into the global climate debate, thereby raising questions about and undercutting the `prevailing scientific wisdom.'\" A team of five \"independent scientists\" would be identified, recruited and trained to participate in media outreach -- that is, radio and television talk shows -- and $600,000 was earmarked for science writers, editors and journalists. All, in the words of the institute, geared to \"maximize the impact of scientific views consistent with ours on Congress, the media and other key audiences.\" Among those corporations actively involved in drafting this plan were Exxon, Chevron and the Southern Co. The GCC is known as the \"leading voice for business and industry in the climate change debate.\" In addition to individual corporate members, the GCC includes powerful industry groups such as the American Petroleum Institute, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, the American Forest and Paper Association, the Air Transport Association, the Association of American Railroads, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Mining Association, the Society of the Plastics Industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In short, a Who's Who of American heavy industry Its philosophy has been to insist, first, that \"science -- not emotional or political reactions -- must serve as the foundation for global climate policy decisions,\" and second, that \"policy decisions must consider the economic and social impacts of alternative policy choices.\" Any solution must be equitable for all countries, and \"technology transfer\" and free trade offer the best fixes, assuming that fixes are required. Although the mission of the GCC seems reasonable on its face, it barely masks its essential agenda, which is to prevent any attempt to regulate its members or hold them responsible for global warming and its effects. Although the GCC purportedly believes that science should rule the debate on climate change, like all of the industry-sponsored media initiatives, it has vigorously attacked any science that links global warming to greenhouse gases, and promotes any view that casts doubt upon global warming. Of the three, Michaels, a climatologist from the University of Virginia, has been the most visible and his testimony and writings have been cited frequently by anti-regulatory critics of global warming accords. Michaels came to the attention of Western Fuels Association, a leading backer of ICE, in 1989, with an article he wrote in the Washington Post entitled \"The Greenhouse Climate of Fear.\" In it he expressed his opposition to what he calls \"apocalyptic environmentalism,\" which he describes as \"the most popular new religion to come along since Marxism.\" Michaels considers the issue of global warming to be driven by \"very powerful special interests\" that exploit people's fears.

• Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University
• Subject: Environment / Global warming / International relations / O'Keefe, William