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{{Main|Global warming controversy}}
{{Main|Global warming controversy}}


The [[scientific opinion on climate change]] is that human activity is causing [[global warming]]. [[Politics of global warming|Political]], [[Economics of global warming|economic]], and [[global warming controversy|public debate]] continues regarding the reality and extent of global warming and what actions to take in response. Some conservative think tanks and business groups have engaged in "denial" of the science of climate change since the 1990s.<ref name="requiem">{{cite book |title=Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change |pages=pp. 103–105 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YRkkifKboIYC&pg=105 |author=Clive Hamilton |isbn=1742372104 |year=2010 |publisher=Allen & Unwin}}</ref>
The current [[scientific opinion on climate change]] is that human activity is contributing to [[global warming]]. [[Politics of global warming|Political]], [[Economics of global warming|economic]], and [[global warming controversy|public debate]] continues regarding the reality and extent of global warming and what actions to take in response. Many skeptics disagree with the science and even doubt whether there really is a [[climate change consensus]]. Claims that business groups have engaged in "denial" of the current science on climate change have been discussed since at least 2000.<ref name= "ScotsmanGreenlight">{{cite web | title=Industry’s green light for change | url=http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/evening-news-edinburgh-scotland/mi_7832/is_2000_Nov_10/industrys-green-light-change/ai_n32831950/ | first=Bill | last=Main | publisher=Evening News (Edinburgh, Scotland) | date=2000-11-10 | accessdate=2009-12-28 }}</ref>

In his book, ''Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change'', [[Clive Hamilton]] documents the origins of climate change denial in the United States:<ref name="requiem"/>

{{cquotetxt|In response to the 1992 EPA report linking passive smoking to cancer, Philip Morris hired a public relations company named APCO to develop a counter strategy. Acknowledging that the views of a tobacco company lacked credibility, APCO proposed a strategy of "astroturfing", the formation and funding of apparently independent front groups to give the impression of a popular movement opposed to "overregulation" and in support of individual freedoms. Foremost amongst the fake front groups was The Advancement of a Sound Science Coalition (TASSC). The strategy was to link concerns about passive smoking with a range of other popular anxieties, including global warming, nuclear waste disposal and biotechnology, in order to suggest that they were all part of an unjustified social panic, so that calls for government intervention were unwarranted. It set out to cast doubt on the science, to link the scare against smoking with other "unfounded fears" and to contrast the "junk science" of their opponents with the "sound science" they promoted. As one tobacco company memo noted: "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the "body of fact" that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."

As the 1990s progressed ... TASSC began receiving donations from Exxon (among other oil companies) and its "junk science" website began to carry material attacking climate change science.
|Clive Hamilton|''Requiem for a Species''|color=silver|size=360%}}


== Meanings of the term ==
== Meanings of the term ==

Revision as of 00:17, 19 March 2010

Climate change denial is a term used to describe views that downplay the extent of global warming, its significance, or its connection to human behavior. This article concerns the restrictive use of the term to denote attempts to undermine scientific opinion on climate change for financial or other sectional interests.

Background

Main article: Global warming controversy

The current scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is contributing to global warming. Political, economic, and public debate continues regarding the reality and extent of global warming and what actions to take in response. Many skeptics disagree with the science and even doubt whether there really is a climate change consensus. Claims that business groups have engaged in "denial" of the current science on climate change have been discussed since at least 2000.[1]

Meanings of the term

The August 2007 Newsweek cover story "The Truth About Denial" reported that "this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks, and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change."[2] "As soon as the scientific community began to come together on the science of climate change, the pushback began," according to University of California, San Diego historian Naomi Oreskes.[2] Newsweek published a rebuttal piece by contributing editor Robert J. Samuelson, calling it "a vast oversimplification of a messy story" and "fundamentally misleading". He argues that "journalists should resist the temptation to portray global warming as a morality tale... in which anyone who questions its gravity or proposed solutions may be ridiculed".[3]

Journalists and newspaper columnists including George Monbiot[4] and Ellen Goodman,[5] among others,[6][7] have described climate change denial as a form of denialism.[2][8] Several commentators have compared climate change denial with Holocaust denial,[5][7][9][10] though others have decried those comparisons as inappropriate.[11][12][13][14]

The environmentalist writer and activist George Monbiot stated in his Guardian opinion column that he reserves the term for those who attempt to undermine scientific opinion on climate change due to financial interests. Monbiot often refers to a "denial industry." However, writers have described others as climate change "deniers," including politicians and writers not claimed to be funded by industry groups.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Commentators including Robert Samuelson and Dennis Prager have criticized the phrase as a pejorative, as an attempt to delegitimize skeptical views with misplaced comparisons, and for injecting morality into the discussion about climate change.[3][11] Some of those accused contend that funding does not affect their views or the nature of the scientific research, and argue that financial incentives exist on both sides of the public debate on climate change.

Private sector

See also: Business action on climate change

In one of the first attempts by industry to influence public opinion on climate change,[22] a 1998 proposal (later posted online by Greenpeace)[23] was circulated among U.S. opponents of a treaty to fight global warming, including both industry and conservative political groups, in an effort to influence public perception of the extent of the problem. Written by a public relations specialist for the American Petroleum Institute and then leaked to The New York Times, the memo described, in the article's words, a plan "to recruit a cadre of scientists who share the industry's views of climate science and to train them in public relations so they can help convince journalists, politicians and the public that the risk of global warming is too uncertain to justify controls on greenhouse gases." Cushman quoted the document as proposing a US$ 5,000,000 multi-point strategy to "maximize the impact of scientific views consistent with ours on Congress, the media and other key audiences," with a goal of "raising questions about and undercutting the 'prevailing scientific wisdom.'"[24]

The Guardian reported that after the IPCC released its February 2007 report, the American Enterprise Institute offered British, American, and other scientists $10,000, plus travel expenses, to publish articles critical of the assessment. The institute, which had received more than $US 1.6 million from Exxon and whose vice-chairman of trustees is Lee Raymond, former head of Exxon, sent letters that, The Guardian said, "attack the UN's panel as 'resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent and prone to summary conclusions that are poorly supported by the analytical work' and ask for essays that 'thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs'." More than 20 AEI employees worked as consultants to the George W. Bush administration.[25] Despite her initial conviction that with "the overwhelming science out there, the deniers' days were numbered," Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer said that when she learned of the AEI's offer, "I realized there was a movement behind this that just wasn't giving up."[2]

The Royal Society conducted a survey that found ExxonMobil had given US$ 2.9 million to American groups that "misinformed the public about climate change," 39 of which "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence".[20][26] In 2006, the Royal Society issued a demand that ExxonMobil withdraw funding for climate change denial. The letter, which was leaked to the media, drew criticism, notably from Timothy Ball and others, who argued the society attempted to "politicize the private funding of science and to censor scientific debate."[27]

ExxonMobil has denied the accusations that it has been trying to mislead the public about global warming. A spokesman, Gantt Walton, has stated that ExxonMobil's funding of research does not mean that it acts to influence the research, and that ExxonMobil supports taking action to curb the output of greenhouse gasses. Gannt stated, "The recycling of this type of discredited conspiracy theory diverts attention from the real challenge at hand: how to provide the energy needed to improve global living standards while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions." [28]

Public sector

In 1994, according to a leaked memo, the Republican strategist Frank Luntz advised members of the Republican Party, with regard to climate change, that "you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue" and "challenge the science" by "recruiting experts who are sympathetic to your view."[2] In 2006, Luntz stated that he still believes "back [in] '97, '98, the science was uncertain", but he now agrees with the scientific consensus.[29]

In 2005, the New York Times reported that Philip Cooney, a former lobbyist and "climate team leader" at the American Petroleum Institute, had "repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents."[30] Sharon Begley reported in Newsweek that Cooney "edited a 2002 report on climate science by sprinkling it with phrases such as 'lack of understanding' and 'considerable uncertainty.'" Cooney reportedly removed an entire section on climate in one report, whereupon an oil lobbyist sent him a fax saying "You are doing a great job."[2] Cooney announced his resignation two days after the story of his tampering with scientific reports broke,[31] but a few days later it was announced that Cooney would take up a position with ExxonMobil.[32]

Connections to the tobacco lobby

Several journalists have argued that efforts to downplay the significance of climate change resemble the campaign by tobacco lobbyists, after being confronted with new data linking cigarettes to cancer, to shift public perception of the discoveries toward that of a myth, unwarranted claim, or exaggeration rather than mainstream scientific theory. In 2006, The Guardian discussed similarities in the methods of groups funded by Exxon, and those of the tobacco giant Philip Morris, including direct attacks on peer-reviewed science, and attempts to create public controversy and doubt.[4]

One figure associated with tobacco lobbying and global warming skepticism was former National Academy of Sciences president Dr. Frederick Seitz who, according to an article by Mark Hertsgaard in Vanity Fair, earned approximately US$585,000 in the 70s and 80s as a consultant to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. During that time R.J. Reynolds contributed $45 million to the medical research co-ordinated by Seitz and others at Rockefeller University. Although the research did not touch upon the health effects of tobacco smoking, and Seitz defended his independence, saying "We had absolutely free rein to decide how the money was spent", Hertsgaard writes that the tobacco industry frequently cited these grants as showing its commitment to science, while claiming that scientific views on the health effects of smoking were mixed.[33]

Seitz went on to chair groups such as the Science and Environmental Policy Project and the George C. Marshall Institute alleged to have made efforts to "downplay" global warming. Seitz stated in the 1980s that "Global warming is far more a matter of politics than of climate." Seitz authored the Oregon Petition, a document published jointly by the Marshall and Oregon Institutes in opposition to the Kyoto protocol. The petition and accompanying "Research Review of Global Warming Evidence" claimed:

The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. ... We are living in an increasingly lush environment of plants and animals as a result of the carbon dioxide increase. Our children will enjoy an Earth with far more plant and animal life than that with which we now are blessed. This is a wonderful and unexpected gift from the Industrial Revolution.[4]

George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian that this petition, which he criticizes as misleading and tied to industry funding, "has been cited by almost every journalist who claims that climate change is a myth." Monbiot has written about another group founded by the tobacco lobby, The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), that now campaigns against measures to combat global warming. In again trying to manufacture the appearance of a grass-roots movement against "unfounded fear" and "over-regulation," Monbiot states that TASSC "has done more damage to the campaign to halt [climate change] than any other body."[4]

Kivalina v. ExxonMobil

Main article: Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., Et al.

On February 26, 2008, attorneys for the Native American Rights Fund and the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment brought suit against ExxonMobil Corporation and two dozen other members of the energy lobby, including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Royal Dutch Shell.[18] The complaint seeks to recover damages for the destruction of Kivalina, Alaska, a village which "is being forced to relocate because of flooding caused by the changing Arctic climate."[34] Kivalina v. ExxonMobil is reported to be the first climate-change lawsuit with "a discretely identifiable victim."[35] The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined in 2006 that Kivalina residents would be forced to relocate, at a minimum cost of US$95m, as soon as 2016.[36] According to Stephan Faris, a writer for The Atlantic, the Kivalina suit accuses ExxonMobil et al. of

"... conspiring to cover up the threat of man-made climate change, in much the same way the tobacco industry tried to conceal the risks of smoking — by using a series of think tanks and other organizations to falsely sow public doubt in an emerging scientific consensus."[36]

The suit was dismissed by the United States district court for the Northern District of California on September 30, 2009,[37] on grounds that "the law suit raised non-justiciable political questions and that the plaintiffs did not have standing, because their harm was not fairly traceable to the defendants’ conduct." [38] An appeal is considered likely.[39]

Effect of climate change denial

Some journalists attribute the government inaction to the effects of climate change denial. However, a recent Angus Read poll indicates that global warming skepticism in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom has been rising, apparently continuing a trend that has progressed for "months, even years"[40] There may be multiple causes of this trend, including a focus on economic rather than environmental issues, and a negative perception of the "role the United Nations has played in promoting the global warming issue."[41] Another cause may be weariness from overexposure to the topic: secondary polls suggest that "many people were turned off by extremists on both sides,"[40] while others show 54% of U.S. voters believe that "the news media make global warming appear worse than it really is."[42] Recent polls regarding the issue of whether "some scientists have falsified research data to support their own theories and beliefs about global warming" show that 59% of Americans believe it "at least somewhat likely" and 35% believe it is "very likely".[41]

According to former U.S. senator Tim Wirth, the denial effort has affected both public perception and leadership in the United States. "They patterned what they did after the tobacco industry. [...] Both figured, sow enough doubt, call the science uncertain and in dispute. That's had a huge impact on both the public and Congress."[43] Newsweek reports that whereas "majorities in Europe and Japan recognize a broad consensus among climate experts that greenhouse gases—mostly from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas to power the world's economies—are altering climate," as recently as 2006 only one third of Americans considered human activity to play a major role in climate change; 64% believed that scientists disagreed about it "a lot." A 2007 Newsweek poll found these numbers were declining, although majorities of Americans still believed neither that scientists agree climate change is taking place, nor that scientists agree climate change is caused by human activity, nor that climate change has yet had noticeable effect.[44] Citing the following remarks in Science by physicist and U.S. Representative Rush Holt, the Newsweek report attributes American policymakers' failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to consistent undermining of science by the "denial machine":

"...for more than two decades scientists have been issuing warnings that the release of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide (CO2), is probably altering Earth's climate in ways that will be expensive and even deadly. The American public yawned and bought bigger cars. Statements by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and others underscored the warnings and called for new government policies to deal with climate change. Politicians, presented with noisy statistics, shrugged, said there is too much doubt among scientists, and did nothing."[45]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Main, Bill (2000-11-10). "Industry's green light for change". Evening News (Edinburgh, Scotland). Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Begley, Sharon (2007-08-13). "The Truth About Denial". Newsweek. Retrieved 2007-08-06. Cite error: The named reference "Newsweek" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Samuelson, Robert J. (2007-08-20). "Greenhouse Simplicities". Newsweek. Retrieved 2007-08-16. Cite error: The named reference "NewsweekSimplicities" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c d Monbiot, George (2006-09-19). "The denial industry". Guardian Unlimited.
  5. ^ a b Ellen Goodman (2007-02-09). "No change in political climate". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  6. ^ Christoff, Peter. (2007, July 9). Climate change is another grim tale to be treated with respect. Opinion page. The Age Company Ltd.
  7. ^ a b Connelly, Joel. (2007–07–10). Deniers of global warming harm us. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2009–12–25.
  8. ^ "Timeline, Climate Change and its Naysayers". Newsweek. 13 August 2007.
  9. ^ George Monbiot: The threat is from those who accept climate change, not those who deny it | Comment is free | The Guardian
  10. ^ Climate change is another grim tale to be treated with respect - Opinion
  11. ^ a b Townhall.com::On Comparing Global Warming Denial to Holocaust Denial::By Dennis Prager
  12. ^ Pielke, Roger Jr. (2006–10–09). On Language. Prometheus. Weblog of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at University of Colorado at Boulder.
  13. ^ The Social Affairs Unit - Web Review: Why do people become climate change deniers?
  14. ^ RSA Journal - February 2008
  15. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/mar/06/climate-change-deniers-top-10 Guradian.co.uk - Monbiot's royal flush: Top 10 climate change deniers
  16. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change-scepticism Guradian.co.uk - Climate change scepticism portal
  17. ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ten-most-important-climate-change-skeptics-2009-7 The Business Insider - The 10 Most-Respected Global Warming Skeptics
  18. ^ a b Complaint for Damages, Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., Et al. Climate Justice, Friends of the Earth International. Retrieved 2009–12–25.
  19. ^ Adams, David (2005-01-27). "Oil firms fund climate change 'denial'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  20. ^ a b Adams, David (2006-09-20). "Royal Society tells Exxon: stop funding climate change denial". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  21. ^ Gelbspan, Ross (1995). "The heat is on: The warming of the world's climate sparks a blaze of denial". Harper’s Magazine. Retrieved 2007-08-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  22. ^ Cox, Robert (2009). Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere Sage. Pg. 311-312.
  23. ^ "Denial and Deception: A Chronicle of ExxonMobil's Efforts to Corrupt the Debate on Global Warming". Greenpeace. 2003-08-14. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/assets/binaries/leaked-api-comms-plan-1998" ignored (help)
  24. ^ Cushman, John, "Industrial Group Plans to Battle Climate Treaty", The New York Times, April 25, 1998, retrieved March 10, 2010
  25. ^ Sample, Ian (2007-02-02). "Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  26. ^ Ward, Bob (2006-09-04). "Letter to Nick Thomas, Director, Corporate affairs, Esso UK Ltd. (ExxonMobil)" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  27. ^ http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/isanewsletter.pdf
  28. ^ "Gore takes aim at corporately funded climate research". CBC News from Associated Press. 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  29. ^ FRONTLINE: hot politics: interviews: frank luntz | PBS
  30. ^ Revkin, Andrew C. (2005-06-08). "Bush Aide Edited Climate Reports". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  31. ^ Andrew Revkin (10 June 2005). "Editor of Climate Report Resigns". Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  32. ^ Andrew Revkin (15 June 2005). "Ex-Bush Aide Who Edited Climate Reports to Join ExxonMobil". Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  33. ^ Hertsgaard, Mark (2006). "While Washington Slept". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2007-08-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  34. ^ "Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate Link to Climate Change." New York Times 27 Feb 2008
  35. ^ Associated Press. (2008–2–27). Alaska town sues over global warming. USA Today. Retrieved 2009–12–25.
  36. ^ a b Faris, Stephan. "Conspiracy Theory." The Atlantic, June, 2008, pp. 32–35.
  37. ^ Order Granting Motions to Dismiss, N.D. Cal., Sept. 30, 2009
  38. ^ Kivalina v. ExxonMobil at Law and the Environment
  39. ^ "Courts Are Hearing Common Law Nuisance Actions on Climate Change" at Martindale-Hubbell
  40. ^ a b Corcoran, Terence (2010, January 06). The cool down in climate polls. Financial Post.
  41. ^ a b Rasmussen Reports (2009, December 03). Americans Skeptical of Science Behind Global Warming.
  42. ^ Rasmussen Reports.(2009, February 06). 54% Say Media Hype Global Warming Dangers.
  43. ^ "Global Warming Deniers: A Well-Funded Machine." Newsweek Aug. 13, 2007. Retrieved 7 Aug 2007
  44. ^ "Global Warming Deniers: A Well-Funded Machine." Newsweek Aug. 13, 2007. Retrieved 7 Aug 2007
  45. ^ Holt, Rush. "Trying to Get Us to Change Course" (film review.) Science 13 July 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5835, pp. 198 - 199 DOI: 10.1126/science.1142810

References

For further reading

  • Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010) Bloomsbury Press, ISBN 978-1596916104
  • James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore, Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, (2009) Vancouver: Greystone Books ISBN 978-1553654858 [1]
  • Clive Hamilton, Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change, (2010) Allen and Unwin, ISBN 978-1849710817
  • Stephen H. Schneider, Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate, (2009) National Geographic, ISBN 978-1426205408
  • Chris C. Mooney, The Republican war on science, (2005) Basic Books, ISBN 0465046754

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Climate_change_denial&oldid=350698354"