Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the 2006 global warming book “Field Notes from a Catastrophe,” has a piece in the New Yorker today titled “Donating to the Deniers,” taking to task the corporate membership of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership for actively undermining the very goals the coalition claims to support.
Kolbert’s piece looks at the recent analysis by Clean Air Watch detailing how many of the companies belonging to the U.S. CAP are working feverishly behind the scenes to fight against the very principles the coalition supposedly stands for.
Kolbert notes that these companies received a lot of media praise for joining the partnership – a sweet public relations coup for some of the worst polluters in the world to be suddenly perceived as best buddies with the national environmental groups who invited them into the coalition to call for cap-and-trade legislation in Washington.
But as Clean Air Watch found by digging around a bit, the truth is that many of the corporate members of U.S. CAP - including Caterpillar, Duke Energy, and Dow Chemical - have contributed far more to the campaigns of legislators who oppose global warming legislation than they have to Congressional leaders fighting for action on the climate crisis.
Surprise, surprise!
Read the Kolbert's entire article here: Donating to the Deniers
Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.
There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.
This post is the second of a two part series. Read the first installment, Unreported Emissions From Natural Gas Blow Up BC's Climate Action Plan.
Methane leaks from British Columbia's natural gas industry are likely at least 7 times greater than official numbers increasing the entire provinces' carbon footprint by nearly 25%. That's like putting 3 million more vehicles on BC's roads.
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The last thing anyone needs is a group to support this. I have operated a green power plant for years. Guess what? It isn’t as green as people think. Geothermal energy is created by pulling some of the most toxic elements from below the earth’s surface and releasing them into the atmosphere. Of course they dilute it before they release it so it is ok.
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