Long time friend of DeSmogBlog, Jon Cooksey, was a clueless man (his words not mine) before he started work on his eco-comedy How to Boil a Frog, uncovering a bigger picture of global warming than he’d orignally anticipated.
In june of 2009, a story surfaced about the alleged suppression by the US EPA of information related to climate change. The source of the information was reported to be one Dr. Alan Carlin, who, although a real EPA analyst, was in fact, an economist, not a scientist.
Distortions of the story, from the usual sources, began almost immediately.
Climate science is not completely dependent on climate models. There are many threads of supporting evidence. Still, it is clear that climate models are telling us something important that we cannot afford to ignore.
In an interview on CNN, Joe Lucas, the Vice President of the Americans for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) refused to admit that burning coal contributes to global warming.
This shouldn’t come as a shocker to anyone in the know, Lucas has spent the better part of decade running public campaigns that donwplay the realities of climate change. As you can see on his new website for ACCCE Lucas is trying hard to shed that past and wrap his latest coal lobby project in a blanket of green:
But a wolf can only hide in a sheep’s green clothing for so long before they slip.
Lucas stunningly refuses to admit in the CNN interview whether or not the burning of coal even contributes to global warming.
NARRATOR: Still, the industry refuses to say its plants contribute to global warming.
INTERVIEWER: Can you just answer that yes or no—If you believe that burning coal causes global warming?
JOE LUCAS (shaking head no): I don’t know. I am not a scientist.
Actually Joe, you don’t need to be a scientist to know that burning coal contributes 40 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions.
You can watch it online here on CNN.com (approximately 2:00 minutes in): No country for ‘coal’ men
Did you know that coal is so clean that it even smells good?
Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection/“Reality” coalition has put out a new ad. It’s the sequel to their first ad, which revealed the truth about clean coal.
Watch it:
Mmmm… I’m off to buy some for the whole family!
Happy Holidays!
This video is well done. Help spread the message by emailing it on to your friends and family.
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.
