Spinning the economic "doom and gloom" of global warming has lost credibility

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ThinkProgress has a great piece today outlining the Republican (and their sympathetic media) attempts to frame greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies as devastating to the US economy. 

The report released today by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focussed on potential C02 mitigation plans and the economics of implementing such plans. The authors of the summary report conclude that, “the cost of reducing CO2 emissions to a stable level will be about .12% of the annual gross domestic product.” When you consider how many people currently inhabit the earth, this dollar amount is pennies compared to the potential devastation to our environment and way of life.

It’s not surprising, that the likes of right-wing media star Rush Limbaugh has a different take on the costs. To quote: “[Liberals] would have us destroy our economy and millions of jobs based on pseudoscience.” 

And of the same mind is former chair of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “Global warming is an alarmism. It’s a type of a hoax. The reality is that a cap on carbon is a cap on the economy.”

The chances of Inhofe and Limbaugh coming out with a public mea culpa are very minimal. At the least, let’s hope that the sobering words of the leading experts on climate change today will play some role in cooling down the doom and gloom rhetoric on the right that has played such a huge role in delaying any real action by the US government to curb greenhouse gas emissions. 

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmogBlog.

He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning.

Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks.

Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder.

Prior to DeSmogBlog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health.

In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications.

Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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