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Here's a vintage piece from Canada's National Post, a long non sequitur that presumes to prove that CO2 is not threat - by calling it benign and by suggesting that there really isn't that much of it around.
Update I: Gunter's column was re-published in the Vancouver Sun today .
| Comment: | Tools: Lawrence Solomon is back in the National Post with another in his series on climate change "deniers" - this time lauding the patriarch of the denial movement, Dr. Richard Lindzen.
First, let's concede that Dick Lindzen is probably the most credible climate change denier on record, even if his actual denials grow ever more conditional.
But it's a leap to go from Lindzen's caution about the certainties of science to Solomon's contention that the case for anthropogenic climate change is unproven. In fact, Solomon has misled his readers on that count. | Comment: | Tools: The following letter was sent to the National Post yesterday, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. A much-edited version ran in the business section today. We reprint the entire letter here for your interest:
I must respond to a series of unwarranted attacks by Financial Post Editor Terence Corcoran on me personally and on DeSmogBlog.com that I run, independent of my business (James Hoggan & Associates).
| Comment: | Tools: In an article entitled Mr. Corcoran, Meet Mr. Orwell, the Financial Post gives Simon Fraser University economist Mark Jaccard space to skewer its own editor, Terence Corcoran.
Jaccard makes all kinds of good sense arguing that a carbon tax would be the most effective way to begin to address the greenhouse gas problem. He also says that Corcoran's recent "diatribe (to the contrary) reminds me of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with Mr. Corcoran as Minister of Truth - redefining concepts and rewriting history to accord with his opposition to reducing such greenhouse gas emissions as carbon dioxide."
| Comment: | Tools: At least one of the 60 "accredited experts in climate and related scientific disciplines" who signed an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper denying the reality of climate change has recanted, saying that he was misled as to the content of that letter when he offered his name.
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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.
Although all public relations professionals are bound by a duty to not knowingly mislead the public, some have executed comprehensive campaigns of misinformation on behalf of industry clients on issues ranging from tobacco and asbestos to seat belts.
Lately, these fringe players have turned their efforts to creating confusion about climate change. This PR campaign could not be accomplished without the compliance of media as well as the assent and participation of leaders in government and business.
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