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Big Tobacco Funded Anti-Global Warming Messages
An anonymous reader writes, "The UK Guardian is running an excerpt from the new book "Heat" by George Monbiot (to be published later this month) spelling out the network of funding opposing global action against global warming — specifically, limits on human carbon dioxide generation. The excerpt outlines a web of fake citizens' groups and bogus (but authoritative sounding) research institutes designed to convince laypeople that human causation of global warming is scientifically controversial. Not surprisingly, the article notes funding by ExxonMobil. More interesting is the role played big tobacco, tying their attack on the health risks of second-hand smoke to global warming skepticism." From the article: "What I have discovered while researching this issue is that the corporate funding of lobby groups denying that man-made climate change is taking place was initiated not by Exxon, or by any other firm directly involved in the fossil fuel industry. It was started by the tobacco company Philip Morris."
This is not to claim that all the science these groups champion is bogus. On the whole, they use selection, not invention. They will find one contradictory study - such as the discovery of tropospheric cooling, which, in a garbled form, has been used by Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday - and promote it relentlessly.
/. will flame me for this, but those promoting Global Warming do the exact same. They'll find reports / studies to their advantage and promote them like crazy. Example: They'll only refer to the cities / countries showing warming trends, and ignore those that are actually showing cooling trends. Both sides do it.
I know
Given that the "secondhand-smoke" hysteria genuinely was shoddy pseudoscience as a pretext to legislate lifestyle...
Why would you consider that a given?
Useful to whom? We're just bringing up facts here. The usefulness of those facts and how they influence your decisions is irrelevant.
Or am I supposed to read about Big Tobacco, think "Ohmigod, it's *big*!" and fall under my desk in terror?
Umm, yeah, I think I read in the Bible or Qur'an you're supposed to do that. Please do.
So does Big Oil (Aaaugghhh! Under the desk!!!) get some sort of apology now that it turns out that these groups were actually some sort of bizarre tobacco PR scheme?
Even the summary mentions funding comes from both a large tobacco firm and a large oil company. Why should anyone apologize to the oil companies because they are not the only ones funding lies?
Now, if you look closely, you will see that those polluting our ears with the concept that humans are causing the global warming are government funded research studies. This keeps them self serving. Private studies swing to the truth.
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Stay out of politics /. You are being used.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to think "profiling is worse than the slaughter of innocent people..."
It was more to do with Randolph Hearst's investment in trees (to make paper from woodpulp rather than hemp fibre). But yeah, bought legislation.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
> Surely, the best answer to such behavior is for those who don't want more draconian government intervention
> to propose better solutions, rather than simply shouting "commie" and running away.
Nope. Because it wouldn't work. The left wingnuts running the tightly knit but apparently seperate environmental movements simply won't accept any solution that doesn't solve their actual problem, namely the existence of Western Civilization.
Try it for yourself, get into a conversation with an enviro and propose some solution that allows Civilization as we understand it to continue. Perfect example: A hundred good beefy pebblebed reactors would take enough CO2 out of the air to eliminate any net contribution of the USofA to any global rise in CO2 levels. However 90+% of enviros will oppose the idea, yea they will oppose any and all nuke plants on US soil. Now note that to the same rough 90% corrolation, the same bunch of wingnuts who oppose building safe modern reactors here to prevent global warming will support Iran's "right" to persue uranium enrichment, solely on the basis that Chimpy McBushitler is on one side and Iran is on the other. And thus the circle closes and they are revealed as Watermelons.
Democrat delenda est