Anger management
The Myron Ebell climate hasn't been angry enough to work during the past month, being temporarily debilitated with hope. Philip Cooney was hauled before the Senate, so we finally got to see the face of the worm from Exxon, who said:
Meanwhile, some neo-Marxist deniers used two hours of prime-time TV to explain to the world that CO2 is not a significant greenhouse gas because it's only 0.2% of the atmosphere; the odious denial blogs spend their entire time attacking Al Gore, and doing nothing else; and Huffington Post printed this extremely fine article about a debate with Ebell where the author claims to have had the following exchange:
But, folks, we really are doomed. You know, when a couple of years ago the experts (that's the guys who know the numbers) said we had ten years left to do something, it's like the needle went into the red. We don't keep having ten years to go for all the time it remains in the red. It's like seven years now, and that's not enough for the speed this world reorganizes at. Particularly when so much of the organization has been deliberately devolved to psychopathic organizations like Exxon.
The best we can hope for is that responsibility is laid at the door of those who did this to us. That means that the social forces unleashed by climate change (floods, famine, disease, economic breakdown, and refugees) must be directed towards the destruction of Exxon, and the payment of reparations by the ruling class (eg Myron Ebell's direct descendants) who did all they could to make this happen. It must be seen as their failure, even though they will, of course, blame it on us and our voracious consumer society which they have engineered.
We have the evidence. We must not allow it to get buried.
My sole loyalty was to the President and advancing the policies of his administration...The Facts Don't Matter!
Meanwhile, some neo-Marxist deniers used two hours of prime-time TV to explain to the world that CO2 is not a significant greenhouse gas because it's only 0.2% of the atmosphere; the odious denial blogs spend their entire time attacking Al Gore, and doing nothing else; and Huffington Post printed this extremely fine article about a debate with Ebell where the author claims to have had the following exchange:
"Mr. Ebell, I'm sorry, but I feel like I walked in on you in bed with my wife and you just spent the last two hours asking me if I was going to believe me or my lying eyes." The crowd (and remember, this was a Federalist Society event) chortled.It's all good stuff.
"I mean, heat waves killed hundreds or thousands in Europe and Chicago. Coral reefs are dying off. Bark beetles are devastating forests they've never been found in before because the temperatures were to cold to sustain them. I don't have to go through it all, you've heard it all before... data point after data point after data point says global warming is a problem."
"Further, Exxon-Mobil recently admitted to spending $16 million dollars to cloud the science - to propagandize against global warming. And your firm, the supposedly non-partisan Competitive Enterprise Institute was one of the greatest recipients."
"Which leads me to my next point - your claim of non-partisanship. I've heard Senator Inhofe, Richard Pombo, Tom delay when he was there and many others mis-state the science, often while quoting your organization. But I'm looking at your web-page right now, and I see story after story that supposedly debunks Al Gore. Why haven't you ever had anything bad to say about a Republican? Because to a simple guy like me, well, when I look at the big picture, it looks as if you folks care less about the truth than you do about furthering a pro-business agenda."
This is when Mr. Ebell excused himself to wipe the ink [from an exploded pen] off his hands. He turns to address my questions in reverse order.
First he claimed that, "Oh my gosh, I welcome your examination of my motives, but we are a very small operation. When you compare our resources to NRDC, Sierra Club and Greenpeace's, well, we just can't afford to chase down every inaccuracy and we really need to focus..."
I interrupted: "You mean, Exxon/Mobil doesn't have enough money to get their message out?" (More laughter.)
"Well, I don't know..."
Me again: "Didn't they just break every record for quarterly profit by any company, ever, in any quarter, ever?"
"Uhm, yeah, they may have, but it is good that you ask these questions and I think you should be. But you know, cold kills a lot more people than heat, so while we may have the heat waves, humans are adapting at living in heat much better. Not too many people are moving to Minnesota or North Dakota, but Phoenix is booming."
I couldn't take it. "Wait a minute - are you standing next to my bed in my bedroom asking me how you could possibly be sleeping with my wife while wearing those ridiculous underwear?" More laughs.
But, folks, we really are doomed. You know, when a couple of years ago the experts (that's the guys who know the numbers) said we had ten years left to do something, it's like the needle went into the red. We don't keep having ten years to go for all the time it remains in the red. It's like seven years now, and that's not enough for the speed this world reorganizes at. Particularly when so much of the organization has been deliberately devolved to psychopathic organizations like Exxon.
The best we can hope for is that responsibility is laid at the door of those who did this to us. That means that the social forces unleashed by climate change (floods, famine, disease, economic breakdown, and refugees) must be directed towards the destruction of Exxon, and the payment of reparations by the ruling class (eg Myron Ebell's direct descendants) who did all they could to make this happen. It must be seen as their failure, even though they will, of course, blame it on us and our voracious consumer society which they have engineered.
We have the evidence. We must not allow it to get buried.
posted by goatchurch Perma-link
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