Stop Drinking the Climate Denial Cult’s Kool-Aid!
By Thom Hartmann A...
We will have a fossil fuel-free economy by 2100. That’s according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who announced today that the G7 nations have agreed to “decarbonise the global economy in the course of this century.”
The G7’s agreement is more of a goal than it is a hard-and-fast plan, but it’s still a big deal.
This week world leaders are meeting Bonn, Germany for preliminary talks before this fall’s climate summit in Paris. Apparently, the talks haven’t been going very well, but maybe, just maybe, today’s announcement from the G7 will kick them into gear.
That being said, even if the G7 nations do phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century, it won’t be enough to prevent severe damage to the planet - and to the human race.
Michael Mann, a frequent guest on this program and one of the world’s leading climate scientists, estimates that we only have until 2036 -- 21 years -- to prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius, the standard cutoff point for “acceptable” levels of warming.
After we cross that 2 degrees Celsius threshold, global warming will lock in with devastating consequences for every single living thing on this planet
Other scientists, like James Hansen, have an even gloomier view of how much more warming the planet can take. In a recent interview with an Australian radio station, for example, Hansen called the 2 degrees Celsius number “nonsense” and warned that it’s “a prescription for disaster.”
Hansen now argues that we need to lower the limit of “acceptable” warming to 1 degree Celsius - a number we’re already dangerously close to reaching.
Whether you agree with James Hansen that we need to limit warming to 1 degree Celsius or with Michael Mann that we need to focus on 2 degrees, one thing is clear: we must stop using fuels way before the end of the century if we want to stave off total climate devastation.
Which raises the question: If the stakes are so high when it comes to global warming, why aren’t doing more right now to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions and move towards renewable power?
Tragically, the answer is that our political system, media, and economy are under the control of an extreme climate denial death cult that's also very, very profitable.
The goals of this denial cult are simple: spread “skepticism” about global warming and pump out bunk science “disproving” the link between greenhouse gasses and climate change.
Led and funded by the fossil fuel industry itself, this very wealthy death cult spreads its message though a multi-billion dollar denial industry that’s a toxic cocktail of corporate lobbying groups, media organizations, and “think-tanks” like the Heartland Institute, ALEC, and others. It’s the Kool-Aid to Big Oil’s Jim Jones, and here in America our media and the Republican Party are guzzling it down by the pitcher.
Thanks to the Big Oil’s non-stop propaganda campaign, the United States now leads the developed world in climate denial.
We’ve seen this kind of highly profitable death cult at work before. Back in the 1990s, Big Tobacco funneled money through a bunch of PR groups and shadowy “think tanks” in an attempt to trick the public into thinking that there wasn’t a clear link between smoking and cancer.
They eventually failed, but some of the same people who led the tobacco-cancer denial cult are now running the climate denial machine.
In fact, Fred Singer, the founder of one of the one of the most influential denial groups, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), was one of the main players in the tobacco cult. In 1993, he joined up with the Philip Morris’ favorite PR firm, APCO Associates, to “debunk” studies showing the link between secondhand smoke and disease.
Today, Fred’s hard at work “debunking” man-made climate change, something 97 percent of scientists -- and the Pentagon -- know is real and is happening.
Like all death cults, the climate denial cult will eventually kill off its believers -- in this case the American people and people around the world who will pay the price if global warming keeps on its current path. But what makes the climate denial cult different than other cults is that the people who are running it aren’t doing it for belief -- like the tobacco/cancer deniers, they’re doing it for the profit.
And while that means the death cult leaders have a lot of resources at their disposal, it also means that there’s still a chance we can stop them.
If we stop making fossil fuels profitable by imposing a carbon tax on the use and sale of greenhouse gas-producing energy, then we might, just might, stop this new death cult before it’s too late.
Comments
#2
Michael Mann, a frequent guest on this program and one of the world’s leading climate scientists, estimates that we only have until 2036 -- 21 years -- to prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius, the standard cutoff point for “acceptable” levels of warming.
At least we are making some progress, 14 years ago it was stated we only had untill 2011.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/global-warming-the-science
#3
Don't the deniers realize that THEIR children will be affected just like the rest of us? Or do they have another planet and a secret fleet of space ships?
#4
gumball -- Where did you get the 14 years from? If it was from the same group, that would be impressive.
The link you provide is very strange. It says it was edited in 2001, yet it talks about a heat wave in 2003.
#5
winterglas ... uhh how many billions...or even trillions of the black budget has the Pentagon lost track of? ...Crazy Alert... the .01% have space ships! ..or inner-spaceships ..or... ? USOs!
or worse... PIGEONS!! (Get it Thom? 'Pig" .. for 'eons' ?
#6
I have written Tom 3 different times on the subject of Geo Engineering, weather modicfication. They have been spraying our skies for over 40 years fighting the suppose "global warming". The aerosol spraying by military jets has esculated for the past 10 year because of modern technology and they spray 24/7 globally. This aerosol spraying creates artificial haze, cloudiness, clouds and complete overcast skies. I have sent Tom several photos of these aerosol spraying that look like a line of toothpaste that stretch across the sky for miles. Each one expands and spread like sheets of clouds and remain for several days and can travel up to 18,000 miles. I have hundreds and hundreds of photos and videos of these Jets aerosol spraying right over my house. There are millions of people here in America and from around the globe that post photos and videos of these jets spraying and the MESS they make in the sky. I have more days of my sun covered and no blue skies than the opposite. Nobody takes the time to "LOOK UP" at what is going on their sky. It is highly toxic and made with nano size particles of metals, to reflect the rays of the sun upward. YOUR breathing it 24 hours a day. They have the power to control weather and create it by using HARRP and CERN. This is why all the extreme weather, it's literally weather warfare going on right above your heads. And they are deliberately melting the Icebergs for oil. They can create drought, flooding, tonados, hail, snow where ever they want. PLEASE, PLEASE LOOK UP, WATCH YOUR SKIES EXPECIALLY IF YOU LIVE IN A HIGHLY POPULATED AREA BECAUSE YOU WILL SEE THEM. This is so horrific and such a crimal act!! GEO ENGINEERING. I'm no expert but I know what I see!!
#7
I agree, but think Thom is never going to go there... he'd lose insider status in D.C. ...and, well, he needs it! We need him to have it! He's treading on thin ice as it is, I'll bet... I trust you've seen "What in the World are they spraying" ?
#8
yes, and hundred's more. I've done research now for 5 months 10 to 12 hours a day. My favorite website geoengineeringwatch.org is the best I've seen. The fight for right now is to stop this for at least 5 years so that they can get accurate readings of global warming. I can't remember off the top of my head but there is a big summit meeting in Paris in July concerning global warming and there are geo engineering representives and scientists that are attending and speaking. What will happen who knows.
#9
Yes, I'm familliar with Dane Wigg-(ing? ..in) ..ton's work. He is a very bright man. I think the corporate left AND right did a brilliant job of throwing the likes of Alex Jones and Glen Beck into the works after 9/11... tying truth to out-and-out rediculous sounding theories pitched as fact. Think about how rediculous and oxymoronic it is to be called a "Truther"? I hope to be known as one who tells the truth! Sometimes, the left is as closed-minded as the right.
#10
Thom, if you believe that climate change is purely anthroprogenic then the only way to start addressing it is by phasing out the biggest users of fossil fuels. The biggest user in the world is the American military. You claim the Pentagon understands global warming. If so ,why do we have so many military bases world -wide who spend most of their time "training" by driving all their vehicles , flying their aircraft, and operating their ships most hours of the day. Right now NATO is undertaking military exercises in the Baltic for no reason whatsoever. The pointless bombing in the Middle East and the supply of military hardware all over the world adds to the use of fossil fuels.
My point is that unless the US military is phased out immediately and in turn all militaries there is no point trying to get the average person to take global warming seriously. There is not one American politicain prepared to take on the Military Industrial complex including Bernie Sanders. He in fact supports the military. I am a believer in global warming but do not believe we will do anything about it. Fortunately, I am also aware of the geologic record and the many mass extictions of the past. I do not fear for the world. it will take care of itself and after we have polluted it to the point of no return it will turn on us.We will become just another extinction marked by a line in the rock record. The only difference between our extinction and the others will be the imbedded bits of plastic.
#11
#12
Free trade was actually invented by the EIC as a means to get involved in India circa 17 century. the debacle in emerging market bonds was tied to strengthing dollar? The FT was trying to report something that my be already over? the FED has a balance sheet full of long term debt SO..... who OWNS the bond market? THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE UNITED STATES is spooking the market by allowing long rates to back up by THEIR selling ? THEY OWN ALL BONDS of THE BOND "MARKET" SO BOO>>> you wrote a crash book not knowing about the dynamics of the post HANK PAULSON economy??? voodoo is working more than just fine PAL?
#13
Excellent Article, brief and easy to grasp, on Mergers and Aquisitions, Stock Buybacks etc.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-05/stock-market-disappearing-one-g...
The Stock Market Is Disappearing In One Giant Leveraged Buyout
by Daniel Drew of Dark Bid
Excerpts:
"Companies are spending nearly all of their profits on stock buybacks. Just recently, Wendy's announced they would buy back half of their stock."
"All of this activity harms employees. William Lazonick discussed the negative effects in a Harvard Business Review article called "Profits Without Prosperity." According to Lazonick, the American economy has transformed from a system of value creation to one of value extraction."
"From the end of World War II until the late 1970s, a retain-and-reinvest approach to resource allocation prevailed at major U.S. corporations. They retained earnings and reinvested them in increasing their capabilities, first and foremost in the employees who helped make firms more competitive. They provided workers with higher incomes and greater job security, thus contributing to equitable, stable economic growth - what I call "sustainable prosperity" This pattern began to break down in the late 1970s, giving way to a downsize-and-distribute regime of reducing costs and then distributing the freed-up cash to financial interests, particularly shareholders. By favoring value extraction over value creation, this approach has contributed to employment instability and income inequality"
"This is the end game of unfettered capitalism. The signs are all here. When you cast aside reasonable restraints, the unscrupulous among us will rise to the top and exploit everyone else. What we have left is a new American feudalism where CEOs move around like a pack of ruthless Somalian warlords. Riding behind the banner of efficiency, they replace employees with robots, outsource their work to foreigners and tell their employees to train their own replacements, and collude with hedge fund managers to strip companies of their most valuable assets to temporarily boost the stock price."
"As if all this weren't enough, now they are buying the entire stock market with money provided by the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policies. This is essentially the largest leveraged buyout in history, and it's being paid for by every American."
#14
I am a victim of a system that was completely stolen from a russian disporia (8 hour day 5 days a week) to feed into a system were i borrow my earnings from a private corp. not directly controled by the corp. i extract my "earning" from( in the form of a debt obligation againt the treasury dept.)? The treasury takes its share off the top (after the Fed takes its cut) in the form of taxes which the treasury gives to the Central bank as future collaterial against the THIN AIR print later on today? Interest rates going up is counter to everything i work for (keeping the system solvent)? 1980s long rates were about something other than inflation? Maybe defending a floating rate dollar policy?
#15
I was an American kid in LONDON during 1975 and the real dollar collapse
#16
Comment for today, not yesterday:
Translating it to the Gregorian calendar, June 9th, 2015, is the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.
Going by the name of the date, the anniversary is June 15th, next Monday.
#17
JOHNANGUS -- I never heard Thom say global energy capture was purely anthropogenic.
If we had a carbon tax and rebate, we would not need the military industrial complex to do anything. It would come "naturally".
#18
tottcatering -- It is hopeful that if we can stop the chemtrails for 1 month their effect will go away.
For 200,000 years the human species has been worshiping the sun, and now we want to block it out.
#19
Does every article from have to have an absurd title?
So we should believe in global warming because someone said so? How is argument by authority any different than argument by stupidity?
The global warming deniers are denying global warming because no one can prove it exists.
Blog articles like this one are just as pointless.
#20
"Free trade was actually invented by the EIC as a means to get involved in India circa 17 century"
That's a mighty silly thing to say. You might be able the term was coined in a particular time and place, but even then wikki places it in 16th Spain. The whole attempt seems absurd.
#21
Dr. Econ -- If you do not want to take the word of a majority of scientists, you need to perform your own tests. The first test would be to visit a greenhouse (you know those all glass buildings) in some northern latitude.
I would be interested in hearing your proof that the earth is not flat. Are you going to listen to all those paid off scientist at NASA?
#22
Discoveries I’ve made researching the breakdown of communication in modern society can help a lot to explain the Climate Denier problem. Unfortunately, the problem exists because BOTH sides of the communication process on climate change are in serious denial.
Consider Michael Mann’s statement “we only have until 2036 - 21 years -- to prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius, the standard cutoff point for “acceptable” levels of warming.” Because of human psychology, Michael has been pushed to summarize his observations in sound bites. Due to MAJOR LIMITATIONS in how the human brain learns language, most people are not able to understand his statement. They are not able to understand complex issues with many interacting variable. The best they can do is what I call Single Sentence Logic. That’s why politics and media broadcasts are done in sound BITES – i.e. single sentences. This is why climate deniers ACTUALLY BELIEVE a cold winter anywhere is proof global warming is nonsense. They CAN’T intuitively comprehend how climate changes around the world and that this thing scientists call “average” temperature can actually mean something.
Let me re-emphasize this: THEY CANNOT INTUITIVELY COMPREHEND THIS. So, providing more data doesn’t help. It creates more confusion. Of course, people don’t want to admit it. As modern culture grew in complexity, and people were barraged with this complexity, they created “street smart” workarounds to get by. The problem is, we have now reached a level of technology and social system complexity where the workarounds don’t work anymore. With the radical extremes we hear from our government leaders and the media, it is not a stretch to say those discussions are not distinguishable from what we would hear in an insane asylum.
To understand Mann’s statement, people would have to be able to understand the significance of 2 degrees C, what it means to assign a date to that temperature change, and what impact on human lifestyles would result. Most people don’t understand any of these. And this is where climate EXPLAINERS also fall very short. I have repeatedly told climate leaders NOT to answer YES, to the question, “do we still have time to save ourselves?” It’s a bogus question. So, start out with the answer NO! Use the shock that will cause to explain what has already been lost and can NEVER be recovered even in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. Provide clear sound bites for this: 80% of north American wildlife GONE! 60% of coral reefs GONE; etc. etc. We no longer have time to save ourselves from those losses. They’re GONE.
The second response should outline the real crisis humanity faces at 2-C temp rise. Most people still think it just means a longer summer at the beach; or, at worst, some sea level rise. But they can care less about it because the only people that they think will get hurt are the rich people who can afford houses along the beach. They need to know why they should really be afraid of this. AT 2-C rise, agriculture in California and the great plains will FAIL! It will also fail in Africa and Asia. World wide famine will occur and BILLIONS of people will die. And no level of technology can be developed in the short time we have to grow the needed food when the water is gone. At 3 feet of sea level rise, 1/3 of the sewer systems of Miami and Tampa go under water. Hundreds of millions of people in Asia are flooded out of their homes.
The climate deniers will then REALLY become deniers. “God will save us”. Or, “nothing this bad can really happen. The climate has always been changing. Things will get better.” That’s where the climate believers have to live our belief in science. We need to create a social compact among ourselves that provides mutual support for the actions we put in place to survive, and let the deniers OPT-OUT of the compact based on their beliefs that nothing bad will happen. When this process is put in place, the arguments will STOP!
At least for awhile. As the crises become reality, the deniers will beg for help – because they didn’t know better: “there was no proof.” Unfortunately, the lifeboats won’t be able to hold more people.
And how big will this “adjustment” be? The planet currently has more than 7B people. That is, more people are alive today than ever lived during the entire 2 million year history of our species up to the year 1900. The Human Footprint Network provides studies which estimated the MAXIMUM carrying capacity of the planet to be between 1.5B – 2B BEFORE ADJUSTING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE. With climate change, it will be lower. That’s the change that’s coming, just due to pollution and natural resource depletion. And people alive today will get to see it. This is the detail required for the message that must be told.
#23
bnappi -- I think you have provided sound reasoning for why our species will not survive.
#24
What do you mean 'our'?
I'm out of here!
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Wow! A fossil fuel free world! One can always hope! Something tells me if SHAFTA goes through, we'll have to adapt as a species to learn how to breath natural gas, swim in nuclear waste, eat coal and drink oil. Call your representative!
FYI, A pretty fair rant on the TPP: Treasonous Preparation for the Plummet in which Thom is mentioned..