|
Papers
- -100 Companies Provide 71 Percent of CO2 (StanceCap.com)
"According to a recent report by George Mason and Yale universities, more than half of Americans (58%) believe climate change is mostly human-caused. As a result, more and more people try to manage the carbon emissions of their lifestyle. They buy electric vehicles or put solar panels on their roofs. Maybe they eat less beef and if they do buy beef, bring their own bag to the supermarket. Everything helps, but there’s one thing that really has a big impact on reducing emissions that receives little attention."
"In order to explain this let’s go back to this past summer, when CDP, in conjunction with Climate Accountability Institute, released a report detailing that 100 companies have been responsible for ~71% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions."
"That’s a staggering number." 02-18
- -C3 Headlines: Climate Change Denier (c3headlines.com)
Provides data, such as that Europe has cooled some in recent years. Climate models, however, predicted cooling of Europe, which is why it is called "climate change," not "climate warming." The website emphasizes that ocean surface temperatures have not been increasing. That was unexpected. Closer viewing, however, revealed that deep ocean temperature has been rising and that oceans have absorbed over 95 percent of the increasing overall temperature rise. The rise in deep ocean temperature is very bad news. Deep ocean water contains a huge amount of frozen methane. A couple of degrees increase in temperature could release massive amounts of methane into the air. 02-15
- -Climate Change Deniers Attack Pope's Letter (MSNBC News)
"Those who deny the reality or risk of climate change are dead wrong, according to Paul N. Edwards, a professor of information at the University of Michigan. Edwards is the author of a definitive book on the creation of global climate models and, in a recent debunking interview with NBC News, he untangled the intentional misinformation out there about our warming planet." 06-15
- -Climate Skepticism Creeping into Classrooms (Undark.org)
"Conservative groups are challenging climate science education in schools. They’ve identified a winning tactic in Florida."
- -Corporate Interests Stall San Francisco's Green Power Plan (Truth-Out.org)
"Community choice aggregation (CCA) is probably the most boring and benign-sounding name possible for one of the most radical policy mechanisms actually within reach today. Aggregation cuts middlemen utilities out of the process of deciding where electrical, gas, and heat energy come from. Most importantly, aggregation programs allow local communities to determine how ratepayer surpluses will be spent. Fitting the nonprofit, public purpose of aggregation, ratepayer surpluses are usually refunded as consumer savings. However, according to Fenn and other energy policy experts, the real transformative benefits of CCA - the litmus test, if you will - depends on whether ratepayer surpluses can be channeled into investments that are intended to green and localize the energy supply."
"Community choice aggregation was Paul Fenn's brainchild. Deregulation of energy markets in the late 1990s wreaked havoc on states like California, but Fenn saw something few others did. Beneath the procorporate agenda that allowed companies like Enron to capture billions of dollars from the public and crash the power grid was a window of opportunity to create a radically democratic reorganization of the economy. It would require subverting the big energy corporations and utilities, however."
" 'San Francisco is the most important city right now for fighting the climate crisis because we have this opportunity to do the community buildout of green energy through CCA.' " 08-13
- -Dr Soon's Ties to Fossil-Fuel Industry Revealed (New York Times)
"One of the names they invoke most often is Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who claims that variations in the sun’s energy can largely explain recent global warming."
"He has accepted more than $1.2 million in money from the fossil-fuel industry over the last decade while failing to disclose that conflict of interest in most of his scientific papers."
"Though often described on conservative news programs as a 'Harvard astrophysicist,' Dr. Soon is not an astrophysicist and has never been employed by Harvard. He is a part-time employee of the Smithsonian Institution with a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering." 02-15
- -States Supporting Climate Change Deniers (Time.com)
"An investigation in Florida has revealed that employees at the state’s environmental agency were ordered not to use the words “global warming” or “climate change.” But Florida isn’t the only state that’s tried to scrub the phrases from the English language." 03-15
- -Study: The Sun's Natural Cycles Have Not Caused Global Warming (PCMag.com)
"A new study released by NASA provides further evidence that greenhouse gases are the main driving force behind global warming."
" 'The fact that we still see a positive imbalance despite the prolonged solar minimum isn't a surprise given what we've learned about the climate system,' explained James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. 'But it's worth noting because this provides unequivocal evidence that the sun is not the dominant driver of global warming,' " 09-12
- -The Top Deniers of Climate Change (MotherJones.com)
"Meet the 12 loudest members of the chorus claiming that global warming is a joke and that CO2 emissions are actually good for you." 12-11
- -Trump and Climate Change (Truth-Out.org)
"Steve Horn, a writer and researcher at DeSmogBlog.com and a freelance investigative journalist, believes that, while Trump and the people he is bringing into power spell disaster for the planet, even the Democratic Party wouldn't do nearly enough to contend with ACD." 11-16
- American Energy Alliance (AmericanEnergyAlliance.org)
"Founded in May, 2008, The American Energy Alliance ('AEA') is a not-for-profit organization that engages in grassroots public policy advocacy and debate concerning energy and environmental policies."
"AEA believes that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society. AEA believes that government policies should be predictable, simple and technology neutral." 09-12
- American Enterprise Institute Pays Scientists to Debunk Climate Change Report (SourceWatch.org)
"In February 2007, The Guardian (UK) reported that AEI was offering scientists and economists $10,000 each, 'to undermine a major climate change report' from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). AEI asked for 'articles that emphasise the shortcomings' of the IPCC report, which 'is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science.' AEI visiting scholar Kenneth Green made the $10,000 offer 'to scientists in Britain, the US and elsewhere,' in a letter describing the IPCC as 'resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent.' " [7]
"The Guardian reported further that AEI 'has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil, and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees,' added The Guardian. [8]" 02-12
- American Petroleum Institute (API.org)
"The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry." 09-12
- American for Prosperity Institute (AmericansforProsperity.org)
"Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP is an organization of grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state, and federal levels. AFP grassroots activists advocate for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint." 09-12
- Big Oil Prepared for Climate Change While Denying Change (Los Angeles Times)
"As many of the world’s major oil companies — including Exxon, Mobil and Shell — joined a multimillion-dollar industry effort to stave off new regulations to address climate change, they were quietly safeguarding billion-dollar infrastructure projects from rising sea levels, warming temperatures and increasing storm severity." 12-15
- CO2 Is Not the Only Driver of Climate (SkepticalScience.com)
"The industrial contribution of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere differs from its natural counterparts in fundamental ways. This human influence is happening very rapidly, is not cyclical, and pushes the climate continually and relentlessly in the single direction of warming."
"Over the last 30 years of direct satellite observation of the Earth’s climate, many natural influences including orbital variations, solar and volcanic activity, and oceanic conditions like El Nino (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) have either had no effect or promoted cooling conditions."
"Despite these natural oppositions, global temperatures have steadily risen throughout that time."
"While natural processes continue to introduce short term variability, the unremitting rise of CO2 from industrial activities has become the dominant factor in determining our planet’s climate now and in the years to come." 06-12
- Clean Coal USA (CleanCoalUSA.org)
"The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is a partnership of the industries involved in producing electricity from coal." Coal plants are the top source of human-caused CO2 pollution on the earth. 09-12
- Climate Deniers Rebuked (ClimateCrocks.com)
Demonstrates how arguments of climate change deniers are incorrect according to science.
- Climate Change Denial Takes a Toll (InsideClimateNews.org)
"Climate denial campaigns have helped slow the public's acceptance of man-made climate change and delay political action for years, but a new study published last Thursday finds these contrarian arguments have also had an impact on climate scientists."
"Scientists spend time and resources addressing denialists' debunked claims in a way the scientific community has never done, said Stephan Lewandowsky, a cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol in England and lead author of the new study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change. Researchers also often downplay future climate risks to avoid being labeled an 'alarmist' by climate contrarians." 01-17
- Climate Change Denier Heartland Institute (Heartland Institute)
"CAFE standards require car and truck manufacturers to produce fleets of vehicles that meet government –determined fuel economy levels. The Obama administration has dramatically raised those standards, which will increase the cost of cars and trucks by thousands of dollars. High CAFE standards also increase highway fatalities and don’t significantly reduce emissions. Instead of increasing CAFE, Congress should abolish them." 10-11
- Climate Change Denier: Competitive Enterprise Institute (Wikipedia.org)
"In March 1992, CEI’s founder Fred Smith said of anthropogenic climate change: 'Most of the indications right now are it looks pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more benign planet, more rain, richer, easier productivity to agriculture.' "[10]
"In May 2006, CEI's global warming policy activities attracted attention as it embarked upon an ad campaign with two television commercials [10]. These ads promote carbon dioxide as a positive factor in the environment and argue that global warming is not a concern. One ad focuses on the message that CO2 is misrepresented as a pollutant, stating that 'it’s essential to life. We breathe it out. Plants breathe it in... They call it pollution. We call it life.'[11] The other states that the world's glaciers are 'growing, not melting... getting thicker, not thinner.'[11] It cites Science articles to support its claims. However, the editor for Science stated that the ad 'misrepresents the conclusions of the two cited Science papers... by selective referencing'. The author of the articles, Curt Davis, director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said CEI was misrepresenting his previous research to inflate their claims. 'These television ads are a deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate,' Davis said.[12]" 01-13
- Climate Change Denier: Gary Novak (Pravda - Russia)
Editor's Note: Gary Novak, who claims to be a mushroom physiologist, combines scientific terminology with misleading information. Awesome Library includes this paper as an example of a "climate change denier" falsely claiming that scientific studies and data indicate that the climate is fine. Awesome Library staff recommend comparing Novak's information, explanations, and conclusions with those of peer-reviewed, scientific sources on climate change, such as NASA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Scientific American, and Nature. 02-14
- Climate Change Denier: Senator James Inhofe (Wikipedia.org)
"Inhofe, former chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, does not believe that human activities cause climate change.[32]"
"Inhofe often repeats his claim that human influenced climate change is a hoax and impossible because 'God’s still up there.' and that it is 'outrageous' and arrogant for people to believe human beings are 'able to change what He is doing in the climate.' [35]"
"In the 2008 election cycle, Inhofe’s largest campaign donors represented the oil and gas ($446,900 in donations), leadership PACs ($316,720) and electric utilities ($221,654) industries/categories.[22][23] In 2010, his largest donors represented the oil and gas ($429,950) and electric utilities ($206,654).[24]" 02-13
- Climate Change Deniers Arguments (Grist.org)
Provides "a complete listing of the articles in 'How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic,' a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming." 02-14
- Climate Change Deniers: Politicians (Barackobama.com)
Provides a list of politicians who deny human-caused climate change. 02-14
- Climate Change Myths (SkepticalScience.com)
"Here is a summary of global warming and climate change myths, sorted by recent popularity vs what science says. Click the response for a more detailed response." 06-12
- Crossroads GPS (CrossRoadsGPS.org)
"Crossroads GPS is a policy and grassroots advocacy organization that is committed to educating, equipping and mobilizing millions of American citizens to take action on the critical economic and legislative issues that will shape our nation’s future in the years ahead."
"Our goal is to provide a clear road map for concerned Americans on the most consequential issues facing our country, empowering them to set the direction of policymaking in Washington rather than being the disenfranchised victims of it." 09-12
- Debunking Climate Change Deniers (Union of Concerned Scientists)
"The overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that global warming is real, primarily caused by human activity, and a serious threat to our future. Yet media extremists, partisan think tanks, and special interest groups funded by fossil fuel and related industries continue to raise doubts in the minds of the public." 02-12
- Debunking Climate Lies (ThinkProgress.org)
Shows temperature averages by decade since 1880. 02-12
- Editorial: Climate Scientists and Smear Campaigns (CNN News)
" I worked on climate change research that indicated the world is a lot warmer today than it was in the past. Because that research caught the public's attention when it was released in 1998, I became one of dozens of climate researchers who have been systematically targeted by a well-funded anti-science campaign. Ironically, as these attacks have grown, the scientific facts have become ever clearer. Climate scientists know the world is warming and human activity -- particularly burning coal and oil -- is the primary driver. The idea of addressing climate change threatens some people in the fossil fuel industry. And a vocal minority of corporate interests and their ideological allies are spending a lot of money to hijack the public debate about climate change." 03-12
- Editorial: ExxonMobil Admits to Basic Climate Science (ThinkProgress.org)
"The Washington Post reports Sunday that ExxonMobil has a far saner view of global warming than the national Republican party."
"Fred Hiatt, the paper’s centrist editorial page editor, drops this bombshell:"
'With no government action, Exxon experts told us during a visit to The Post last week, average temperatures are likely to rise by a catastrophic (my word, not theirs) 5 degrees Celsius, with rises of 6, 7 or even more quite possible.' "
"This is indeed basic climate science."
"Of course, thanks to excellent reporting by InsideClimate News, we now know ExxonMobil had been told by its own scientists in the 1970s and 1980s that climate change was human-caused and would reach catastrophic levels without reductions in carbon emissions. Yes, this is same ExxonMobil that then became the largest funder of disinformation on climate science and attacks on climate scientists until they were surpassed by the Koch Brothers in recent years — but that is a different (tragic) story." 12-15
- Editorial: Humanity vs the Climate Villains (Truth-out.org)
"The cover of a recent issue of Scientific American reads, 'How We Conquered the Planet, Our Species Wielded the Ultimate Weapon: Cooperation.' When I read that, I nearly choked on my kale smoothie. Humans once cooperated?"
"The article explained that 70,000 years ago many different human species inhabited the earth, but after that Homo sapiens eventually drove other archaic human species, like Neanderthals, into extinction, ultimately colonizing the entire planet. Homo sapiens flourished over other human species because of our unique grasp of scientific cause and effect, and a likely unique genetic propensity for 'cooperation with unrelated individuals' i.e. people outside our family or sphere." 11-15
- Fossil Fuel Ads Dominate (CNN News)
"With nearly two months before Election Day on Nov. 6, estimated spending on television ads promoting coal and more oil and gas drilling or criticizing clean energy has exceeded $153 million this year, according to an analysis by The New York Times of 138 ads on energy issues broadcast this year by the presidential campaigns, political parties, energy companies, trade associations and third-party spenders."
"That tally is nearly four times the $41 million spent by clean-energy advocates, the Obama campaign and Democratic groups to defend the president’s energy record or raise concerns about global warming and air pollution. "Some of the mightiest players in the oil, gas and coal industries are financing an aggressive effort to defeat him, or at least press him to adopt policies that are friendlier to fossil fuels. And the president’s former allies in promoting wind and solar power and caps on greenhouse gases? They are disenchanted and sitting on their wallets." 09-12
- Governors Who Deny Climate Change (ThinkProgress.org)
"Nationwide, 16 governors explicitly reject the reality of mainstream climate science, up from 15 before the elections. The number that have been hostile to the idea of cutting carbon emissions and have not said explicitly whether they deny mainstream climate science decreased by one, from ten to nine. There is one fewer in the group who accepts the science to a degree but have mixed records when it comes to acting on that knowledge — earning them an orange 'mixed' label. The number of governors with strong climate and clean energy records and who accept the science dropped by one, from 13 to 12."
"Many governors are openly hostile to mainstream climate science and the idea of cutting wasteful carbon pollution." 02-15
- Heartland Institute (Sourcewatch.org)
"The Heartland Institute, according to the Institute's web site, is a nonprofit 'think tank' that questions the reality and import of climate change, second-hand smoke health hazards, and a host of other issues that might seem to require government regulation." 12-15
- Heartland Institute Provides Media Denying Climate Change (PRWatch.org)
"This year, ALEC has chosen its long-time partner, the Heartland Institute, to help host the session. Heartland is so extreme on the issue of climate change that it sought to equate people who believe the climate is changing with the Unabomber, through a billboard campaign that featured a mugshot of Ted Kaczynski with the line: "I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?" Heartland lost numerous funders in response to a citizens campaign about the ad last year." 08-13
- Heartland Projects (Heartland.org)
Heartland opposes climate change science with what it calls "free-market environmentalism." 05-12
- How to Talk to a Climate Change Skeptic (Grist.org)
"Here is a summary of global warming and climate change myths, sorted by recent popularity vs what science says. Click the response for a more detailed response." 06-12
- Ivar Giaever (Wikipedia.org)
"As part of the 62nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Giaever referred to agreement with the evidence of climate change as a 'religion' and commented on the significance of the apparent rise in temperature when he stated, 'What does it mean that the temperature has gone up 0.8 degrees [Kelvin/Celsius]? Probably nothing.' Referring to the selection of evidence in his presentation, Giaever stated 'I pick and choose when I give this talk just the way the previous speaker (Mario Molina) picked and chose when he gave his talk.' Giaever concluded his presentation with a pronouncement: 'Is climate change pseudoscience? If I’m going to answer the question, the answer is: absolutely.'[15][16]
"Giaever is currently a science advisor at The Heartland Institute.[17]" 12-15
- Koch Influence in Politics and Policy (Motherjones.com)
"In 1958, Fred Koch, the founder of the Midwestern oil and cattle ranching empire that would become Koch Industries, became a charter member of the John Birch Society, the fiercely anti-communist organization whose members believed Soviet influence was infecting all aspects of American society. The Birchers attempted to place their weight on "the political scales…as fast and as far" as they could, but their movement was quickly sidelined to the ideological fringe. Two of Fred's four sons, Charles and David, have carried forward the conservative torch, and they have succeeded where their father and his allies failed. Their father's company, meanwhile, has grown into a multibillion-dollar conglomerate that is the second-largest private corporation in the country."
"Though the Koch surname has become synonymous with political spending, the family's philanthropy has flowed to a wide range of causes. A significant portion has gone to think tanks and policy institutes that advance the brothers' free-market beliefs. And Charles Koch has lavished millions on universities to bolster their study and teaching of this school of economics. But Koch contributions have also established cancer research centers, funded ballets and preserved cultural institutions, and provided grants and scholarships to students." 11-14
- List of Companies Supporting ALEC (PRWatch.org)
ALEC works to deny climate change. 08-13
- Meteorologists Do Not Agree with Department of Energy's Director (Grist.org)
"Weather scientists from the American Meteorological Society wrote Energy Secretary Rick Perry a letter on Wednesday informing him that he lacks a 'fundamental understanding' of climate science." 06-17
- Michael Mann Responds to Climate Change Deniers (Guardian.co.uk)
"in his book, Mann warns that 'public discourse has been polluted now for decades by corporate-funded disinformation – not just with climate change but with a host of health, environmental and societal threats.' The implications for the planet are grim, he adds." 05-12
- Myths Given to Deny Climate Change (SkepticalScience.com)
"Here is a summary of global warming and climate change myths, sorted by recent popularity vs what science says. Click the response for a more detailed response. You can also view them sorted by taxonomy, by popularity, in a print-friendly version, with short URLs or with fixed numbers you can use for permanent references." 10-14
- Myths Used to Challenge Climate Science (SkepticalScience.com)
In the left column, provides some of the most popular myths for denying climate science. 12-15
- Sea Ice "Recovery" Denied (ClimateCrocks.com)
"The Arctic has lost 75 percent of its summer sea ice volume over the past three decades primarily due to human-caused global warming, but in any given year the weather can act to either preserve more or melt more sea ice." 09-13
- Study: Media Failing to Identify Ties of Climate Change Deniers to Fossil Fuel Industry (UCSUSA.org)
"The investigation surveyed climate and energy stories published or aired in 2011 and 2012 by eight top news organizations to see if they reported funding sources for eight prominent policy groups that dispute climate science."
"The climate contrarian groups included in this investigation are the American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, Institute for Energy Research (and its political arm, American Energy Alliance), and Manhattan Institute for Policy Research."
"During the last decade, each of these policy groups was funded by at least one of the following benefactors: Exxon Mobil; General Motors; the American Petroleum Institute (the U.S. oil and gas industry’s trade association); and three family foundations controlled by Charles G. and David H. Koch, owners of Koch Industries, a conglomerate with oil, gas and coal holdings." 08-13
- Top U.S. Companies Pay to Discredit Climate Change Facts (The Guardian)
"An analysis of 28 Standard & Poor 500 publicly traded companies by researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists exposed a sharp disconnect in some cases between PR message and less visible activities, with companies quietly lobbying against climate policy or funding groups which work to discredit climate science."
"Peabody Energy Corporation, which produces coal, was ranked the most obstructionist of any of the companies. It spent more than $33m to lobby Congress against environmental measures and supporting trade groups and think tanks which spread disinformation about climate science, the researchers found." 05-12
- Who's Paying for Climate Change Deniers? (Time.com)
"Fossil-fuel companies like Exxon and Peabody Energy — which obviously have a business interest in slowing any attempt to reduce carbon emissions — have combined with traditionally conservative corporate groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and conservative foundations like the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity, to raise doubts about the basic validity of what is, essentially, a settled scientific truth. That message gets amplified by conservative think tanks — like the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute — and then picked up by conservative media outlets on the Internet and cable TV." 10-11
- Why Climate Change Deniers Are Wrong (Scientific American)
"Consensus science is a phrase often heard today in conjunction with anthropogenic global warming (AGW). Is there a consensus on AGW? There is. The tens of thousands of scientists who belong to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Medical Association, the American Meteorological Society, the American Physical Society, the Geological Society of America, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and, most notably, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change all concur that AGW is in fact real. Why?"
"It is not because of the sheer number of scientists. After all, science is not conducted by poll. As Albert Einstein said in response to a 1931 book skeptical of relativity theory entitled 100 Authors against Einstein, 'Why 100? If I were wrong, one would have been enough.' The answer is that there is a convergence of evidence from multiple lines of inquiry—pollen, tree rings, ice cores, corals, glacial and polar ice-cap melt, sea-level rise, ecological shifts, carbon dioxide increases, the unprecedented rate of temperature increase—that all converge to a singular conclusion. AGW doubters point to the occasional anomaly in a particular data set, as if one incongruity gainsays all the other lines of evidence. But that is not how consilience science works. For AGW skeptics to overturn the consensus, they would need to find flaws with all the lines of supportive evidence and show a consistent convergence of evidence toward a different theory that explains the data." 03-16
|