Was Confusion Over Global Warming a Con Job?
From the ABC News in the USA: Was Confusion Over Global Warming a Con Job? As usual the full article has more details but I have lifted selected quotes below:
[North] American attitudes about global warming are shifting, according to a new poll by ABC News, Time magazine and Stanford University — but it has taken years for the public perception of the problem to catch up with the warnings.
That lack of concern may have been just what big oil wanted.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ross Gelbspan blames a 15-year misinformation campaign by the oil and coal industries.
“The point of this campaign was not necessarily to persuade the public that global warming isn’t happening,” Gelbspan said. “It was to persuade the public that there is this state of confusion.”
A 1998 memo by the American Petroleum Institute said, “Victory will be achieved when … average citizens recognize uncertainties in climate science.”
A few oil companies, led by BP, have changed their tune and are now aggressively addressing the problem. But some continue to promote the idea there are “uncertainties in the science.”
Like I said the other day, Fear Uncertianty and Doubt! You may wish to check out Ross Gelbspan’s site. He keeps quite an active eye out for industry dis-information. — DS
Technorati Tags: climate change, debunking, disinformation, energy, environment, gagged, global warming, hype, Industry, Kyoto Protocol, meltdown, Oil Industry, politics, Ross Gelbspan, USA, weather
