I wrote for Josh's Warpworld thing a while ago, focusing on the theme of Conflict in Culture - this article seems to exemplify this theme.
Though the article is written somewhat tongue-in-cheek instead of as a sober analysis, but to me it also is a signpost of how our cultural view of the effects we have on the world around us is changing. I find it more interesting in that regard, but the content is fun, too.arstechnica.com wrote:A little while back, word filtered out that Pope Francis was going to devote an encyclical to climate change. It's not much of a surprise; his tenure has featured a strong emphasis on caring for the poor, and the poor are in no position to air-condition, flood-proof, and bioengineer their way out of the worst impacts of climate change.
As part of the preparation for the encyclical, there's a meeting going on at the Vatican Science Academy that's focused on climate change. Guests include everyone from Ban Ki-moon to Nobel Prize winning scientists. Not on the guest list was the Heartland Institute, most notable for putting up a billboard suggesting that people who cared about climate change might be just as deranged as Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber.
When in Rome...
But Heartland decided to go to Rome anyway. I know this because someone has signed me up to its press mailing list, which offers up quotes from expertise-free "experts" that make you wonder whether some of them might need an intervention—or simply a trip back to Earth from whatever planet they seem to be inhabiting.
In the case of the meeting at the Vatican, Heartland starts off relatively restrained. "The Heartland Institute," its release says, "has brought real scientists to Rome this week to dissuade Pope Francis from lending his moral authority to the politicized and unscientific climate agenda of the United Nations."
While there are two people with scientific training among the people Heartland has brought, the group is also taking someone with a PhD in Scottish history and the former general counsel for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Virginia, along with Marc Morano, a former staffer for Sen. James Inhofe (the Oklahoma republican who has called climate change a hoax), who is now a full-time climate troll who publishes the contact information of scientists so they can be harassed. And Christopher Monckton, who is, well... a bit bonkers.
The group's president, Joseph Bast, is a bit less restrained, saying, "The Holy Father is being misled by ‘experts’ at the United Nations who have proven unworthy of his trust." And, of course, the real issue here—money—gets prominent billing, with the release warning the Pope that "there is no need for a radical reordering of global economies that will cause massive reductions in human freedom and prosperity."
If the idea of the Pope changing his mind because a bunch of fringe figures used some of the Koch's money to hop a plane to Rome amuses you, you should do your best to get on the Heartland mailing list as well. But in case you can't or won't sign up, I thought I'd share some of the gems that have appeared in my inbox over the last year or so.
Earth Day, Shmearth Day!
Heartland Science Director Jay Lehr also railed against Earth Day: "Anti-progress zealots began to realize EPA and environmental issues could be used to stop people from improving their lives by ensuring the economy could not advance and energy would never become inexpensive," he wrote. "Today’s Earth Day is all but a symbol of evil, managed by those who care not at all for humans and in fact do no good for nature or the animal world. Most activities are vile recriminations staged by those who wish to keep the poor just where they are: poor.”
On the same topic, Heartland also quotes one Alan Caruba, who is the founder of something called The National Anxiety Center: "Earth Day was declared in 1970 and for the past 45 years we have all been living in the Environmental Insane Asylum, being told over and over again to believe things that are the equivalent of Green hallucinations."
Heartland also pushed out a press release when President Obama gave a speech linking climate change to impacts on human health. Folks at Heartland didn't like it. “If President Barack Obama really was ‘committed to combating the health impacts of climate change and protecting the health of future generations,’" said Tom Harris, a mechanical engineer who wound up as the executive director of the International Climate Science Coalition, "he would promote an expansion of coal-fired electricity generation." Which is quite certainly the form of electricity generation that causes the most health problems.
Alan Caruba also made another appearance. In this case, he completely ignored any health implications in order to rant about, among other things, solar power. "Many sellers of solar panels for residents are using fraudulent claims, hyping the so-called economic benefits of these systems. If the public is made aware of the fraud, sales will cease except for the most brain-challenged people in the country," he wrote. He went on to say that "President Barack Obama is fully engaged in the huge ‘climate change’ hoax that lacks any basis in science."
Facts are hard
Caruba also came out with this whopper about the US plan to cut carbon emissions: "[Obama] failed to mention that such levels would be comparable to what they were in the U.S. Civil War era 150 years ago." 2005 emissions were 7.1 billion tons; Obama plans to cut that to 5.3 billion tonnes. That rate was actually last seen in the mid-1980s.
When the administration announced new rules governing the release of methane during drilling, which sane people might consider wasteful, Heartland blew another gasket. "Contrary to radical environmentalists’ claims, Methane is NOT an important greenhouse gas (GHG); it has a totally negligible impact on climate," said Fred Singer. Of course, methane currently has nearly 30 percent of the impact of carbon dioxide—not exactly "totally negligible." Singer has been involved with various think tanks that oppose any action on climate change for 25 years now.
Others just argued that despite the boom in fossil fuel production during Obama's term, the president was actually trying to push energy companies out of business. "Now that the United States is the world’s biggest energy producer—though suffering as a victim of its own success—President Obama is embarking on a crazed plan that will kick our nation’s oil-and-gas producers while they are down," said Marita Noon, the executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy. Meanwhile, the managing editor of Environment & Climate News, Sterling Burnett, said, "Once again, without any reason other than to please his radical environmental constituents, President Obama is making it harder for the oil and gas industry to do business."
That's just this year so far. With the majority of the year still to come, I'm sure there will be many other chances to enjoy the Heartland's missives. Though they do make me worry about these people—they seem so angry...