THE PLANK FEBRUARY 2, 2007
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I've seen plenty of news reports lately about how ExxonMobil is trying to burnish its public image by becoming more green-friendly. See this story in today's Financial Times, for example. The company has even promised to stop bankrolling the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which has waged a long disinformation campaign by attacking the science on global warming. This certainly sounds like good news, right?
That's what I thought, too. But today, right as the world's leading climate scientists are preparing to release the latest IPCC report--which will state that global warming has indeed begun and is "very likely" man-made--we get this story in the Guardian:
Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.
Of course, if there were any scientists out there who had legitimate complaints about the report, they could have worked with the IPCC and registered their objections during the drafting process. But that's not what AEI's going for. This is a smear campaign, intended to sow doubt about the IPCC report in the public mind. Nothing more.
So let's see: Exxon has donated $1.6 million to AEI over the years, and there's no indication that it plans to stop anytime soon. And that's not all. Two weeks ago, ExxposeExxon--a coalition of environmental groups, including the NRDC and the Sierra Club--asked Exxon whether it had cut off funds for all of the 43 organizations on its payroll that have attacked climate-change science. Exxon never replied. There's a strong suspicion that the company hasn't really decided to quit spreading confusion about global warming. Instead, it just stopped funding CEI and a few other unnamed groups in order to garner some positive press, and that's it. I believe "greenwashing" is the appropriate term here.
--Bradford Plumer
9 comments
NRDC I think.
- nancyirving
February 2, 2007 at 2:03am
I sometimes think oil company bashing goes too far. They didn't start the war in Iraq and it's not their fault gas is expensive But this is disgusting. By attempting to bribe scientists they are damaging the credibility of our profession. Someone at Exxons should be fired for this.
- WillPastor
February 2, 2007 at 2:27am
Although I agree with the main thrust of this piece, I would note that scientist with legitimate nits to pick with global warming theories are often merely shouted down rather than taken on based on the evidence (which is sad, because it gives CEI-types ammunition.)
- drlemaster
February 2, 2007 at 9:40am
The thing is that all the well-known scientists who claim that climate change isn't human caused ARE paid by organisations funded by Exxon.
- s.dresner
February 2, 2007 at 9:53am
I refer anyone interested to: Royal Society report http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=3793 Royal Society letter to Exxon http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/document.asp?tip=1&id=58 51 Union of Concerned Scientists report http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobi l-GlobalWarming-tobacco.html Exxon Secrets website http://www.exxonsecrets.org/ SourceWatch website http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceW atch
- s.dresner
February 2, 2007 at 10:14am
the notion that the CEI (which I know nothing about) "has waged a long disinformation campaign by has waged a long disinformation campaign by attacking the science on global warming. This certainly sounds ominous. What is a "disinformation campaign?" Are they deliberately suppressing information? Are they deliberately lying? What is "attacking the science on global warming"? That sounds really bad. Are they against science?
- ipuritani
February 2, 2007 at 12:03pm
Read the Royal Society report and the Union of Concerned Scientists report. The Royal Society explains the kind of lies and distortions that climate-change deniers have used. The Union of Concerned Scientists reveals how Exxon organised the campaign by taking over a network of scientists and organisations originally set up by the tobacco industry to deny that smoking is bad for health.
- s.dresner
February 2, 2007 at 12:35pm
Of course you could be right. This could be an evil cabal of corporate greedheads suppressing The Truth. But I'm suspicious of over the top language like that. Especially since Congress (both parties) has tried to strong arm ExxonMobile for supporting think tanks not to their liking. And since folks like Al Gore have been bobbing and weaving to avoid debating the issue with real opponents.
- ipuritani
February 2, 2007 at 12:45pm
I think the appropriate term is an FUD campaign (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%2C_uncertainty_a nd_doubt
- jtmodel
February 2, 2007 at 1:18pm