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Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science

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U.S. Climate Envoy Slams Inhofe's Attempts To Influence Copenhagen

At the U.S. delegation press conference this afternoon on the final day of the Barcelona climate talks, I asked U.S. deputy climate change envoy Jonathan Pershing what effect, if any, Senator James Inhofe (R-Denial) might have on the process in Copenhagen, and whether GOP intransigence is hurting Obama’s ability to come up with a firm number on U.S. emissions reductions.


Read more: U.S. Climate Envoy Slams Inhofe's Attempts To Influence Copenhagen

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What Would Frank Luntz Do with the Copenhagen Climate Treaty?

When I'm trying to unravel public relations spin, I frequently find myself asking WWFLD (What Would Frank Luntz Do)?

As you'll recall Frank Luntz is a chief Republican spin-doctor famous for his memo on climate change.

We have seen a lot of spindoctoring at the Barcelona climate talks underway this week in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate treaty summit to be held in mid-December.

As I've pointed out in previous posts, the most egregious spin has been the attempts by politicians to re-frame a successful outcome in Copenhagen as being a "politically binding" deal as opposed to a "legally binding" one.

"Politically binding" is great Luntz-speak. The term looks impressive, but is completely meaningless.

So WWFLD?My guess is that his communications memo would look something like this:


MEMO: Copenhagen Agreement “legally binding” language recommendation

Situational Analysis:


There is heavy pressure on the United States and other countries like the EU, Denmark, Canada and Australia to deliver a “legally binding” agreement at the upcoming UNFCCC summit in Copenhagen, Denmark scheduled for mid-December.


Read more: What Would Frank Luntz Do with the Copenhagen Climate Treaty?

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Coal Industry Coloring Book Spins "Clean Coal" for Kids

Someone just sent one of the most ridiculous pieces of propaganda the coal lobby has produced to date.

Put out by the West Virginia Coal Association and their Friends of Coal front group, the "Let's Learn About Coal" coloring book, pretty much speaks for itself:

clean coal lobby coloring book

This coloring book is just dying to be edited and mashed, so fire up your photoshop and the best three "new versions" of this get a free copy of our new book Climate Cover Up.

You can download a full copy of the coloring book here: "Let's Learn About Coal."


Read more: Coal Industry Coloring Book Spins "Clean Coal" for Kids

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Who is the Bernie Madoff of Climate Change?

DeSmog co-founder James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore have been taking to the airwaves regularly over the last few weeks to tackle recent news stories and promote Climate Cover-Up.

On Monday, Jim was interviewed by Josepha Planta of www.thecommentary.ca – you can listen to the interview here.

On Tuesday, Jim and Richard were featured on Thom Hartmann’s Midday show on WYPR – one of the most listened-to progressive talk shows in America. Also featured during the same show was notorious (and widely discredited) climate denier Fred Singer. Singer’s argument of the day, as far as we could tell, was that the fact that it was a nice day meant climate change was not real.

Dr. Cindy Parker, Co-Director of the Program on Global Sustainability and Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was another guest. She put the perspective of real, credible, and up-to-date climate scientists well:

“I am uncomfortable with the fact that radio talk shows such as this continue to give Dr. Singer airtime to present his views as if they were science and as if there was still some scientific debate…because there isn’t any scientific debate. 2500 scientists from around the world versus Dr. Fred Singer – that’s not a reasonable debate.”

As Jim put it “Asking Fred Singer for advice on climate change is like asking Bernie Madoff to manage your money.” Touché.

You can listen to that show in full here.


Read more: Who is the Bernie Madoff of Climate Change?

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A politically binding climate change agreement is great... if you're a politician

The biggest news coming out of the Barcelona climate talks being held this week is the re-framing of a successful climate change treaty as being one that is "politically binding" as opposed to "legally binding."

With all the long hours I've been putting into to covering these climate talks, I'm sure my wife is wishing our marriage was a politically binding agreement, as opposed to a legal one.

This double-speak-aganza started earlier this week with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen telling Reuters that, "it is a challenge for every single industrialised country in the world to deal with the climate change issue and that's why we are working very strongly to reach a politically binding agreement in Copenhagen..."

President Rasmussen said he was optimistic that a politically binding deal could be reached in Copenhagen. No kidding he's optimistic. Who wouldn't sign on the dotted line to an agreement that has absolutely no ramifications if the terms are not met?


Read more: A politically binding climate change agreement is great... if you're a politician

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Groups Impersonated by Big Coal Testify Before Congress

DeSmogBlog spoke this week to one of several groups impersonated by Big Coal to block the Waxman Markey Bill, and they are not happy.

Lisa Maatz, director of public policy and government relations for the American Association of University Women (AAUW) had just finished testifying before a Congressional hearing in the fraudulent letter scam:

“It was very clear to me that this was specifically targeting certain members using the names of reputable groups because those groups could be influential with those members, and it wasn’t just a fluke, it wasn’t just an accident.”

No doubt. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a coal industry umbrella group, is on track to spend an incredible $44 million on lobbying efforts in 2009. This includes almost $3 million dedicated to “outreach to individuals and groups representing the interests of minorities, seniors, business, and veterans.”

<!--EndFragment--> Bonner and Associates sent out numerous forged letters misrepresenting just such grassroots groups. In the case of the now-closed AAUW Charlottesville office, Bonner used the personal address of the former chapter president and the name of the late and well-loved AAUW historian Anne Waldner.

Maatz wonders: “How did they come up with that name? Clearly some work was done to find something that would feel on the surface as legitimate.”


Read more: Groups Impersonated by Big Coal Testify Before Congress

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SuperFreaks: Smart, arrogant, ill-informed

At the risk of piling on, we'd like to add our voice to those who are disappointed by the clumsy unprofessionalism of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's new book, SuperFreakonomics - at least in regard to its handling of climate change.

Assuming that Levitt and Dubner's foray into disinformation was accidental rather than intentional, I would speculate that there are two reasons why the authors bungled this section. First, they made a popular assumption that because someone is smart about one thing, they are smart about everything. Second, they were happy to get their information from people who were basing their opinions more on their world view than on the careful calculations of actual science.

If you are interested in the specific factual weaknesses in SuperFreakonomics, you can get a long version from Joe Romm at RealProgress or a shorter, but equally devastating dissection from Tim Lambert at Deltoid. (I especially like the clarity of Tim's headline: "Why Everything in SuperFreakonomics about Global Warming is Wrong.")

For the defensive, but ultimately unconvincing response from Dubner, you can check out the SuperFreakonomics blog on the New York Times site.


Read more: SuperFreaks: Smart, arrogant, ill-informed

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Barcelona Climate Talks: US Congress, Science and International Treaties

I'm in Barcelona, Spain for the last round of climate negotiations prior to the big show set for mid-December in Copenhagen. I just touched down, so pardon any poor grammar, I'm a little bleary eyed at the moment.

The goal of the Barcelona meeting is to whittle down the final document that will be presented to leaders at the Copenhagen international climate summit. This document will ultimately become an international treaty that will be the road map for worldwide greenhouse gas emission cuts over the coming decade.

The Barcelona meeting is also a time for political brinkmanship between nations to begin. First out the gate this morning was Yvo de Boer, the man in charge of the entire United Nations treaty negotiation process, who had choice words for the United States.

"We need a clear target from the United States in Copenhagen," said de Boer. "That is an essential component of the puzzle."

De Boer's words were chosen carefully, as most are in such negotiations. By singling out the United States he is setting the tone for the week.

This isn't surprising given that it is still unclear what the US is willing to commit to - either domestically with their clean energy bill currently making its way through the US Senate, or internationally with the US negotiating team continuing to waffle on the important issues of financial support for developing nations, and a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

Lofty rhetoric and no details is the name of the game for the US negotiating team.


Read more: Barcelona Climate Talks: US Congress, Science and International Treaties

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Halloween Murder Mystery: Who is killing Copenhagen?

With premature obituary notices popping up all over, it's probably time to ask: who is killing Copenhagen? Who is responsible for the slasher attacks on the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December?

The wound have been oozing for a couple of weeks now, with the most recent and most worrying being revealed by the United Nations itself.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said last week that it is “unrealistic” to expect a binding treaty from Copenhagen. Janos Pasztor, director of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's Climate Change Support Team, followed up saying there was no time left to seal deals that will commit the world to actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This bit of pessimism caused such a stir that the secretary-general himself jumped out on Wednesday to resuscitate the Copenhagen corpse, saying - unconvincingly - that, "we are still keeping ambitious expectations and targets." Then he redefined "success" to include a conference result that did NOT yield a legally binding agreement.

 

So, what zombie army is responsible for the world coming into a long-anticipated climate conference with no intention of making the long-delayed climate commitments?

 


Read more: Halloween Murder Mystery: Who is killing Copenhagen?

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A Scary Halloween for the Climate Denial Industry

The amount of coverage we've received since the launch of Jim and Richard's new book, Climate Cover Up, has been amazing.

The fact that we're just getting warmed up is likely putting a scare into the think tankers, scientists-for-hire and fossil fuel front groups; from the emails we've been getting from such folks so far, I have no doubt we're putting the scare in them.

I thought I would do a quick "monster" scary list of all the coverage so far to wish all of our supporters a happy Halloween and scare the pants off our critics:

[PS: for those of you yet to review Climate Cover Up, let me know when you do and I will put it out on a few of our "monster" Twitter, Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon accounts]

Climate Cover-Up: Blockbuster New Book Exposes Anatomy of Denial

The Invention of Lying about Climate Change

Climate Cover-Up / The Crusade to Deny Global Warming 

The great Climate Cover-Up

Weekend Opinionator: Are Americans Cooling on Global Warming?

Climate Cover Up reveals how zombies are made

Did you hear the joke about business and global warming?

Climate Cover Up: the crusade to deny global warming

Plain evil and very wrong

Climate Cover-Up

‘Truth Squad’ to target climate-change journalists at COP15

Slamming the Climate Skeptic Scam

Number of Americans who believe in climate change drops, survey shows

Local authors take on climate change deniers

The Climate Change Mythbuster

New book outlines the PR effort behind climate-change skeptics

Blog Action Day: Read DeSmogBlog

The Yes Men Hoax is Nothing Compared to the 20-Year Hoax by Fossil Fuel Companies

Barack Obama in new global warming fight

Exposing The Lying Behind The Fight Against Climate Change Action

Trick or Treat for Climate Change


Read more: A Scary Halloween for the Climate Denial Industry

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About the climate cover-up

About the climate cover-up

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.

Although all public relations professionals are bound by a duty to not knowingly mislead the public, some have executed comprehensive campaigns of misinformation on behalf of industry clients on issues ranging from tobacco and asbestos to seat belts.

Lately, these fringe players have turned their efforts to creating confusion about climate change. This PR campaign could not be accomplished without the compliance of media as well as the assent and participation of leaders in government and business.

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