Category: Denial

Categories
Australia Denial Fossil fuels

November 13, 2008 – Coal industry tries to get some ‘love’

On this day, November 13, 2008, the Australian Coal Industry launches a propaganda (that’s what “public relations” is called when our official enemies do it) campaign, dangling the promise of “NewGenCoal.”

THE coal industry feels unloved. Its polling tells it Australians have no idea what, if anything, it is doing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions – and most say they’ve never heard of carbon capture and storage.

So the coalminers want to convert us. Today the Australian Coal Association launches a $1.5million ad campaign – and a $1million website – to tell us what it’s doing to develop what it calls “NewGenCoal”.

Association executive director Ralph Hillman predicted that carbon capture and storage would be commercially viable by 2017, and said the industry was investing $1 billion to ensure coal a future as a low-emission technology.

Colebatch, T. 2008. Coal industry reaches out for love. The Age, 13 November, p.3.

(Check how they put land-clearing and intensive agriculture AHEAD of fossil fuels!)

On this day the atmospheric PPM for carbon dioxide was roughly 385.

Now it is 419ish- but see here for the latest.

Why this matters. 

We need to remember just how much effort (you might even say energy) goes into trying to polish the turds…  How much the fossil fuel industry sector invests in trying to keep its legitimacy, and having people think well of it…

For an overview of Australian coal industry efforts, see https://theconversation.com/recycling-rules-carnival-of-coal-is-a-blast-from-the-pr-past-45819

What happened next?

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd played politics, failed to get his terrible legislation through. The climate wars. The ACA was wound up in 2013 or so I think, but the coal lobby did a reverse takeover of the Minerals Council of Australia.  My proof?  Scotty from Marketing and that lacquered lump…

Categories
Australia Denial United Kingdom

November 9, 1991 – Australian TV station SBS shows demented ‘”Greenhouse Conspiracy” ‘documentary’

On this day, November 9 in 1991, the Australian TV station  SBS shows ‘The Greenhouse Conspiracy’, a deluded documentary throwing shade on basic science, which had been broadcast in the UK on 12th August 1990.

The Institute of Public Affairs had bought and tried to get the ABC to show (see John Stone letter to Australian, 3 December 1990)

“This particular [program] concluded greenhouse was the product of a coalition of self-interested-researchers hungry for funds, politicians looking for a cause, journalists eager for a story.”

Cribb, J. 1991. The Greenhouse Conspiracy Effect. The Weekend Australian, 7-8 Dec, p.28

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was xxxppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – 

The Australian denialists were desperately flinging whatever mud they could. This was part of it all.

Why this matters. 

The lack of action on climate is not an accident. It is not TOTALLY the fault of “those evil guys over there” – there is inertia and stupidity in human systems, sure – but the guys who tried to stop anything getting done have names, and should be at the Hague…

What happened next?

Australian governments decided vague promises (of technology, trading, hopium) were an adequate response to the threat.  Civil society never managed to get its act together. The end (literally).

Other batshit crazy “documentaries” also got made – the last one that had any real traction was “The Great Global Warming Swindle” in 2007.

Categories
Denial Industry Associations Kyoto Protocol United States of America

November 5, 1997 – Global Climate Coalition co-ordinates an anti-Kyoto conference

On November 5, 1997, twenty five years ago today, the Global Climate Coalition [bunch of oil companies, automobile companies and assorted denialists] co-ordinates an anti-Kyoto conference. With the third meeting of the UNFCCC (United Nations agreement on climate) looming, denialists funded by the oil and car industries (among others), met to try to make life even harder for the Clinton Administration.

1997  “On November 5, the GCC coordinated a national conference opposing the Clinton Administration’s involvement in the Kyoto conference. The conference was sponsored by a number of radical anti-environmental organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, People for the West!, and the Environmental Conservation Organization  

A CLEAR view Vol 4, Number 16

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was xxxppm. At time of writing it was 416ppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

Why this matters

“Our” failure to act on climate is not JUST down to ignorance/laziness etc. It has also been helped on its way by determined and clever opponents of action.

What happened next

The Kyoto Protocol was agreed, but neither the USA or Australia ever ratified it. It limped into existence because Russia DID ratify it, as a quid pro quo for getting into the World Trade Organisation.   Kyoto was supposed to be replaced in 2012, but the 2009 Copenhagen meeting ended in chaos etc. And then Paris and… oh, what a shitshow.

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Australia Denial

November 3, 2000 – Australian denialists get American scientist to testify about Kyoto Protocol, smear IPCC

On this day, November 3 in 2000,  American scientist Richard Lindzen  testified to an Australian Senate investigation of Kyoto Protocol, at the behest of the denialist group that grandly and inanely took the name of a French chemist called  Lavoisier…

According to the final senate report

“Professor Richard Lindzen, a Professor of Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, questioned the idea of ‘scientific consensus’ of reports of the IPCC. He claimed that the IPCC has hundreds of scientists, each working on a couple of pages, with none ever polled to assent to the summary. This, he claimed, is used as a bludgeon for questioning. Further, he claimed that scientists permit this to happen for their own self-preservation and to maintain an interest in the science.”

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 369 or soppm. At time of writing it was 416ish ppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – 

Australia had extorted an absurdly good deal at the December 1997 climate conference in Kyoto, with a “reduction” target of … an 8% increase in emissions,  and a huge loophole for “avoided emissions” for deforestation.

But Prime Minister John Howard really didn’t want to ratify it.

There was argy-bargy back and forth, as climate was used as a chip in the “culture” war.

A Senate Investigation was underway and the so-called Lavoisier Group invited Richard Lindzen to give testimony.  (The links between Australian and the USA on climate denial go back to the very early 1990s).

Why this matters. 

The creation of ignorance and doubt about basic scientific facts has been a favoured tool in the hands of those who want things to carry on as they are.

What happened next?

Howard, on June 5 2002 (World Environment Day) announced he was not going to ratify Kyoto.

Categories
Australia Denial

October 16, 1997 – Australian businessman declares climate change “no longer an issue”

On this day, October 16 in 1997, Australian businessman Hugh Morgan, executive director of Western Mining Company, speaking on ABC radio, claimed that climate change was no longer an issue.

“Also, in responding to Senator Parer’s comments regarding the “Club of Rome” reported in The SMH on 14.3.97, both BHP Limited and CRA Limited executives were reported to confirm their commitment to environmental performance. The CRA Limited executive made it clear that his company considered climate change a serious issue. In contrast to this, on 16.10.97 Hugh Morgan, the Executive Director of Western Mining Company Ltd. stated the change in the science indicated that the experiment test of climate change had not been met which implied that climate change was no longer an issue (ABC radio news, AM program).”

(Duncan, 1997:84)

[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 360.98ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]

The context was this – 

Australian business had mobilised strongly and successfully in the early 1990s against the threat of a carbon tax. The new threat was that international pressure at the upcoming Kyoto conference might lead to the Australian government accepting actual cuts in emissions. Prime Minister John Howard was moving heaven and earth to avoid this, and doubtless was pleased when Hugh Morgan came out with this.

Morgan was an old-fashioned culture warrior, who had previously said Aborigines had practiced cannibalism etc etc. The stuff he came out with in the 70s and 80s was just wild.

His consigliere, Ray Evans, was already neck deep in co-ordinating international anti-climate  collaboration, with US denialists. Evans was later a founder of the misnamed “Lavoisier Group.”

Why this matters. 

Let’s remember who has been working hard to stop anything being done about climate change, yes?

What happened next?

Australia got a sweet sweet deal at Kyoto and STILL didn’t ratify.

Categories
Australia Denial United States of America

September 28, 1997 – Australian denialist spouting tosh to his US mates.

On this day, September 28, 1997, Australian denialist Ray Evans sprayed his usual nonsense.

1997 Climate Treaty fosters economic impoverishment and endangers US Sovereignty. Washington, D.C. Heritage Foundation, backgrounder No 1143.

The forthcoming Conference… on Climate Change.. in Kyoto… is the next occasion where the Environmentalists will seek to build their Berlin Wall. That Wall will take the form of an international institution… empowered to monitor, and regulate, the C02 emissions of the countries who sign the Kyoto Protocol, and, presumably, impose penalties upon those countries.

NR Evans, Executive Officer, WMC Resources Ltd Australia, speaking at the International Conservative Congress, Washington DC, Sept 28, 1997.

Context – Australian fossil interests had been pushing hard against a climate treaty since 1990. The Australian Government had been sorta divided on this, but always with the pro-coal interests having the upper-hand. Then John Howard became Prime Minister (March 1996) and went all-out in 1997 to try to get Australia the most generous terms imaginable. This effort by the vile Ray Evans should be seen against that backdrop.

On this day the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was 360.44 ppm. At time of writing it’s 420ish.

Why this matters. 

The denial campaigns worked. Bravo

What happened next?

We didn’t act at the speed and scale we needed to.

Categories
Australia Denial

September 24, 1991 – Australian denialist gives “Greenhouse Myths” seminar.

On this day in 24 September 1991, an Australian scientist called Brian O’Brien gave a seminar called “Greenhouse Myths and Messages” at a seminar of the Tasman Institute. The Tasman Institute had been set up pretty much to combat momentum towards environmental protection legislation. They published a series of “reports” and seminars/speaker tours (including international visitors).

O’Brien is dead now, so libel laws don’t apply.

What a prick. What an arrogant moron.

His obituary here https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/Article/2020/August/UWA-physicist-leaves-behind-stellar-legacy

is suitably silent on his disgraceful and damaging action on climate change (there’s a lot more than a mere seminar.”)

The context – Tasman – and others – were trying to kill off proposals for economic responses to carbon dioxide build-up, especially a carbon tax. This seminar will have been scheduled in the knowledge that the draft chapters of the “Ecologically Sustainable Development” process were to be released. A seminar like this would provide a nice hook for a press release/puff piece by a sympathetic journalist…  That’s how this stuff works.

On this day the PPM was 352.34

Now it is 420ish – but see here for the latest.

Why this matters. 

Old men with relevance deprivation syndrome throwing their weight and over-confidence around. Gaia help us all.

What happened next?

The Tasman Institute was a dead duck by the late 90s – with the arrival of a Liberal National Government there was no need for it, and its sponsors pulled the plug.

O’Brien may or may not have had second thoughts. I don’t know or care. When it mattered, he was wrong.

Categories
Australia Denial

September 8, 1990 – Australian #climate denialist spouting his nonsense…

On this day, 8 September 1990 a climate denialist called John Daly was spouting his soothing nonsense.

The worsening of the greenhouse effect is not inevitable, according to the author of The Greenhouse Trap, John Daly. Sea levels may not be rising, the planet may not be warming and studies indicate that the real increase in carbon-dioxide emission world-wide since 1850 is not the commonly reported 80 per cent but about 25 per cent, he says.

Mr Daly, a marine electronics engineer, spoke in Canberra on Saturday night [8 September] on what he calls a program of misinformation.

His recent exposure of inaccuracies in a schools’ brochure issued by the Minister for the Environment, Ros Kelly, led to its withdrawal.

Mr Daly quotes several eminent Australian scientists and many American ones as having compiled

evidence casting doubt on the existence of the greenhouse effect.

“I just want people to realise that there is some doubt,” Mr Daly said.

He says that in 20 years’ study of weather and science, particularly during the greenhouse effect’s “fashionable” period, the ’80s, he has found little to prove its existence.

Anon. 1990. Author questions greenhouse effect. Canberra Times, 10 September, p. 5.

Idiot.

On this day the PPM was 351.38. Now it is 421ish- but see here for the latest.

Why this matters. 

There was a very successful campaign by over-confident and wilfully ignorant “contrarians” for decades. Daly was present at the creation.

What happened next?

The denial stuff kept on going. Old white men painted themselves into a corner and admit they were wrong. So it goes.

Categories
Denial United Kingdom United States of America

September 4, 2006 – Royal Society to Exxon: “Knock it off with the funding to #climate deniers”

On this day, September 4 2006, the Royal Society (venerable Science outfit, 360ish years old) asked the American oil company Exxon to knock it off with the climate denial support.

https://royalsociety.org/policy/publications/2006/royal-society-exxonmobil/

On this day the atmospheric carbon dioxide level was 379.04 ppm Now it is 420ish- but see here for the latest.

Why this matters. 

Exxon had been/has been an enormous source of climate denial, despite their own scientists saying in the 1970s that yes, indeed, global warming because of the burning of fossil fuels was going to be a serious thing. A bunch of scientists who don’t like hand-to-hand combat coming out and saying “stop right there thank you very much” was a big deal.

What happened next?

Exxon got sneakier about it, is all.

Categories
Australia Denial International processes IPCC

August 30, 1990 -Australian diplomats (probably) tried to water down IPCC recommendations

On this day August 30 1990, the IPCC’s meeting in Sundsvall, Sweden featured attempts by the USA and Australia to water down policy findings.

The IPCC had been set up in 1988, in part to stop climate scientists being too independent and making a repeat of what happened over ozone less likely (The Reagan Administration had felt ‘bounced’).  It had delivered its first report ahead of the Second World Climate Conference (which had been pushed back a few months so that it could also serve as the starting point for international negotiations for the impending climate treaty).

Some nations (but not – at this point – Australia) had said, with varying degrees of sincerity/seriousness, that they would try to cut their emissions by 20 per cent by 2005. This target had been agreed at a conference in June 1988, and so was known as the “Toronto Target” (Some NGOs at Toronto had been pitching even higher, btw).

The Australian Federal Labor Government was wrestling over this – The previous Environment Minister, Graham Richardson, had lost a Cabinet battle over it in May 1989.  HIs successor, Roz Kelly, was still trying to get it through, in the face of opposition – e..g.  A “Labor Party’s caucus primary industries and resources committee report, [chaired by] Brian Courtice (Qld). The report said the Government had been conned by green groups and would risk future electoral success if it continued to “appease” them.”

So, anyway, against that backdrop, this is entertaining – 

“Mrs Kelly said reports last week that the Australian delegation to the International Panel on Climate Change in Sweden [IPCC 4th Session SUNDSVALL 27-30 August 1990] had supported moves by the United States to water down its policy findings were being investigated. The delegates had been told before leaving for the meeting to support the Toronto targets.”

Seidel, Helen (4 September 1990). “Emissions target a hard sell for Kelly”. The Canberra Times.

My Conversation piece about the Sundsvall meeting here.

[The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 353 ppm. Now it is 421ish- but see here for the latest.]

Why this matters. 

There are no “pure” processes from which we fall. Everything is messy, contested. Organisations (states, corporations etc) defend their interests, try to shape narratives.

What happened next?

A weak weak treaty was agreed in 1992.

Since 1990, human emissions have gone up by about 67% per cent. The age of consequences is here for some (ironically mostly those least to blame) and is imminent for everyone.