Global Warming's Deadly Denial

Reviewing the continued campaign by climate change skeptics, David McKnight, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales (Australia), notes that there several reasons why companies such as Exxon have had some success playing the global warming denial card. "First, the implications of the science are frightening. Shifting to renewable energy will be costly and disruptive. Second, doubt is an easy product to sell. Climate denial tells us what we all secretly want to hear. Third, science is portrayed as political orthodoxy rather than objective knowledge, a curiously postmodern argument," he writes. While the tobacco industry is often referred to as the template for the fossil fuel industry's campaign, McKnight argues that there is an important distinction. "There are no 'smoke-free areas' on the planet. Climate denial may turn out to be the world's most deadly PR campaign," he concludes.

Comments

Superb article.

As with the Titanic, thought to be unsinkable - we carry the delusion that the ship of state cannot sink, that the atmosphere can never fail us, that the seas will never rise. And everything will be cool

Denialists feed and support such a delusion that humans so willingly carry.

Now the two giant teams are playing chicken, the Captains of Industry and the Governments of the World. Neither will act. And the physical laws of the planet trumps all.

Who will make the first significant move?

Richard Pauli
http://theBoyWhoDeniedWolf.com