Just when you thought it was safe to venture out again, the zombie lies about global warming claw their way out of the grave. Like its slowly shuffling namesakes, most of this undead propaganda is so easily out maneuvered it would be laughable, if it wasn’t finding traction among the usual suspects on the cusp of a Senate debate -- guaranteed to be brimming with desperate GOP antics -- over a historic climate and energy bill.
Professionals paid by energy groups to present their clients’ case in the best light possible won’t be swayed by appeals to reason, honesty, or empirical data. As the old saying goes, ‘it’s impossible to get a guy to understand something if he’s livelihood depends on him not understanding it.’ But the court of public opinion, including those sympathetic to industry shills and PR hacks, is a different story. I asked Chris Mooney, coauthor of Unscientific America, who has a wealth of experience effectively dealing with the public how he would approach that group. He said one tried and true method is to simply ask them "what if you’re wrong"? So I gave that idea a test spin here, and maybe I just got lucky, but the early returns are encouraging.
The logic is hard to avoid. If we invest in energy efficiency, alternative technologies, and green jobs, and for whatever reason global warming turns out to be much adieu about nothing, we as a nation are left with greater energy independence and whole new industries right here at home. Not a bad outcome. But if climate change deniers are wrong, and we do nothing, we’re left depending on foreign oil, stuck with a growing, potentially catastrophic environmental disaster, and little or no immediate solutions to any of it. The better scenarios should be readily apparent.
Of course, there is one small group of people that might stand to benefit enormously under what are the worst scenarios for the rest of us. Business as usual means a few more pennies for energy companies on near term quarterly earnings’ reports. Those monopoly pennies might add up to the difference between a five million dollar bonus and a ten million dollar pay day for an oil company CEO or a large stockholder. And that, right there, explains the energy funded think-tanks and endless partisan attacks. With these insatiably greedy bastards it’s not about national security and it’s certainly not preserving your job. It’s the dollars, always the dollars.