I commented on a couple diaries yesterday. One of the diaries made the recc list, The Earth Goes Around the Sun? (Climate change & the too slow acceptance of scientific truth). The other was generally vilified with pie and hide rates. But both were about trying to convince global warming skeptics with scientific debate.
This is a trap set for liberals and progressives. We loves us some scientific debate. Believe me, I've been caught in that trap myself. I bet I've spent thousands of hours fighting the good fight online and in person. And five years ago that was time well spent. But now, it's just a ploy to exhaust us all and to give the shallow appearance of a difference of opinion in the scientific community. Surely if someone is willing to spend the time to take an opposing position on a debate and research counterarguments and arcane scientific data supporting their side, the initial position must at least have some rational merit? In other words, by treating the global warming deniers' arguments seriously, we give them a gravitas they don't deserve.
This isn't Copernicus. This isn't honest ignorance that can be fixed by rational, fact-based counterarguments. This is war.
Below the squiggle I will have more background for those who don't believe me, but up here I want to describe the battle plan.
1.) Don't waste time and energy debating online denier trolls who might even be bots. Anyone at this point who thinks that global warming is not caused by man or who even doesn't think that global warming is happening should be met by three things: shocked disbelief, ridicule and a few links. Deniers should be met with the same mockery as creationists, tobacco scientists and racist beliefs in the "science" behind white supremacy. There is zero credibility in the denier "science" at this point. Don't give them credibility by pretending to take their "science" seriously, other people may be reading. Also don't use the denier phrasing "climate change". Use "global warming", or if you don't like that use "climate crisis".
The most important link is www.exxonsecrets.org. Talk about how the dirty dozen of "scientists" who still deny manmade global warming are all in the pay of Big Oil and Big Coal. That's something worth debating online or in person
Second most important is www.realclimate.org. Actual climate scientists already are rebutting all the ridiculous "science" as fast as the deniers churn it out. Just post the link, don't get bogged down in discussing solar rays or volcanoes or whatever the stupid argument du jour is.
Third, if there is genuine interest from the poster, www.desmogblog.com is a great resource. But again, don't get bogged down in arguing about "science". Keep slamming away at the source of funding and the dubious backgrounds of the few scientists who still carry water for Big Oil.
2) You can waste some time and energy by going green yourself, but don't kid yourself that it's making much of a difference. The most important thing you can do is to live near your work and/or get a hybrid, an electric car or best to bike, walk or take public transportation to work. Second is to cut back on home power consumption for heating and electricity. Third is to eat less meat and opt for free range when you do. Fourth is to go as zero waste as you can (it's my personal obsession, but I'm not kidding myself that it makes much of a difference when it comes to global warming). Most importantly, don't pat yourself on the back by thinking that by changing your lightbulbs and using your reusable bags that you've done anything meaningful. Yes, every little bit helps, but your little bit is outweighed a thousandfold by stupid government policy.
3) Don't waste time and energy going to "green" protests. Just marching around with a sign telling people to go solar or whatever is stupid at this point. People already know. Even a protest of 30,000 people doesn't do a damn bit of good. Instead, protest specific evil. Protest the Keystone pipeline. Block new coal plants from being built. Block mountaintop removal. Protest bad legislation. Shine a light on the fucking corruption in government.
4) Spend your time fighting the TRUE enemy. All the things listed above are like fighting a hydra, or one of those video game big bosses that keeps spawning giant attack spiders. You have to kill the root, you have to kill the mother spideress. Don't spend more than 20% of your valuable time on the first three things. Spend 80% of your fighting energy fighting Big Oil and Big Coal that run our government. Work to get more and better Democrats elected, work to get money out of elections, work to end the revolving door between Congress and lobbying firms and work to roll back Citizens United. This is the only way to stop global warming, at least for the little guys like us. If you happen to be a billionaire, work to make green energy so cheap that Big Oil and Big Coal go out of business because they can't compete with you. Make oil and coal like whale oil. But if you're a little guy, only by strengthening and cleaning up the government can we hope to have an entity strong enough to go after these villains. Only government can regulate, stop the Big Oil subsidies, give subsidies and fund research for new green tech, increase mpg requirements, etc. Only government can go after the criminally negligent BP and Massey Coal. Only government can raise corporate taxes and restrict the lobbying and general propaganda activities of Big Oil and Big Coal.
Follow me below the fleur de Kos for more on the war that Big Oil and Big Coal are waging on the future of our civilization. Hopefully you will be convinced of just how much power they exert over every aspect of government and our lives.
First the bad news:
Joe Romm's Climate Story of the Year: Extreme weather and threat to global food security
That about sums it up. People say you shouldn't go Godwin on the Internet, but in this particular case, if nothing is done or too little is done, the effects of global warming will make the Holocaust look trivial. We are looking at the potential for unimaginable death, disease, famine and the possible destruction of civilization itself. Or if the methane release from the Arctic permafrost triggers a positive feedback loop, it might even mean the end of human life on earth.
So I am going Godwin. The current propaganda war that is being fought is like the very thorough and planned propaganda war conducted by the Nazis in the rise to WWII. For a trail of the money and major players, the exxonsecrets link above will give details. We are up against an extremely well-funded and sophisticated propaganda campaign. There are many diaries here at dailykos on the disturbing reach of the Kochtopus into all aspects of government and regulation, but do not forget that the Koch brothers are first and foremost oilmen. And they are small players compared to some of the really Big Oil out there.
I'm not saying Big Oil is behind everything--Big Pharma and Big Ag are villainous and powerful, Wall Street of course is wrecking the world, and big media conglomerates are a special sort of parasite killing our democracy. But Big Oil holds primacy of place.
It's kind of kept on the downlow, just how central Big Oil is to everything. But all of our recent wars have been fought at Big Oil's bidding, Bush got elected because of Big Oil, and its needs and desires have a drop-everything importance that stands out. Even Wall Street and Big Oil are entwined so tightly that there is no air between them.
First there is the outright ignoring of criminality with the BP oil spill. That brought to light how dependent our military is on BP, and how they are too big to fail or be prosecuted, even after destroying our southeast coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
FedEx and Pepsi Are Top Defense Contractors? 5 Corporate Brands Making a Killing on America’s Wars
Here's hoping that the recent news of criminal investigation bears fruit. But the fact that the Coast Guard actively worked to keep reporters away from the spill and hide the extent of it shows who the government is really working for.
Second, is this:
If Iran Moves, the USA Has No Plan for an Oil Interruption
That is truly curious. We have no federal plan to combat the contingency of a small drop in our oil supply. We have federal plans for unlikely things like terrorist attacks, pandemics, severe weather, nuclear war, crop failures, but something so very likely as a small drop in the oil supply, we've got...nothing. It shows how deep Big Oil's influence is, that they have made the idea of using less oil literally unthinkable on a government level.
Third is of all the things for the Republicans to castrate themselves over, they pick the Keystone pipeline. It seems like such a trivial thing.
Keystone Kabuki, Act 2: House Plot Exposed
It gives a sense of their true priorities and who they really work for. Not to mention all the legislation they copy/paste from the Koch brothers. And the spectacular corruption in the MMS.
To step back and get a more global perspective, corporations aren't people. Some big corporations are dinosaurs, very smart dinosaurs and they know their days are numbered. They are fighting for their survival and much of that fight is with propaganda. Wall Street is eventually doomed. When people can invest directly with etrade and have so many investment options, even microlending, Wall Street will shrink back to the boring business of banking. When Moore's Law is making solar and wind inexorably cheaper over time, Big Oil and Big Coal will be permanently out of business once they become ten times more expensive than renewable energy. When people can learn about high-yield organic farming practices and harvesting their own non-GMO seeds, Big Ag's days are numbered. When people band together to get single-payer health care, negotiated cheap prescription drugs, robust federal research into nutritional, non-patentable ways to treat chronic illness and pensions and better Social Security, the rest of the bad lot will go the way of the dinosaurs. And good riddance! In the meantime they are fighting for their very incorporated incorporeal lives.
Well that's my say. I usually rant less and link more, but I had to get that off my chest.
11:18 AM PT: A. Siegel had some excellent link suggestions that I overlooked. Stop reinventing the wheel, people! The hard work of debunking has already been done.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/
http://thinkprogress.org/...
http://www.grist.org/