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Overview - Climate Change Astroturf Fronts
The phrase astroturf was originally coined by Senator Lloyd Benson to denote large scale political lobbying efforts funded by industry and/or well-funded special interests that are deliberately designed to give the appearance of being “grassroots” movements (hence, the reference to an artificial grass product). It can be (and often is) practiced by any special interest, especially those with deep pockets. But in recent years the practice has been dominated by Far-Right special interests. Nowhere is this more apparent than with global warming.
There is almost universal acceptance in the scientific community that global average temperature has been rising at historically unprecedented rates for the last century, and that this is very likely due to human activity. There is also consensus that this increase will severely impact the biosphere during the coming century. A wealth of data from a wide range of atmospheric, geophysical, and biological science fields supports these conclusions. Though there is disagreement as to the nature and extent of the impacts we can expect, and how best to respond to them, few published scientists dispute the overall picture. Furthermore, this consensus is ultimately non-partisan. Those who recognize the scope of problem span a diverse spectrum of religious and political backgrounds, moderate conservative to liberal. But a great deal of ideologically motivated criticism has been directed at global warming science and scientists in recent years from a small, but very significant minority that is virtually dominated by industry and Far-Right special interests.
Typically, advocacy groups representing these interests employ a small number of highly paid consultants on a contract basis, nearly all of whom are drawn from the same pool of 8 to 10 scientists who are well known for their contrarian views. With very few exceptions, the climate change "research" of these skeptics has been done outside of the scientific peer-review process, and what little has not, has failed to stand the test of time or significantly alter any generally accepted conclusions. Most of the claims made by skeptics are based on highly selective presentations of existing datasets and attempts to inflate the known uncertainties in climate change math models. Satellite measurements of lower tropospheric temperatures from the mid 90's are a particularly popular subject. At the time, uncorrected datasets from those satellites indicated tropospheric cooling. More recent datasets have been corrected for a number of noise sources and secondary atmospheric effects.
Though many issues with these datasets remain, they now indicate warming within the constraints of the remaining uncertainties. Furthermore, recent research has also revealed much about the dynamics of the troposphere, stratosphere and surface level heat transport (particularly in oceanic regions) and shown that the surface and lower atmosphere need not, and should not, be expected to behave in a similar manner as previously assumed. These results are more or less consistent with the predictions of current climate change models. Not surprisingly, these facts are either carefully avoided by skeptics or dismissed out of hand.
Global warming astroturfing represents a variety of agendas for which funding has come almost exclusively from the fossil fuel, coal fired power, and extraction industries, various far-right foundations (e.g. Scaife and Olin), and the Unification Church (Rev. Sun Myung Moon). To a lesser extent, conspiracy theory groups like the John Birch Society and the Lyndon LaRouche political movement have also been involved. Basically, this covers just about everyone who is heavily invested in pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and free market based value systems. These interests stand to bear the brunt of global warming mitigation costs so it is not surprising that their views ultimately have little to do with science.
The Religious Right has also been involved. Fundamentalist Christian theologies and ultra-conservative worldviews largely overlap, particularly in the realms of free-market values and nationalism. Given the rigid nature of these theologies, many evangelicals consider their faith inseparable from virtually all Far-Right values (most Christians do not share these views, and for that matter neither do most evangelicals). As such, many within the Religious Right community view all environmental science, including that supporting global warming, as a threat to their faith that must be opposed at all costs.
Examples abound. Among the more notable are;
- The Greening Earth Society: Founded in the late 80’s by Western Fuels - a coal fired power lobby representing numerous corporations—to promote the claim that increasing greenhouse gases are good for the earth. They are best known for a widely distributed “documentary” called “The Greening of Planet Earth” in which it was claimed that global warming was going to turn the earth into a lush paradise of plant life and crop yields. Virtually all of the content at their web site (www.greeningearthsociety.org) and in their publications has been prepared by two or three skeptic consultants (Most notably Sherwood Idso and Patrick Michaels) and relies on science that has been carefully edited to give the appearance of support for their thesis. Western Fuels and the GES share office space and pretty much overlap in their board of directors, making them all but synonymous with each other.
- The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP): Founded in the early 90’s by S. Fred Singer with seed capital and office space provided by the Unification Church (the “Moonies”). Today SEPP’s funding has come mainly from the fossil fuel industry and various Far-Right foundations including the Bradley, Smith Richardson, and Forbes foundations. The SEPP, which according to its web site advocates a "no-regrets policy of energy efficiency and market-based conservation", has been one of the more vociferous skeptic fronts. They have been active in numerous political lobbying efforts and public relations campaigns aimed at discrediting global warming, the link between CFC’s and ozone depletion, and even lung cancer and second-hand smoke (Singer has also consulted for the tobacco industry). Singer was also the driving force behind the 1995 and 1997 Leipzig Declarations opposing the global warming scientific consensus and the Kyoto Protocol. SEPP claimed that 140 “climate scientists” had signed at least one of them. There were numerous problems with the credentials of many signatories. At least one independent investigation was only able to verify 20 as having any valid climate science background.
- The Global Climate Coalition (GCC): Founded in 1989 by 46 corporations and trade associations representing a number of industries, but mainly auto manufacturers and fossil fuels. They have been involved in numerous well-funded lobbying efforts, multi-million dollar advertising campaigns targeting mainstream global warming science, and several flawed economic studies on the cost of global warming mitigation. In the face of ever mounting evidence they began to unravel in the late 90’s when several members left the coalition (most notably British Petroleum, Daimler Chrysler, Texaco, and General Motors). Today they are defunct.
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