"Scepticism is not believing what someone tells you, investigating all the information before coming to a conclusion. Scepticism is a good thing. Global warming scepticism is not that. It's the complete opposite of that. It's coming to a preconceived conclusion and cherrypicking the information that backs up your opinion. Global warming scepticism isn't scepticism at all."
skeptic (noun): a person inclined to question or doubt accepted opinions
In a sense, two babies were born in the late 1980s in response to the burgeoning science of anthropogenic global warming. Each infant had a mission, which stood in opposition to the stated mission of the other. One stood for science and truth. The other stood for power and wealth. Guess which won.
The first child was born to educate the world and help it heal while the second was born to deceive the world and exploit its resources.
The first baby was birthed following many decades of strenuous, painful labor, selfless dedication, stellar scholarship, stringent, exacting science and the purest of motivations.
The second child arrived quickly, with little thought or examination, the result of an impulsive, urgent conception triggered by an intense, pathological fear of who the first child might become and what she might accomplish once fully developed and mature.
At her core, the first child was scientific, logical and rational, like a well-educated physician trained to study, analyze, diagnose and prescribe; a kind of humble but devoted healer; born to guide her only patient, the Earth, in its fervent desire to be healed. She had no guile.
At his core, the second child was a cunning, clever, and soulless sociopath; driven by fear and greed; he was shallow, manipulative and cold; trained to lie, deceive and confuse; focused on winning at all costs; ignorant of science but determined to appear scientific; completely biased and self-righteous and determined to undermine, dispute, discredit and defeat the first child. He had no shame.
The first child had several manifestations in the late 80s and early 90s as scientific organizations collaborated with governmental bodies to establish institutions mandated to study, examine and report on global climate change. One of them, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was created in 1988 and produced its first report in 1990.
The second child also had several manifestations as the ninth decade of the twentieth century ended and the tenth began. One of the first was the Global Climate Coalition (GCC,) formed in 1989 in direct response to the formation of the IPCC.
While the IPCC was comprised of 2,500 of the most respected scientists in the world and representatives from every nation on Earth, the GCC made no pretense as a scientific organization.
The GCC did not conduct science. They felt no loyalty to people the way a democratically elected government might. Their duty was to their shareholders. Truth, science and the public welfare be damned. Their goal was the molding of public opinion through a deliberate campaign of deception and denial. They were very good at this. It was never necessary to kill the other child, only keep her weak and ineffectual.
The IPCC was formed to study and report on the peer-reviewed science, and in cooperation with government policy-makers, reach a consensus on our current understanding and produce authoritative, scientific reports.
There has never been a legitimate scientific organization on Earth that has disputed the findings and conclusions of the IPCC.
However, the business community feared the IPCC, like the tobacco companies feared the surgeon general. The GCC, essentially an organization of trade associations, and national and international corporations, was formed in direct response to the threat they felt from the growing scientific consensus that human activity was destabilizing the world's climate. While they lacked science, they understood public relations and perception management. They knew how to sell and how to induce the public to buy their lies.
Many of America's science journalists (do they still exist?) still haven't figured this out. And a massive component of our corporate media system is fully aligned with this fraud along with the Republican and Tea Parties and virtually every voice you will ever hear on conservative talk radio.
All deniers owe a debt of gratitude to the GCC and other early organizations like them. They laid the groundwork for our ongoing failure to solve the climate crisis. It turns out they never needed any science to defeat science. Just shameless gall, of which they are well supplied.
Originally operating out of the offices of the National Association of Manufacturers, "members included Amoco, the American Forest & Paper Association, American Petroleum Institute, Shell Oil, Texaco, Chevron, Chrysler, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Exxon, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and more than 40 other corporations and trade associations."
For well over a decade the GCC would receive and spend tens of millions of dollars to "downplay the threat of climate change."
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