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Global Warming Sunday?
Sep. 24th, 2006 05:21 pmBritish Science Group Says Exxon Misrepresents Climate Issues
By HEATHER TIMMONS, The New York Times, September 21, 2006
LONDON, Sept. 20 — A British scientific group, the Royal Society, contends that Exxon Mobil is spreading “inaccurate and misleading” information about climate change and is financing groups that misinform the public on the issue.
( Read More )
(Compare these tactics to the Tobacco Industry and "Sick Building Syndrome:")
Healthy Buildings International - A Case Study of the Tobacco Industry's Use of a Third Party Front Group
by Anne Landman, Tobaccodocuments.org
Information about the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) became widespread in the mid to late 1980s, and was diminshing the social acceptability of smoking worldwide. As smoking restrictions led to fewer and fewer locations where people could smoke, the tobacco industry perceived a massive threat to its profitability. They had to act. The industry knew, though, that it could not act on its own behalf on the secondhand smoke issue because acting in its own self-interest would render it completely lacking in credibility. The remedy was to deflect attention away from secondhand smoke entirely by employing a highly visible, and credible, third party to publicly focus on the broader issue of indoor air pollution in general. The Tobacco Institute and Philip Morris in particular found an effective voice in Gray Robertson, head of a company called ACVA Atlantic (Air Conditioning Ventilation Associates), that specialized in indoor building environments. In return for tobacco industry support, Gray Robertson began a widepsread campaign to deflect attention away from ETS, by broadening the issue into one of indoor air pollution in general ("ventilation"), Robertson invented the notion of "Sick Building Syndrome," widely touted in the late 1980s in magazines and electronic media. The tobacco industry send Robertson on national media tours, employed him to give "expert testimony" at public hearings to help defeat clean indoor air legislation, to write articles debunking the notion that cigarette smoke indoors was a serious problem, and to give "informational" presentations on the industry's spin on indoor air issues to policymakers and employees of regulatory agencies. The tobacco industry eventually assumed the financing of Robertson's business, re-naming it Healthy Buildings International (HBI). They set up HBI satellite offices began to promote HBI internationally, using it effectively to help combat volunatary and regulatory smoking restrictions in countries around the world.
( Timeline )
(Gray Robertson, orchestrator of a "climate of uncertainty" about second hand smoke, is now behind the website JunkScience.com, which attempts to do the same thing for global warming.)
And, compare those stories with this missive:
Substances Tied to Attention Deficit
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The New York Times, September 19, 2006
About a third of attention deficit cases among American children may be linked with tobacco smoke before birth or to lead exposure afterward, according to new research. Even levels of lead the government considers acceptable appeared to increase a child’s risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the study found. The study is to be published online today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The disorder affects up to 12 percent of school-age children.
California Sues 6 Automakers Over Global Warming
By NICK BUNKLEY, The New York Times, September 21, 2006
California, which has battled the automotive industry over new global warming regulations for years, sued the world’s six-largest automakers yesterday, demanding that they pay for environmental damage caused by the emissions of their vehicles.
( Read More )
Global Warming Subject for Directors at Big Companies
By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH, The New York Times, September 21, 2006
If corporate directors really understood the implications of global warming, would they steer their companies toward preventing it?
Ceres, a coalition of environmentalists and investors; Yale University; and Marsh, the risk and insurance services unit of Marsh & McLennan , insist the answer is yes. And this winter, they will hold what they call sustainable governance forums to give directors an overview of the financial, legal, business and investor implications of climate change.
( Read More )
By HEATHER TIMMONS, The New York Times, September 21, 2006
LONDON, Sept. 20 — A British scientific group, the Royal Society, contends that Exxon Mobil is spreading “inaccurate and misleading” information about climate change and is financing groups that misinform the public on the issue.
( Read More )
(Compare these tactics to the Tobacco Industry and "Sick Building Syndrome:")
Healthy Buildings International - A Case Study of the Tobacco Industry's Use of a Third Party Front Group
by Anne Landman, Tobaccodocuments.org
Information about the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) became widespread in the mid to late 1980s, and was diminshing the social acceptability of smoking worldwide. As smoking restrictions led to fewer and fewer locations where people could smoke, the tobacco industry perceived a massive threat to its profitability. They had to act. The industry knew, though, that it could not act on its own behalf on the secondhand smoke issue because acting in its own self-interest would render it completely lacking in credibility. The remedy was to deflect attention away from secondhand smoke entirely by employing a highly visible, and credible, third party to publicly focus on the broader issue of indoor air pollution in general. The Tobacco Institute and Philip Morris in particular found an effective voice in Gray Robertson, head of a company called ACVA Atlantic (Air Conditioning Ventilation Associates), that specialized in indoor building environments. In return for tobacco industry support, Gray Robertson began a widepsread campaign to deflect attention away from ETS, by broadening the issue into one of indoor air pollution in general ("ventilation"), Robertson invented the notion of "Sick Building Syndrome," widely touted in the late 1980s in magazines and electronic media. The tobacco industry send Robertson on national media tours, employed him to give "expert testimony" at public hearings to help defeat clean indoor air legislation, to write articles debunking the notion that cigarette smoke indoors was a serious problem, and to give "informational" presentations on the industry's spin on indoor air issues to policymakers and employees of regulatory agencies. The tobacco industry eventually assumed the financing of Robertson's business, re-naming it Healthy Buildings International (HBI). They set up HBI satellite offices began to promote HBI internationally, using it effectively to help combat volunatary and regulatory smoking restrictions in countries around the world.
( Timeline )
(Gray Robertson, orchestrator of a "climate of uncertainty" about second hand smoke, is now behind the website JunkScience.com, which attempts to do the same thing for global warming.)
And, compare those stories with this missive:
Substances Tied to Attention Deficit
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The New York Times, September 19, 2006
About a third of attention deficit cases among American children may be linked with tobacco smoke before birth or to lead exposure afterward, according to new research. Even levels of lead the government considers acceptable appeared to increase a child’s risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the study found. The study is to be published online today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The disorder affects up to 12 percent of school-age children.
California Sues 6 Automakers Over Global Warming
By NICK BUNKLEY, The New York Times, September 21, 2006
California, which has battled the automotive industry over new global warming regulations for years, sued the world’s six-largest automakers yesterday, demanding that they pay for environmental damage caused by the emissions of their vehicles.
( Read More )
Global Warming Subject for Directors at Big Companies
By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH, The New York Times, September 21, 2006
If corporate directors really understood the implications of global warming, would they steer their companies toward preventing it?
Ceres, a coalition of environmentalists and investors; Yale University; and Marsh, the risk and insurance services unit of Marsh & McLennan , insist the answer is yes. And this winter, they will hold what they call sustainable governance forums to give directors an overview of the financial, legal, business and investor implications of climate change.
( Read More )
