oil

Rarely do we meet those who have made careers selling us lies. Consider the oddball doctors who took tobacco money to deny a link between cigarette smoking and cancer, or the handful of scientists who take oil and coal money to discredit global warming science, or the people who have done both.

Last week, students in Wisconsin and Michigan stepped up to such an opportunity when CFACT Campus, the student arm of a well-known cabal of fossil fuel apologists, hosted climate change denier Willie Soon at several campus events around the country.

Dr. Willie Soon is a Smithsonian Institution astrophysicist paid by Charles Koch, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and coal utility Southern Company to write papers dismissing climate change, publish op-eds saying coal pollution won't affect our health, refute the seriousness of ocean acidification, and apparently anything else he can be paid to deny. Dr. Soon has misrepresented himself by repeatedly claiming affiliation with Harvard University and using his credentials as an astrophysicist to make people believe he's a climate expert, and he shows no sign of stopping. Indeed, he told students in Madison, "I am as as qualified as anyone on the planet on this topic."

Pancakes and Propaganda

I was getting ready to go to work and simultaneously watching “Good Morning, America” when a commercial caught my eye.  As summertime approaches, naturally tourism advertisements are more frequent, beckoning you to travel all over the country and all over the world.  But when I heard the words “gulf coast,” for some reason I paid close attention. 

I had seen this commercial before.  But at that moment my eyes were glued to the screen.  Maybe because I had recently heard news about how the Gulf Coast was having major issues after the BP oil spill in 2010 (surprise, surprise).  I had specifically heard about how sea creatures like shrimp, a major source of income for Gulf fishermen, were showing increased deformities (which sounds very appetizing of course).  Based on this disturbing knowledge, I was interested in what the commercial was trying to convey.

Something was being conveyed, but it wasn't the truth. The screen bounced between people representing different Gulf Coast cities and states.  They were basically glorified cheerleaders for their different hometowns encouraging everyone to come down and experience the fun and food; hopefully seafood is not included.  I also noticed that these were business owners and other prominent people in the cities, not regular locals who may have had a completely different message to the masses. On top of that, the end of the commercial flashed “BP” as its corporate sponsor and well, we all know what’s wrong with that.

Against industry-stacked task forces and corrupt council dealings.

The past few years of organizing in Denton, Tex. have taught me a lot about just how rigged the gas drilling game really is at the local level.

In this mid-sized college town the city council is in the midst of Phase II of their ordinance writing process, and what comes out of that process will regulate how gas drillers operate in Denton.

But the whole process has proved to be nothing but a sham.

When Bill McKibben calls you up and asks you point blank whether or not you think the climate movement can get 500,000 petitions in 24 hours, there's a moment of moral dilemma. Because you're not quite sure if it's a rhetorical question about tactics, or an ice-breaker for a call to action. With Bill, it's best to always assume the latter.

And why shouldn't we dream big? After months of success after success - from the sit-ins to encircling the White House, from the delay to the denial - we find ourselves somehow still fighting the Keystone XL pipeline. I'll admit, I'm actually flabbergasted.