For the Truth on Global Warming…

Follow the Money

(DI’s In-House Historian and Philosopher, Dr. Leonard Carrier, here comments on Paul Brown’s recent piece, "Ice caps melting fast:  say goodbye to the Big Apple." )

Who is it that benefits most by (1) denying that global warming is occurring, and (2) if it is occurring, we can't do anything to stop it? That's right, those big fossil-fuel companies, and all the other companies that depend on fossil fuel for their wealth. They don't want to change anything, because they've got too much invested in the status quo.

Consider this from a report sponsored by the right-wing John Locke Foundation and written by Joseph Schwartz in July 2007: "The restrictions they [environmentalists] seek to force on the world would require us to relinquish the energy consumption that undergirds the extraordinary prosperity, health, and comfort of life in the U.S., the nations of Europe, and other wealthy countries. At the same time, those restrictions would prevent individuals in the world's poorest nations from aspiring to the rich world's quality of life, consigning them instead to continued poverty an hardship."

Now, doesn't that sound like one rich person telling other rich people not to give up their creature comforts just to save something meaningless like the environment? And doesn't it also tell poor people that if they want some trickle-down effects from the very rich, they ought to sacrifice their environment as well? Why don't we call them what they are: "selfish bastards." They pay off researchers to gather evidence for the view that will keep the wealth flowing into their coffers. If that means that the environment suffers, so be it. They don't want to pay more taxes to clean up what they've damaged, and they want their fossil-fuel gravy train to keep on running. After all, what's the destruction of the environment compared to a good magnum of Dom Perignon.

Len Carrier