Apparently, fossil fuel companies protect watersheds and rivers by removing oil. Thatโs according to comments on the David Suzuki Foundation Facebook page and elsewhere, including this: โThe amount of contamination occuring [sic] from extraction is far less than if we just left the oil there to continue polluting the waterways.โ
The โlogicโ of climate change deniers and anti-environmentalists is often baffling. Although the person who posted that comment doesnโt appear to claim professional background or knowledge, Canadian anti-environmentalist Patrick Moore โ who capitalizes on his science degree and long-ago association with Greenpeace to shill for polluting industries โ told the Vancouver Sun in 2011 that oil companies are โleaving the soil cleaner than they found it because theyโre removing the oil fromย it.โ
Those who coat their โalternative factsโ with a veneer of โexpertiseโ often employ twisted logic. Take a petition letter urging U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Letter author Richard Lindzen, a climate skeptic whose work has often been debunked, claims โmore than 300 eminent scientists and other qualified individuals from around the worldโ signed the petition. What kind of โeminent scientistsโ would sign something claiming carbon dioxide โis not a pollutant but a major benefit to agriculture and other life on Earthโ and that โwarming from increased atmospheric CO2 will be benignโ?
The idea that CO2 is little more than plant food is common in denier circles, floated recently by the U.S. Heartland Institute, its affiliated industry promoters like Canadians Patrick Moore and Tom Harris, and others. In a 2014 book, two signatories to the Trump letter, retired Environment Canada scientist Madhav Khandekar and retired Australian geology professor Cliff Ollier, along with database marketing consultant Arthur Middleton Hughes, wrote the world should burn more coal โto produce electricity and increase CO2 in the atmosphere.โ They also argue for more use of the pesticide DDT.
Weโve addressed the debunked CO2 argument before. It ignores pollution from burning coal and other fossil fuels, and the complexity and interconnectedness of natural systems. Many plants do need CO2, but it doesnโt follow that more CO2 is better, or that CO2 is the only factor in plant growth. Studies show rising temperatures often hinder plant growth and nutritional value. And droughts, floods and other increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather events brought on by climate change are not beneficial to agriculture or plant growth. We also need oxygen to live, but too much can be toxic.
So, who are the โ300 eminent scientists and other qualified individualsโ who put their names to such unscientific nonsense? Like Khandekar, many are affiliated with the industry-funded Heartland Institute, which has promoted tobacco and compared climate scientists to the Unabomber and Charles Manson.
A DeSmogBlog investigation described the 300 as โmedical doctors, mystery men, coal executives, petroleum engineers, economists, and think tank members. Only a small handful could be considered even remotely โqualifiedโ or โeminentโ โ but not in the field of climate science.โ Many show no academic affiliation or address. Canadians are represented by the likes of Khandekar and Moore.
Moore once even claimed glaciers are โdead zonesโ that weโd be better off without! Thereโs that twisted logic. Itโs true plants donโt grow on glaciers, but microorganisms and other life do. Saying โIce and frost are the enemies of lifeโ is absurd โ especially for those of us who require water to live!
Another signatory, William Happer, is a retired physics professor being eyed as Trumpโs science adviser. Greenpeace once caught him in a sting in which he agreed to write an article touting the benefits of coal and to fake its peer-review status.
People posting nonsensical comments on Facebook might simply be uninformed or misinformed. But itโs hard not to conclude that many of the so-called โexpertsโ are being deliberately deceptive. Any scientifically literate person who has examined the massive amounts of evidence for human-caused global warming and its consequences, collected over many decades from around the world, wouldnโt fall for such easily debunked claims.
In this โpost-truthโ era, with a climate-change-denying U.S. administration, those who want to keep humanity wedded to outdated, polluting technologies have been emboldened. Itโs up to the rest of us to cut through the misinformation and help humanity get on track to a cleaner, healthier future.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington.
Learn more atย www.davidsuzuki.org.ย
Main image:ย Suncor Steepbank tar sands mineย near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta. Credit:ย jasonwoodhead23,ย CC BYย 2.0
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