The Machinery of Climate Anti-Science

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Last week John Mashey did an excellent talk on “The Machinery of Climate Anti-Science” at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. John is an incurable geek (my highest praise) who has been a tireless bulldog in going after the power networks that support the professional world of climate change denial (and just a really nice guy).

The talk is well worth it, so watch it:

Video of John Mashey’s talk and the pdf of the presentation.

Thanks to Tim @ Deltoid and Deep Climate for the heads up.

Some things to watch for

1) This is not a summary and will not substitute for watching the presentation itself, it’s just a sampling of some of the things he talks about that I have my own agenda for drawing your attention to, so go watch it already 😉

2) Note the gender/age/politics breakdown of the Denier petition signers. This will be discussed more in the series of posts about the politics of climate which has been started here.

3) In the same vein and for the same reasons, note that underpinning the anti-science Denialosphere is clandestine money from a small group of wealthy individuals and corporations.

4) Specific mention of Koch Industries, a very important player in climate change Denial about whom I have a post that I hope to get up this weekend, so watch for that.

5) Some good stuff on the Wegman controversy, and as John notes you really should check out Deep Climate for the updates on where that currently stands and where it is going.

6)  He touches on another theme I hope to cover shortly, lawsuits and litigation … let’s sue the bastards [Aside for right wing Deniers … remember how much you love accountability, so I am sure you will be 100% behind the lawsuits to take down all the lies and liars]

7) Some good suggestions for how we move ahead both within the specific sphere of the Denial Machine and the broader issue of climate change.

8 ) The organizer mentions that they are going to have Oresekes on or about June 27th (he is not sure) so you probably want to book mark that site.

9) On March 22 they had “The Psychology of Climate Change” by Sabine Pahl which I also intend to talk about, so you may want to book mark that one as well (or watch it now).

To John

Many thanks for that, but next time you’re in BC be sure to touch base with Dan at Irregular Climate and maybe he can podcast a discussion with you.

Hopping down the bunny trail

Eli has been talking about The Rhetoric of Rejection which turns out to be almost as useful as advice for my personal life (well really, look at the subtitle for Pete’s sake … it sure sounded familiar to me):

• The Rhetoric of Rejection: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy
• The Rhetoric of Rejection: Part II 

What particularly caught my attention was “… democracy requires opposing views, but also interchange among those holding those views. “How did they get to be that way?” is a sure sign that an honest dialogue has vanished.“, which is very much describes what I had to say in “Path of Resistance” and hence the need for us to substantially escalate the intensity of our grassroots actions.

The second post is particularly appropos of that theme and directs us to a much broader discussion which we will necessarily at least reference (along with Kantian Imperatives and what have you), so another one to both read and book mark.

We give our consent every moment that we do not resist.

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