[cobraboy]

A Contrived Story About the 'Denial Machine'

By ROBERT J. SAMUELSON
The Washington Post
August 15, 2007

Excerpt, copied as fair use:

We in the news business often enlist in moral crusades. Global warming is among the latest. Unfortunately, self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism. A recent Newsweek cover story on global warming is a sobering reminder. It's an object lesson of how viewing the world as "good guys versus bad guys" can lead to a vast oversimplification of a messy story. Global warming has clearly occurred; the hard question is what to do about it.

If you missed Newsweek's story, here's the gist. A "well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change." This "denial machine" has obstructed action against global warming and is still "running at full throttle." The story's thrust: Discredit the "denial machine," and the U.S. can start the serious business of fighting global warming. The story was a wonderful read, marred only by its being fundamentally misleading.

The global-warming debate's great unmentionable is this: We lack the technology to get from here to there. Just because Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to cut emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 doesn't mean it can happen.

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Message from Keith R, moderator: Cobra Boy, you have been on DR1 long enough to know the rules about quoting copyrighted stories from publications. Sorry I had to cut out some of the op-ed, but you cannot just cut-and-paste long articles from major publications here, and the readers can always go to the source URL to read the whole thing once you've whetted their appetite. Please stick to the title, author, source with URL, and no more than 100-200 words excerpted "copied as fair use." That goes for everybody, even moderators. Otherwise DR1 gets into legal troubles.