Here's some interesting information regarding the announcement of the
Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
www.co2science.org
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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 10:44:09 -0700
Reply-To: Biological Conservation and GIS <CONSGIS@uriacc.uri.edu>
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From: Carlos Carroll <carlos@PCWEB.NET>
Subject: Fwd: Rising CO2 Levels and the Biosphere
To: CONSGIS@uriacc.uri.edu
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Re: earlier posting on CO2 science, list members might be interested in
this background on the project's affiliations.
Sherwood Idso said:
>As a community college biology teacher, and past elementary school
>teacher, I know how difficult it can be to find scientifically
>sound material for discussing topics dealing with global change
>and the environment. I have opened a webpage that is dedicated to
>the timely interpretation and dissemination of the peer-reviewed
>SCIENCE dealing with the effects of rising atmospheric CO2 levels
>on the biosphere [snip]
For your information:
Sherwood Idso, who sent the message, and his son Keith Idso, who
signed the message, are both involved in industry efforts to
undermine mainstream climate science and block implementation of
the Kyoto agreements.
In 1991 Western Fuels spent $250,000 to produce the video "Greening
of Planet Earth." It promises that doubling atmospheric co2 will
create an agricultural cornucopia. Vast deserts will become
grasslands, scrublands will be covered with trees, and diminshing
forests will be replenished by the enhanced carbon dioxide. It was
promoted in the Bush White House in an effort to thwart any
international initiatives on climate change in the 1992 UNCED
conference in Rio de Janeiro.
Essentially the video reduces global warming to the equivalent of
heavy breathing on your potted plants. It ignores co2's effects
on plants according to vascualar structure; the effects on stalks
and leaves vs fruits and seeds; the effects on nutrient content;
starch content; insects and parasites; disease; soils; the effects
of more intense hydrological cycles - droughts, floods, bizzards;
diurnal temperatures; warmer/milder winters; etc.
The video was narrated by Sherwood Idso. It was produced by his
wife in partership with the coal industry. Both Sherwood and Keith
Idso are actively involved in industry efforts to undermine
mainstream climate science and block implementation of the Kyoto
agreements.
Keith Idso wrote an article for the _New American_ entitled
"Greening of the Planet." The article recycles the themes of
the Western Fuels video. The article concludes:
"This good news [a paradise from increasing atmospheric co2]
is not what those intent on destorying our freedoms and
imposing their will on the nations of the earth want us to
hear, and they skillfully promote alternative voices to
confuse the issue. The truth, however, will not be suppressed."
Western Fuels hired Keith Idso to testify as a scientific expert
at a court hearing in Minnesota. Assistant Attorney General
Johathan Wirtschafter asked Keith Idso about the article:
WIRTSCHAFTER: Mr. Idso, do you know if the New American is
published by an advocacy group?
IDSO: I know it's not a scientific magazine. It's
something in the popular press.
WIRTSHCAFTER: Is it published by an advocacy group of some
sort?
IDSO: I don't know if it's advocacy. I know it's
some political type organization.
WIRTSCHAFTER: What organization is that?
IDSO: I can't remember. Some kind of society, I
think.
WIRTSCHAFTER: Was it the John Birch Society?
_New American_ is the magazine of the John Birch Society.
References:
Gelbspan, Ross. _The Heat is On_. Addison-Wesley, 1997.
"World View" in Greenwire, March 21, 1996
The Western Fuels video, "The Greening of Planet Earth"
=====================
Trista thclax00@ukcc.uky.edu
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