Global Warming Denial

Newsweek magazine published a front page article "Global Warming is a Hoax". At least that's what the well-funded naysayers who still reject the overwhelming evidence that our planet is getting warmer are saying.

The article goes inside the machine that has been (rather successfully) spreading mis-information amongst the US public and preventing legislation that would curtail the waste of natural resources.

The article has some interesting points:

• A conservative think tank funded by Exxon/Mobil had offered scientists $10,000 to write articles under-cutting the science behind human-caused climate change.
  
• The strategies employed by big oil, auto makers, and other industries who stand to lose profits are similar to the strategies employed by the tobacco industry when they lobbied against the science on lung cancer and smoking: presenting a false picture of dissension amongst scientists, down-playing the risks, and heavily lobbying federal law makers.
  
• How George W. Bush's campaign pledge of capping carbon dioxide emissions was kept out of his inauguration speech by one of the organizations funded by the impacted industries.
  

It appears the public is slowly waking up. Scientific reports may not draw more than a yawn, but perhaps the higher gas prices will get the public's attention.