Trump’s New Climate Czar Compared Carbon Suppression to Jews Under Hitler
Dr. ‘Happerstein’s’ Sham Science could subvert San Diego Green New Deal effort...
It’s the ultimate in Trump-speak. When cornered with an indefensible position, claim persecution, suppress the science, and yell louder.
Now, we're being told, pollution is good for you. It’s okay for minors to spray brain damaging pesticides on farms. Exposure to radiation is healthy.
William Happer, a former Energy Department staffer with no formal training in any of the fields relating to as a climate scientist, has been selected to head up a panel to “assess whether climate change poses a national security threat.”
He will become the government’s climate czar, charged with reigning in the Pentagon and other government agencies whose leaders have to some degree bought into the concept there’s danger ahead and the need to plan accordingly.
Happer is a crackpot among crackpots in the field of climate change denial, best known for his abiding love of carbon dioxide.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a snip from Vanity Fair’s The Hive Newsletter:
“The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler,” Happer explained to CNBC in 2014, after yelling at Andrew Ross Sorkin to “shut up” about him supposedly being a climate-change denier. In January 2017, he added in an e-mail to a Jezebel reader that the vilification of carbon dioxide also “differs little from . . . the Soviet extermination of class enemies or ISIL slaughter of infidels...”
...Other choice quotes from Happer, who, shockingly, has received money from the fossil-fuel industry:
“If plants could vote, they would vote for coal.” November 2015
“It’s not as though if you double CO2 you make a big difference. You make a barely detectable difference.” November 2017
“Let me point out that if you have a well-designed coal plant, what comes out of the stack of the plant is almost the same thing that comes out of a person’s breath.” December 2016
“I am trying to explain to my fellow Americans the serious damage that will be done to us, and indeed to the whole world, by cockamamie policies to ‘save the planet’ from CO2.” March 2016
“Warming and increased CO2 will be good for mankind.” May 2010
The administration hopes to undermine the conclusions of a terrifying report about climate change, released to the world on the day after Thanksgiving in the hope of minimizing press coverage. The federally mandated assessment predicted the costs of not taking immediate steps to combat climate change: $141 billion from heat-related deaths, $118 billion from rising sea levels, $32 billion from infrastructure damage by the end of the century.
From the point of view of dirty energy companies all this sciency stuff needs to go away, and “Dr. Happerstein” is going to be Trump’s man to make this happen.
According to the Washington Post, deputies from more than a dozen agencies have been invited to a briefing on the topic on Friday in the White House Situation Room.
Things within the federal bureaucracy outside of the military and national security sectors are already “fixed,” as a survey conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2018 shows.
More than 63,000 scientific experts employed by the federal government across 16 agencies were polled.
Following are a few choice quotes from scientists:
We all just want to do our jobs to the best of our abilities, using the best evidence-based methods. But even those who have spent 30+ years at CDC are concerned that, for the first time, politics are being put above science…
...We are no longer authorized to share scientific findings with the public if they center on climate change. Materials are marked as only for internal use…
...The constant attacks on science and facts by the current administration has negatively impacted scientists in the agency. Effects range from anger and frustration to depression and even opting to retire early. Twenty-five years of experience with 3 federal agencies and I’ve never seen anything like this—it is appalling.
The primary technique being used by the administration’s dirty energy advocates is to demand raw research data from agencies so that it may be “re-interpreted.”
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It looks like California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will have yet another lawsuit to file against the Trump administration.
Reports on Wednesday indicated the Trump administration is ending its talks with California over vehicle emissions and efficiency standards. This decision signals the administration’s determination to gut successful vehicle standards, setting up a legal battle and undermining climate progress and consumer benefits, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Along with taking their best shot at undermining the institutions of democracy, the Trump administration is working hard to rewrite the rules of nature as we have come to understand them.
This degradation of reality serves the interests of major players in the coalition that brought Trump to power. Corporate players make out with higher short-term profits. Hard core fundamentalists can point to the approaching Armageddon as natural disasters increase. And libertarian types can crow about deregulation.
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This reactionary strategy coming out of Washington flies in the face of growing public sentiment supportive of urgent steps to address the changing climate, along with addressing the existing broken economic system. In other words, the Green New Deal.
Locally, the Climate Action Campaign (CAC) is calling for a San Diego Green New Deal to “set a big, bold, regional vision to fight climate change and build an economy that works for all.”
The concept, released in tandem with the group’s third annual Climate Action Plan (CAP) Report Card, would be a regionally scaled version of the proposed national initiative.
The region’s cities and public agencies would work together as one in the region to implement climate solutions at the scale and speed necessary to stop the worst impacts of climate change, while building prosperity, creating middle-class jobs, and tackling income inequality.
From the CAC statement released to the press:
Maleeka Marsden, lead author of the Report Card, says, “We are committed to creating catalytic change here in our own backyard and modeling success for the rest of the nation. We have already proven we can model success for the nation with our landmark goal to achieve 100% renewables by 2035. Now we can model bigger scale solutions on the path to a climate-safe future.”
Climate Action Campaign announced that, in the coming months, they will be convening community members and leaders from across the region to establish the vision for a San Diego Green New Deal and hash out the details of how to make it work on the ground, including how to draw new sources of funding to invest in transformative, equitable climate solutions.
“Key to the effort will be ensuring the process is transparent and inclusive and centers the perspectives of communities on the front lines of climate change,” Marsden says.
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Trump/EPA image by Nicolas Lampert ©