# Conservative groups spend up to $1bn a year to fight action on climate change **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029 "2013-12-23T19:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/161 "2013-12-26T17:42:38Z")
**watchwolf49** Are there going to be unicorns and elves in this fairy tale? I like the ones with unicorns and elves. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/162 "2013-12-26T19:01:09Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > **watchwolf49** > > Are there going to be unicorns and elves in this fairy tale? I like the ones with unicorns and elves. Funny you should say that, just heard news on the radio that our local nurseries have sold a mess of local flora to the Hollywood types. Guess there’s going to be a spat of unicorn and elf movies coming up. I can assure you that there is absolutly no place for Big Foot to hide in Big Foot Country, half has been clear cut and the other half is thick with deer hunters. No, we’re looking real good here whatever the climate decides to do. I’ll be more than happy to suffer through California’s weather. Belch that CO2, suckers, go ahead. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/163 "2013-12-26T19:08:01Z")
Mr. [Boehner](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/22/more-on-john-boehners-confusion-of-co2-and-ch4/) is that you? Please tell the other Oompa Loompas to stop using stupid unscientific sources as the basis to vote against EPA regulations of CO2. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/164 "2013-12-26T19:28:16Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > I am fully on board with AGW (or Climate Change or whatever you want to call it) What exactly do you mean by “AGW”? Although I have been referred to as a “denier” or a “skeptic,” it is possible that we actually agree. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/165 "2013-12-26T21:04:17Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > The Canadian Arctic and Siberia will become unimaginably productive agricultural lands … food to feed 20 billion people alone … ending human starvation, poverty will only be taught in history classes, prosperity for all. [sigh] We should be belching carbon dioxide into the air as fast as we can. [Ah, yes . . .](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Global_warming_denialism#Hierarchy_of_global_warming_denial) > [@](#): > > **Hierarchy of global warming denial** > > Global warming deniers form a sliding scale of denial which is outlined below - in general these beliefs are designed to prevent action being taken. > 1.Not only deny global warming, but insist the opposite is occurring[23] (taken from the Conservapedia homepage). This probably goes beyond denialism and verges on the psychotic. > 2.Simply deny global warming is happening[24] - and maintain that no action is necessary - an increasingly uncommon position. > 3.Global warming is happening, but it’s not caused by humanity - so we don’t have to do anything. > 4.Global warming is happening, and it is in part caused by humanity, but mostly it’s caused by solar activity - so we don’t have to do anything. > 5.Global warming is happening, and it is in part caused by humanity, but predicting future emission levels is equivalent to astrology - so we don’t have to do anything, Ehrlich![25] > **6.Global warming is happening, it is caused by humanity, but it may be a _good thing_[26] - so we don’t have to do anything.** > 7.Global warming is happening, it is caused by humanity, it is a bad thing, but China and India aren’t doing anything - so we don’t have to do anything. > 8.Global warming is happening, it is caused by humanity, it is a bad thing, but even if China and India do something it’s too late for us to do anything and it would cost us a shitload of dough - so we don’t have to do anything. > 9.(There is an hypothesized ninth step, “Global warming was happening, it was caused by humanity, it is a very bad thing and previous governments should have done something, but it’s too late now!”) Keep going! I’ve almost got my [Bingo](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fun:Global_Warming_Denial_Bingo)! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/166 "2013-12-26T21:05:24Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > What exactly do you mean by “AGW”? Although I have been referred to as a “denier” or a “skeptic,” it is possible that we actually agree. It means “anthropogenic global warming.” ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/167 "2013-12-26T21:51:58Z")
Is there a #10. “Global warming is happening, it is caused by humanity, but it may be a good thing[26] - but I’ll only heat my home with wind power to be safe” [https://www.portlandgeneral.com/residential/renewable\_energy/default.aspx](https://www.portlandgeneral.com/residential/renewable_energy/default.aspx) #11 “I vote” > **[President Obama's focus on climate change puts Ron Wyden in the middle of the...](https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2013/01/post_117.html)** > > The Oregon Democrat agrees with the focus and chairs a crucial committee dealing with climate There’s my two votes in the Senate … how do your votes stack up? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/168 "2013-12-26T22:20:41Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Funny you should say that, just heard news on the radio that our local nurseries have sold a mess of local flora to the Hollywood types. Guess there’s going to be a spat of unicorn and elf movies coming up. I can assure you that there is absolutly no place for Big Foot to hide in Big Foot Country, half has been clear cut and the other half is thick with deer hunters. > > No, we’re looking real good here whatever the climate decides to do. I’ll be more than happy to suffer through California’s weather. Belch that CO2, suckers, go ahead. When California becomes unlivable, where do you imagine they will all go? The Crips, the Bloods, the hookers and druggies and pimps? Put some more water in the soup, Ma, company’s coming! ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/169 "2013-12-27T01:21:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > When California becomes unlivable, where do you imagine they will all go? The Crips, the Bloods, the hookers and druggies and pimps? Put some more water in the soup, Ma, company’s coming! Can you explain why California will become unlivable … in your own words … particularly focus on your certainty, please. The proletariat will simply move inland, we’re safe expecting just the upper middle class and their servants. Did you check your senators’ voting records … just how bad is it? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/170 "2013-12-27T06:12:10Z")
Franken and Klobuchar? Pretty fair. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/171 "2013-12-28T18:17:14Z")
Oh fucking hell, yet another attempt to do … something … about … beliefs … about … some … still undefined … danger It’s like the goddamn mental reversal of the idiot sermon on Fukushima, in this case the shrill batshit insane “voices of reason”, they actually believe that it’s the “belief” that is the danger, the problem, the true threat to mankind, the “belief” that there is no crisis is the real crisis. (with Fukushima it was “fear” that was the real danger, not radiation) The essential question, even in this topic, is what IS **IT** they are spending a BILLION GODDAMN DOLLARS a year fighting? In this case it’s called “climate change”, or rather “action on climate change”. So, being completely gullible and just accepting the claim as fact (because, hey, why not? Why be skeptical?) some cabal of evil rich people are spending a billion dollars of their hard earned cash to stop other people from doing something about “[climate change](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Climate_change)”. Which of course the fucktards of the world translate to “global warming”, which they mentally replace with [human caused global warming](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Anthropogenic_global_warming). Yes, the “rational” people, who run a site actually named rationalwiki (to differentiate it from wikipedia, which of course isn’t rational like they are), all definitions lead to global warming. Which is also called [AGW.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/AGW) Hey, don’t take my word for it, follow the goddamn links. It’s what rationalwiki does. Which makes it even worse than Wikipedia when it comes to “advancing knowledge”. But at least there you can actually get to a definition of AGW, unlike Wikipedia. So what does AGW mean? > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It means “anthropogenic global warming.” Oh christ on a pogo stick. That’s like if you ask “What do you mean by the CIA?” and the answer is “the Central Intelligence Agency”. Thank you very much you complete waste of time. But of course a happy little topic about how rich people spent, like, 20 billion dollars so far fighting action on AGW, it turns into yet another argument over … something. Something stupid. > [@elucidator](#): > > When California becomes unlivable In what insane world do these people live? seriously. What the fuck are you smoking? What warm Kool Aid did you drink? > [@watchwolf49](#): > > Can you explain why California will become unlivable … in your own words … particularly focus on your certainty, please. Oh please, you know good and damn well that ratspit crazy will never be backed up with any science, not even an attempt. crazy never feels the need to use logic or facts or even some reason. It just spews ignorance like a jacked up crack head after robbing his grandmas bank account. And throws a tantrum when you call them on their bullshit. Wait, what’s that? Long winded spew? Rabid screeching? More FX nonsense? Well fuck me but I didn’t spend 58 goddamn posts over the holidays posting the same stupid fucking shit over and over and over. And yeah, that was GIGOgalloper, with a copy and paste and his usual idiot stew so bad even some of his supporters realized he is most likely the worst thing to ever happen to the global warming cause. Hahah OK that was just rhetoric and it’s not really true. not that anyone even is going to read his far into a wall of text, or goddamn I hope not. Shit, what if somebody actually is? That’s either awesome or really fucking sad. Or both. Or wait a fucking minute. What about the topic? Are rich bitches really spending that sort of bank to fuck with efforts to save the world? Are they ACTUALLY reptilians? Aliens who want the world to die? Who like it warm? Goddamn lizard people. Fuck you reptiliians overlords. That’s just fucking GREAT ain’t it? First they come down and sell us oil and gas and coal and shit like that, then use OUR GODDAMN MONEY to try and stop us from saving ourselves from the effects of using that shit in the first place. (and maybe they are the ones cutting down all the trees? Evil fuckers, ain’t they?) The real question is, can we DO anything about it? Despite that kind of money, can we stop them? Obviously they won’t stop, their little reptile children will be just fine. But the rest of us, we need to do something. After all, if California becomes uninhabitable, where will all the cool movies come from? What about Silicon Valley? Where will we grow lettuce? It’s a goddamn crisis. And these rich bitches are spending billions to stop us! Goddamn it. This global warming is making me sick. Wait, wrong topic. These rich sons of bitches are making me sick. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/172 "2013-12-28T18:24:14Z")
We’re spending a trillion dollars a year protecting the oil fields … just saying … ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/173 "2013-12-28T19:22:31Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > In this case it’s called “climate change”, or rather “action on climate change”. So, being completely gullible and just accepting the claim as fact (because, hey, why not? Why be skeptical?) some cabal of evil rich people are spending a billion dollars of their hard earned cash to stop other people from doing something about “[climate change](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Climate_change)”. Which of course the fucktards of the world translate to “global warming”, which they mentally replace with [human caused global warming](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Anthropogenic_global_warming). Yes, the “rational” people, who run a site actually named rationalwiki (to differentiate it from wikipedia, which of course isn’t rational like they are), all definitions lead to global warming. Which is also called [AGW.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/AGW) > > Hey, don’t take my word for it, follow the goddamn links. It’s what rationalwiki does. Which makes it even worse than Wikipedia when it comes to “advancing knowledge”. But at least there you can actually get to a definition of AGW, unlike Wikipedia. > So what does AGW mean? This means that you are numnuts, but then again, many knew that already. 😛 Can not speak for others, but I only bring places like Rationalwiki to demonstrate only how groups that look at pseudoscience report about the issue, and what they report is that people like you are not even aware of what many skeptics and groups that look at pseudoscience are reporting. As we already have the definition from more respected sites like NASA, your efforts are only an attempt at one very stupid point, to reduce not only sources that link to the science, but also even the sites that investigate pseudoscience for a living as unreliable just because they do not report the most \*\*obvious \*\*items. Claiming that those sites are not reliable just because they do not comfort to your idiotic semantic extremism are like that comic book guy calling the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode of “Space Mutiny” as the “worst episode ever” only because Mike and the bots never ever made a joke or reference to the old Battle Star Galactica TV show. (The bad movie used lots of footage from the original cheesy TV show). ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/174 "2013-12-28T19:26:42Z")
As for the rest of your screed, meltdowns are not pretty. Except for the ones that saw it coming. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/175 "2013-12-28T19:46:26Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > So what does AGW mean? Anthropomorphic Global Warming This is the imposing of human attributes to the phenomenon of Global Warming. It’s a symptom of very low IQ, although it’s more typically used in relation to family pets or a bookcase. Neighbor girl and my penhen were best buddies there for a while. In context it’s just a piece of slippery Orwellian Doublespeak for pollution. I hope that’s helpful … ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/176 "2013-12-28T20:03:44Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Anthropomorphic Global Warming > > This is the imposing of human attributes to the phenomenon of Global Warming. It’s a symptom of very low IQ, although it’s more typically used in relation to family pets or a bookcase. Neighbor girl and my penhen were best buddies there for a while. In context it’s just a piece of slippery Orwellian Doublespeak for pollution. > > I hope that’s helpful … Not really, but is helpful to identify people like you that think that no one will notice that scientific organizations, academia, and even people that investigate pseudoscience do identify the ones not using science and doing the double speak. > **[The “CO2 is Plant Food” Crock](https://thinc.blog/2010/08/16/the-co2-is-plant-food-crock/)** > > Plants use co2.  Therefore, more Co2 is good. It’s  one of the hardy perennials of climate denialism. Like most generalizations, sooner or later it runs afoul of the real world. And Congressman John Shimkus, Republican from Illinois is one of those that shows that low IQ symptom and he is still working towards preventing concerted efforts to deal with the issue. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/177 "2013-12-28T20:56:22Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > This means that you are numnuts Oh the sweet irony, the burn, of trying to put somebody down, and not knowing how to fucking spell numbnuts. Of course since English is a strange language to you, it’s not fair to laugh at your ignorance due to poor writing. Certainly there is more than enough to laugh about, leaving that aside. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > As we already have the definition from more respected sites like NASA, your efforts are only an attempt at one very stupid point, to reduce not only sources that link to the science, but also even the sites that investigate pseudoscience for a living as unreliable just because they do not report the most \*\*obvious \*\*items. Ahahahaha oh you numbnut you. I didn’t say any of that. I just pointed out how fuck ass stupid even a group like rationalwiki can be, when it comes to AGW. They actually have every last term redirecting to their global warming page, which sucks pretty bad. From a scientific point of view. If you want to be seen as all smart and shit like that, you really need to try harder there. > [@watchwolf49](#): > > In context it’s just a piece of slippery Orwellian Doublespeak for pollution. Maybe to some people. The fucktards have for sure tried to make CO2 a pollutant. Which is so unscientific, it made Dyson cry. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/178 "2013-12-28T21:13:36Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Ahahahaha oh you numbnut you. I didn’t say any of that. I just pointed out how fuck ass stupid even a group like rationalwiki can be, when it comes to AGW. They actually have every last term redirecting to their global warming page, which sucks pretty bad. From a scientific point of view. If you want to be seen as all smart and shit like that, you really need to try harder there. You have not done anything here, only double down on avoiding that my point was that you are not fooling people by declaring a group that is pointed out for investigating pseudoscience, and making the twist to calling it a scientific one (the straw-man) to make it sound as if you are doing a smart thing. > [@FXMastermind](#): > > Maybe to some people. The fucktards have for sure tried to make CO2 a pollutant. Which is so unscientific, it made Dyson cry. Like if one could not check why is that the scientists and experts report about what an ignorant you are regarding CO2. [http://www.wunderground.com/resources/climate/cei.asp](http://www.wunderground.com/resources/climate/cei.asp) > [@](#): > > “Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution, we call it life!” That’s the slogan of two 60-second TV ads airing in 14 U.S. cities May 14-28. The ads are being run by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). According to their web site, CEI is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government. They tout a Wall Street Journal article which calls CEI “the best environmental think tank in the country”. > > Who funds the Competitive Enterprise Institute? > > A variety of businesses fund CEI, but the fossil-fuel industry is one of their main contributors. Exxon documents (PDF File) show that the company gave $270,000 to CEI in 2004 alone. $180,000 of that was earmarked for “global climate change and global climate change outreach.” Exxon has contributed over $1.6 million to CEI since 1998. Other oil companies, such as Amoco and Texaco, also contribute to CEI, through the American Petroleum Institute. So, it is safe to mentally replace the “paid for by the Competitive Enterprise Institute” tag on the ads with, “paid for by the fossil fuel industry.” I speculated in an April blog that the Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT (and other op-eds that appeared nationwide about the same time) were funded as part of an orchestrated public relations campaign by the fossil fuel industry. The appearance of the new TV ads are also likely part of the same PR campaign. The ads use language similar to the April op-ed pieces, using the word “alarmist” or its variations to describe those who warn that climate change presents a danger. The ads were timed to launch just before the opening of Al Gore’s new film on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth”, due out today in New York City. > [@](#): > > Is Carbon Dioxide a pollutant? > > The fossil fuel industry points out in their ads that carbon dioxide it essential for both plant life and human life. Is it wrong, then, to label carbon dioxide as a pollutant? The definition of pollution in Webster’s dictionary is “to make physically impure or unclean: Befoul, dirty.” By that definition, carbon dioxide is not pollution. However, Webster’s also has the definition: “to contaminate (an environment) esp. with man-made waste.” Carbon dioxide is a waste gas produced by fossil fuel combustion, so can be classified as man-made waste. One can also make the case that carbon dioxide is contaminating the environment, since increased CO2 from burning fossil fuels has already harmed sea life. Carbon dioxide, when dissolved in sea water, is deadly to shell-building microorganisms that form an important part of the food chain in some cold ocean regions. The extra CO2 lowers the pH and make the water too acidic for these organisms to build their shells. As I reported in my blog on Acidifying the Oceans, the observed increase in acidity of 0.1 pH units during the past century due to fossil fuel burning, and expected continued acidification in the coming decades, could cause a massive die off of marine life and collapse of the food chain in these ocean areas. Based on these arguments, the fossil fuel industry’s slogan, “Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution, we call it life!” could just as truthfully be phrased, “Carbon dioxide. We call it pollution, and we call it death.” One need only look at our sister planet, Venus, to see that too much “life” can be a bad thing. There, an atmosphere of 96% carbon dioxide has created a hellish greenhouse effect. The temperatures of 860 F at the surface are hot enough to melt lead. There’s not too much life there! Not to mention that your demonstratively wrong idea about CO2 not being a pollutant shows again the endemic contradictions coming from guys like you, more than once you do accept that ocean acidification is a problem, and that is caused by CO2 pollution of the oceans. [http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution-overview/](http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution-overview/) > [@](#): > > Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the main pollutant that is warming Earth. Though living things emit carbon dioxide when they breathe, carbon dioxide is widely considered to be a pollutant when associated with cars, planes, power plants, and other human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. In the past 150 years, such activities have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/179 "2013-12-28T21:17:03Z")
Anthropomorphic Look it up yourself: ([Anthropomorphism - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism)) GIGObuster … did you watch how **elucidator** handled himself … he tore my ideas a new asshole without claiming he knew something he didn’t. Now I can respect such a man, someone who stays within his own competence. Maybe we could practice … I’ll assert that “Watts per square meter” is a measurement of energy transfer per second, do you agree? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029/180 "2013-12-28T21:19:07Z")
Its a trap! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change/677029.md?page=10)