The comment in August by Bill Richardson, President Clinton's pick for U.S. Secretary of Energy, that global warming advocates had been "outgunned" came as a surprise to those of us who have been watching the huge amount of cash being amassed by interest groups focussed on this issue. The U.S. government, of course, has been spending roughly $2 billion a year on global warming and now proposes a new $6.3 billion package, which includes a set-aside for public "education."
But in addition, Pew Charitable Trust has pledged some $50 million over the next 10 years to promote this issue to the press and the public, largely through the National Environmental Trust and the Pew Center for Global Climate Change. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation just donated $1.5 million to train 60 "scientist-communicators" to work the press on global warming. Millions more have been donated by the W. Alton Jones Foundation and other foundations. The issue has been a major focus of the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and dozens of other green activist organizations. On the industry side, approximately $13 million was spent on a nationwide ad campaign in the fall of 1997. Word is that industry plans a similar ad campaign this fall.
Given the interest generated by the UN global warming summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early November, we thought it would be useful to try to gauge how the global warming debate is faring here in the United States. We did a Lexis-Nexis search of editorials and commentary in major news and commentary publications, using June 1, 1998 as the starting point. We figured beginning at this date would be a better measure of global warming's sustainability as an issue, and would also reflect any concerns raised by the Vice President's many weather-related press briefings over the summer.
Our search, of course, did not include television, which has been largely pro-warming, nor radio, which has been largely against it. Both radio and television reach tens of millions of listeners. Very small newspapers were deliberately excluded, in part because they tend to be strongly conservative and would likely skew the results in the "No" column. News articles would have been too numerous to count, but we figured that editorials and commentary should reflect their impact.
A few of these commentary articles are clearly meant to be self-serving, i.e. industry representatives, Green activists, nuclear engineers promoting nuclear power. Only the editorials reflect the official position of the publications themselves. All of the articles, however, reveal what their readership has been seeing. If we've missed some editorials/opinion pieces, please bring them to our attention.
In reviewing this list, several things jumped out at us. First, 41 of the 128 articles appeared in August, a reflection of the Clinton administration's--and particularly Mr. Gore's--promotion of the issue. Second, there was a curious dearth of support on either the editorial or commentary pages at two major newspapers that strongly promote global warming on the news side: the New York Times and the Washington Post. Finally, there was a general failure of representatives of either industry or green activist organizations to attack this issue on the commentary pages. Of the few industry-based articles, several were middle-of-the-roadish. The one Green group commentary piece, from Ozone Action, presented a shrill argument for an industry plot. Both industry and activists are working directly with the U.S. government. But it would be arrogant if either thinks that deals can be struck without convincing the American people that such policies are needed or in any way useful.
Over the past 6 months, we tried to get a clearer picture of what Secretary Richardson meant when he said the U.S. government was being "outgunned." If he meant losing the debate on the pages of major newspapers and magazines, perhaps he was right. There's a lot of skepticism being expressed. We might add that although we didn't include foreign press, there appears to be a similar split in the Canadian debate as well.
GLOBAL WARMING/KYOTO--NO:
45 publications
22 editorials, 57 commentary articles
(22 published in August)
Albuquerque Journal: David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, in a column says "White House emitting hot air." 8/21/98)
Allentown (PA) Morning Call: Mary Novak, Sr. VP of Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates, in a column writes that "Accord on global warming could be expensive for state." (9/15/98)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: brief editorial "G-g-global warming" comments on the below freezing weather (12/23/98)
Augusta (GA) Chronicle: Opinion piece by policy analyst Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis says Kyoto Treaty "sacrifices prosperity on a false altar" (11/24/98)
Bangor (ME) Daily News: Republican Congressional candidate Jon Reisman in a column writes "Green ends will justify any means. Gore elaborated this strategy in his book, Earth in the Balance. He called for dismissing those who didn't believe in global warming, and asked the press not to report the views of such skeptics." (9/11/98)
Boston Herald: Mary Novack, sr. vice president of Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates, says "global warming alarmists, chill out" (10/13/98)
Boston Globe: Columnist Jeff Jacoby says "Scientists don't agree on global warming" (11/5/98)
Charleston (SC) Gazette: Business Editorial: "Student Voices Industry Concerns over Global Warming Treaty: Do you remember when you were young hearing the monster under the bed even though you knew it didn't exist?" (9/15/98)
Charleston (SC) Post and Courier: Former government scientist Joseph McDowell in a column "Why is this debate still alive when no credible evidence has been found to support global warming theory?" (8/5/98)
Chattanooga (TN) Free Press: Free Press Editor and Publisher Lee Anderson in a column "there is still no proof of the wild global warming claims of the alarmists who ignore natural climate cycles (8/4/98)
Chicago (IL) Sun Times: Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner in a column says "global warming paranoia just a lot of hot air" (6/19/98)
Chicago (IL) Tribune: Column by Joan Beck says "global warming verdict still up in the air." (7/9/98)
Columbus (OH) Dispatch: columnist John Switzer writes that "Global warming trends have yet to be proven" (12/22/98)
The Daily Oklahoman: Editorial says Kyoto solution puts "jobs in the balance" (10/13/98)
Detroit (MI) News:
Editorial "It is regrettable that the National Council of Churches has embraced Mr. Gore's line (on global warming)."(8/25/98)
Opinion piece by economist Mary Novak says "Warming treaty threatens Michigan" (11/15/98)
Durham (North Carolina) Herald-Sun:
Vin Saxena, professor of atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University, in a column says global warming is still unproven and that the US should "use common sense on the UN climate treaty" (10-11-98)
Freelance writer Daniel Hager in a column "Many of us, taking a longer view of climate history, remain skeptics" (7/20/98)
Duluth (MN) News Tribune: Citizens Research Council President Clyde Nelson in a column "Must we rush into the unknown abyss of treaties that supersede our own Constitution in a mad rush to avert a disaster when even today large numbers of learned scientists cannot seem to agree on the cause, or the impact (of global warming) on the world's population?" (8/1/98)
Electricity Daily: Editorial critical of "Hansen's Global Warming Index" (7/27/98)
Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram: Knight-Ridder columnist John Carlisle asks "Is the sun to blame for global warming? Biggest factor on earth's temperature is 93 million miles away" (7/6/98)
Indianapolis Star: editorial "A Lukewarm Treaty" (11/17/98)
Investor's Business Daily:
Editorial "(The U.S. EPA) is committed to spending your money to persuade you to tell your senator to get on the global warming bandwagon...The EPA calls this educational outreach. It smells like lobbying" (8/4/98)
Policy analyst Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis says "Global warming treaty threatens national security" (10/15/98)
Editorial, "Kyoto Mania" (11/14/98)
Columnist Eric Peters tells why the EPA is lying about cars and catalytic converters in "A Catalytic Con Job" (12/16/98)
H. Sterling Burnett, environmental policy analyst with the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, in a column contends that the "global warming treaty threatens national security" (10-15-98)
Junk Science Home Page Publisher Steve Milloy and Michael Gough of the Cato Institute in a column say scientist Frederick Seitz is the "prime target of a government smear campaign" as part of the "broader effort to squelch scientific debate on global warming" (8/7/98)
Journal of Commerce:
Editorial notes evidence that the Earth's climate from 1000-1200 A.D. was about 1 degree Celsius warmer than today, with no input from cars or power plants. (7/6/98)
"Kyoto Pact Puts U.S. at Risk," opinion piece by Dana Joel Gattuso (11/20/98)
"U.S. Senate Should Nix Kyoto Pact," opinion piece by Alexander F. Annett (12/4/98)
"The Prophets of Doom," opinion piece by Robert L. Sexton (12/8/98)
"Science, Hype and Hurricanes," opinion piece by Professor Patrick Michaels of the University of Virginia (12/16/98)
Las Vegas (NV) Review-Journal:
David Ridenour, VP of the National Center for Public Policy Research, in a column writes "Will Gore blame hurricanes on global warming?" (9/13/98)
Small Business Survival Committee chief economist Raymond Keating in a column blasts White House economist Janet Yellen's view that the costs of Kyoto will be small (7/16/98)
Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute "For farmers of the world, the Kyoto treaty could mean a 75 percent surge in energy prices, leading to radically higher prices for such energy-expensive inputs as machinery, pesticides, and fertilizer." (9/1/98)
Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates VP Mary Novak, in a column "Instead of hobbling our economy with costly new regulations, we should pursue alternatives to the Kyoto Accord" (8/14/98)
Little Rock (AK) Democrat-Gazette: Editorial "No wonder (Gore) always seems so uncomfortable...He's not a statesman. He's a weatherman...The man really missed his calling" (7/13/98
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal: Kentucky Farm Bureau President William Sprague "America's most potent agricultural trading competitors...won't have to shoulder the same cost increases that our producers have to bear (under Kyoto)" (8/29/98)
Memphis (TN) Commercial Appeal: Economics Prof. Ben Bolch and Emeritus Chemistry Prof. Harold Lyons of Rhodes College in a column on global warming write "Gore's Half Truths: the chairman of the House Science Committee has formally requested an investigation of the EPA by the General Accounting Office. Such an investigation is long overdue." (9/13/98)
Montgomery (AL) Advertiser: Editorial "There remains much legitimate dispute about the extent of global warming and its impact on humankind." (8/13/98)
New York Post: Yale Professor David Gelernter in a column writes about the "Religious leaders new false idol"--global warming.
Omaha World-Herald:
Editorial "(Gore) seems to be seeking votes by crying out that the sky is falling" (8/14/98)
Editorial lists "more reasons to doubt Kyoto solution" (10/12/98)
Editorial, "More Reasons to Doubt Kyoto" (10/15/98)
Port St. Lucie (FL) News: Editorial "An Ill-considered Treaty" (11/18/98)
Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin: David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, in a column notes the hundreds of delegates, reporters, and activists converging on Buenos Aires next month and says the "global warming junket increases hot air" (9-25-98)
National Review: Cover story by Jonathan Adler of the Competitive Enterprise Institute "Global warming is not a threat to health or the economy. Plans to address it are" (8/17/98)
The Patriot-Ledger (Quincy, MA): Columnist D.A. Mittell, Jr. writes "let's cut the alarmist claptrap on warm Earth." (9/5/98)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Columnist David Boldt "We'd be idiots to lash ourselves to growth-slowing policies based on a very dubious, very long-range weather forecast." (8/25/98)
Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin: Mackubin Thomas Owens in a column complains about the ramifications of "global warming vs. U.S. security" (7/31/98)
Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Editorial "Science is mostly irrelevant to Gore...What Gore is trying to do is drum up support for the Kyoto treaty" (7/21/98)
Editorial "Nothing in the natural world is static...Won't someone please tell Al Gore?" (8/25/98)
UVA Prof Patrick Michaels in a column "(Americans) know when someone is yelling fire in a crowded greenhouse" (8/18/98)
Editorial faults "Cloudy predictions" (12/22/98)
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO): Center for the New West President Philip Burgess in a column "Nearly every publicly available study estimating the true costs of Kyoto ends up with dramatically higher cost estimates than those used by Clinton-Gore true believers" (8/4/98)
Salt Lake (UT) Tribune: National Center for Public Policy Research VP David Ridenour in a column "The unusually hot air blowing this summer has come from the White House, not from global warming" (8/16/98)
San Diego (CA) Union-Tribune: Columnist Joseph Perkins discusses "The Price of Global Warming Remedies" (11/6/98)
Scripps-Howard Syndication: Columnist Jay Ambrose discusses "Indifference toward global warming" (11/6/98)
Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review: Columnist John Webster "on the basis of this uncertainty and exaggeration, the United States would be crazy to don a regulatory straitjacket": (8/14/98)
Tampa (FL) Tribune:
Editorial says "Gore's attempt to link Florida fires to global warming is pseudo-science" (7/12/98)
David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, in a column asks "Will Gore blame hurricanes on global warming too?"
Virginia Pilot: David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, in a column says "Clinton and Gore are politicizing the weather." (8/23/98)
Wall Street Journal: Opinion piece by writer and consultant Bruce Berle says "Global warming studies are a model of confusion" (11/4/98)
Washington (DC) Post: Opinion piece by David Victor discusses the "Kyoto Shell Game" (11/20/98)
Washington (DC) Times:
Editorial "Al Gore Warms Up: Is there any misfortune, disaster or otherwise unwelcome phenomenon out there that (Gore) can't blame on alleged global warming?" (7/16/98)
Syndicated columnist Oliver North writes "...no matter what Kyoto says, businesses aren't going to stop using fossil fuels. They will simply stop using them in the United States. And...that means fewer jobs" (7/18/98)
UVA Prof. Patrick Michaels writes about "false alarms in the greenhouse" (7/20/98)
Senate Republican Policy Committee Chief Economist J.T. Young in a column writes that the Administration has virtually no blueprint for action behind its proposal to spend $6.3 billion on actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (8/4/98)
Cato Institute foreign policy analyst Gary Dempsey in a column says ratifying the Kyoto Protocol is "courting global disaster." (8/4/98)
National Center for Public Policy Research VP David Ridenour writes about "cooler readings of the heatwave hype" (8/19/98)
Editorial "The Clinton Administration has created an industry of its own to sow fear of climate change worldwide." (8/31/98);
UVA Prof. Patrick Michaels "Mr. Gore is not talking about the globe's temperatures after all, and the science he's peddling hasn't even been peer reviewed" (8/31/98)
Editorial talks about foundation funding to promote global warming in "deep pockets, hot air." (8/31/98)
Patrick Michaels, sr. policy analyst with the Cato Institute and a University of Virginia climatologist, in a column points to a "fervid loss of cool on global warming" (10-1-98)
S. Fred Singer, president of The Science & Environmental Policy Project, in a column discusses "global warming lucency" (10/14/98)
Opinion piece by Competitive Enterprise Institute policy analyst James Sheehan discusses "Funding the lobby of global warming"(11/9/98)
Opinion piece by Congressman James Sensenbenner discusses "Clouds generated in Kyoto" (12/15/98)
UVA Professor Patrick Michaels questions claims of warming-driven hurricanes in "Mitch, that son of a gun" (12/15/98)
Professor Patrick Michaels analyzes research of scientist Jonathan Overpeck in "Logic evaporating with global reading" (12/30/98)
GLOBAL WARMING/KYOTO--YES:
28 publications
21 editorials, 17 commentary articles
(14 published in August)
Arizona Republic: Barry Ganapol writes in an op-ed that "Nuclear energy key weapon in battling global warming" (11/23/98)
Atlanta Constitution:
Editorial "We can ignore these warnings if we choose. But our children and grandchildren may find it hard to ignore the legacy of our greed and selfishness" (8/19/98)
Editorial "Does it seem hot in here?" (12/10/98)
Baltimore Sun: Penn State Prof. of nuclear engineering Anthony J. Baratta promotes "using nuclear power to cool the planet" (6/17/98)
Boston Globe: Editorial "...stop heeding a few powerful but shortsighted interests and take the global threat seriously" (8/14/98)
Buffalo (NY) News:
Opinion piece by environmental activist Walter Simpson says "Global warming is no joke--It demands serious attention" (12/20/98)
Editorial, "Despite December's Chill, the Heat is On" (12/25/98)
Chicago Tribune: Editorial "prudence and common sense--and mounting scientific evidence--(suggest) that global warming must be taken seriously" (8/9/98)
Christian Science Monitor: Editorial "Hot air and climate change" (11/4/98)
Des Moines Register: Editorial "The environment we're comfortable with simply can't handle all the greenhouse gases" (8/17/98)
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel: Editorial "global warming is too serious to be used for partisan advantage" (8/12/98)
Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram: Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins "we continue to report global warming as though it were a debate among scientists. It is not." (8/13/98)
Houston Chronicle:
Physics Prof. George Reiter, Union of Concerned Scientists Government Relations Director Alden Meyer, and Tim Mock (who works in computer software), in a column, call the "Climate treaty a very cheap insurance policy for U.S." (9/16/98)
Opinion piece by James Gustave "Gus" Speth, administrator of the UN Development Program, says "Yes, We can grow and deal with global warming too" (11/12/98)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: UNLV geology Prof. Stephen Rowland in a column writes "...our children and grandchildren will pay a far higher price and suffer serious consequences if we ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence" (7/26/98)
Los Angeles Times:
Editorial "Kyoto's faded dream: How even the last smidgen of reform is unraveling" (9/5/98)
Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins writes "debate dries up on global warming" (8/16/98)
Editorial, "Gridlock on global warming" (11/11/98)
Editorial, "Fresh Air for Global Warming" (12/28/98)
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal: Editorial "...the warming trend is going to impose big costs on governments and business enterprises all over the world" (8/13/98)
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Editorial "This summer might be a harbinger of the calamity to come" (8/12/98)
Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger: Editorial "The long-range threat is going to continue--no matter what the forecast shows." (8/24/98)
New York Times: Editorial "Remember global warming?" (11/11/98)
North Carolina News & Observer:
NCSU nuclear engineering Prof. Donald Dudziak in a column "Mounting evidence that the planet may be warming...require(s) a larger role for nuclear power" (7/17/98)
Opinion piece by Joshua Karliner, editorial coordinator of Corporate Watch, discusses "Closing down the carbon club" (11/10/98)
Palm Beach Post: Editorial "these fluctuations are not normal..." (8/24/98)
Rocky Mountain News: Harvard business professor Robert Stavins in a column says "global warming skeptics playing chicken little too" (8/9/98)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Editorial "Americans are going to have to face the fact that fighting global warming and its consequences will cost some money" (8/12/98)
Editorial, "Enough hot air" (12/4/98)
Opinion piece by Barclay Jones uses global warming to promote nuclear power in "Nuclear power good for Environment" (12/21/98)
Salt Lake (UT) Tribune: Ozone Action Executive Director John Passacantando in a column "Go ahead and listen to the fossil fuel lobbyists bad-mouth the president and vice president for talking about what is increasingly the most obvious global threat we have ever faced" (8/16/98)
Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune: Editorial "The shrinking of the permafrost...has been anything but glacial and reflects the impact of global warming" (9/8/98)
Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review: Columnist Carol MacPherson "global warming is a fact" (8/14/98)
Tacoma (Washington) News Tribune: Editorial says "ozone recovery offers a success to build on" with climate treaty (October 11, 1998)
Vancouver (WA) Columbian: Columnist Michael Zuzel writes "Taking action carries a cost, but as recent weather strongly suggests, so does not taking action" (7/19/98)
Virginia Pilot: Ozone Action executive director John Passacantando in a column says "Clinton and Gore are right. Global warming has arrived." (8/23/98)
Washington Post:
Editorial calls on Congress to remove riders to the EPA's funding bill that would bar "contemplation of implementation" of the Kyoto Protocol" (7/21/98)
"Hot air on climate change," opinion piece by Stuart Eizenstat, undersecretary of state for economics, business, and agricultural affairs, and Frank Lay, undersecretary of state for global affairs.
GLOBAL WARMING/KYOTO--MAYBE:
9 publications
4 editorials, 7 commentary articles
(6 published in August)
Boston Globe: Massachusetts Petroleum Council Executive Director Frank Tivan, in a column "No thoughtful observer would dismiss warming out of hand. But given the scientific debate over the problem, the economic pain is skewed way out of proportion." (8/11/98)
Houston Chronicle: Editorial says "discourse best in sorting out global warming questions" (9-25-98)
Insight magazine: Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci in a column writes "By agreeing to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions and leaving the accord's impact on military operations ambiguous, the administration effectively has hamstrung the Defense Department's ability to protect U.S. national security...The Senate must demand a blanket exemption for all military operations" (6/15/98)
Journal of Commerce:
American Petroleum Institute Executive VP William O'Keefe in a column writes that there are "sensible steps" that can be taken to address climate change: energy efficient technology, voluntary emissions reductions, including developing nations in any emissions reduction campaign (7/6/98)
Harvard Prof. Robert Stavins in a column "contrary to overly optimistic claims...it could cost the U.S. economy between 0.3 percent and 3 percent of the annual gross national product to meet the U.S. targets under the Kyoto Protocol....Such costs are not trivial, but neither do they represent national economic catastrophe." (8/7/98)
Editorial, "The Climate Conference" (11/5/98)
Newsday (NY): Editorial, "Just the facts? On global warming, we need more" (10/27/98)
Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch: Media General News Service White House Correspondent Marsha Mercer in a column "Gore evidently believes people may be ready for an environmentally aware president who can save us from climate doom" (8/16/98)
Sacramento (CA) Bee: Columnist Dan Vierra raises doubts about local temperature "records" in "The big cooling off: New thermometer site should lower the highs" (9/12/98)
Tampa (FL) Tribune: Editorial "Gore's half answer to global warming" (8/30/98)
Washington (DC) Times: NASA scientist Roy Spencer in a column writes "were it not for the standoff between the White House and Congress over the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, and the concern over recent high temperatures, this would be just another technical debate hashed out on the pages of scientific journals" (9/3/98)