It’s Getting Hot In Here

Essentially a cultural institution, Rolling Stone magazine focuses on music, politics and pop culture, so it’s no surprise that last week’s issue featured the Live Earth/SOS concert series. Today is the last day to pick it up at newsstands, although the articles will be archived online.

Of particular interest is “Lie by Lie – The White House Plot to Deny Global Warming.” In a solid piece of journalism, the article concludes and discusses:

An examination of thousands of pages of internal documents that the White House has been forced to relinquish under the Freedom of Information Act – as well as interviews with more than a dozen current and former administration scientists and climate-policy officials – confirms that the White House has implemented an industry-formulated disinformation campaign designed to actively mislead the American public on global warming and to forestall limits on climate polluters.

A disinformation campaign – sound familiar? Like that of the tobacco industries, the oil companies, and, well, our very own Executive Branch. Why? According the article’s investigation, Cheney (ahem, oil companies?) quickly embraced authority over environmental and energy policy, and consequently the climate.

Cheney reversed an early campaign promise to cap emissions and redefined carbon dioxide as a non-pollutant. A classic move of procrastination, as the Supreme Court only just overruled the declaration in April in Massachusetts v. EPA. Then Cheney sat back and watched as our climate policy and climate reports fell into the hands of oil lobbyists and were censored into oblivion.

In brief, this administration has put its narrow oil interests above the world’s well-being. I’d recommend reading the article in its entirety for insight into the internal memos and e-mails the magazine acquired and to understand the complex personal relations. It’s an interesting piece marking the times and an outright political embarrassment.