The Viridian Design Movement

Viridian Note 00299: Viridian Enemies Die

Bruce Sterling [bruces@well.com]

Key Concepts: Global Climate Coalition, Greening Earth Society, spin-doctors, anti-Kyoto lobbyists, Viridian class enemies, organizational death

Attention Conservation Notice: About the demise of evil organizations that Viridians can't stand.

Links:
This cheery rant I wrote for the local counterculture rag says nice things about weblogs and webloggers, so it is getting blogged all over the place. http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2002-0301/screens_feature2.html

Bob Morris, the noble soul running our Viridian contest site, has himself started a blog. http://www.bomoco.com/blog/

Remember what I was saying earlier about DNA-based computers? Well, this guy makes them. Yet another Viridian example of "predicting the present." http://www.cs.caltech.edu/%7Ewinfree/

Just a few of the many awful things we have said in the past about the unspeakable Global Climate Coalition. http://www.viridiandesign.org The original 1998 Viridian speech in which we singled them out as our primary class enemies: http://www.viridiandesign.org/viridiandesign.htm

Viridian Note 00126: The GCC Crumbles

Viridian Note 00140: The GCC Crumbles Further

Viridian Note 00142: Global Climate Coalition in Purge Frenzy

Viridian Note 00148: Anti-Viridian Web Log

<

a href="../176-200/00193_corporate_green_feud.html">Viridian Note 00193: Corporate Green Feud
... etc etc

The GCC's newly-abandoned website.
http://www.globalclimate.org

Source
Global Climate Coalition http://www.globalclimate.org

"The Global Climate Coalition has been deactivated.  The industry voice on climate change has served its purpose by contributing to a new national approach to global warming. 

"The Bush administration will soon announce a climate policy that is expected to rely on the development of new technologies to reduce greenhouse emissions, a concept strongly supported by the GCC.

"The coalition also opposed Senate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol that would assign such stringent targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions that economic growth in the U. S. would be severely hampered and energy prices for consumers would skyrocket. The GCC also opposed the treaty because it does not require the largest developing countries to make cuts in their emissions.

"At this point, both Congress and the Administration agree that the U.S. should not accept the mandatory cuts in emissions required by the protocol."

(((So, they're finally declaring victory and shutting down the ol' front group. The game plan is clear: assume Kyoto's death, notch up some Alaskan exploration rights and a better return-on-investment in the Bush energy plan, then duck for cover while the Enron scandal lasts.

(((The Global Climate Coalition was never "global" or about "climate" == it was a domestic inside-the-Beltway lobby group whose goal was to logjam US Senate confirmation of the Kyoto treaty. With that much accomplished, it is time for them to split, or in their own terms, "deactivate." There's always work elsewhere for the spinmeisters.)))

Source
PR Watch http://www.prwatch.org/cgi/spin.cgi

"Wednesday, February 27, 2002

"Former GCC Head Hired To Do Energy PR

"Glenn Kelly, former executive director of the now-defunct Global Climate Coalition, has been hired by Qorvis Communications as managing director of the firm's energy, natural resources and environmental PA practice. GCC had been the most outspoken and confrontational industry group in the United States battling reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the Kyoto Protocol. 'The group said in a statement that it has served its purpose and supports the Bush Administration's voluntary measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,' O'Dwyer's writes. Source: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, February 27, 2002."

(((We Viridians have predicted the formal demise of the GCC for some time. That it should happen so quietly and with so little fanfare, after so much harm done to the prospects of humanity, is a source of wonder. Much to my further wonderment, however, the much smaller and even crazier Greening Earth Society, an outfit we especially abhorred, is also cratering.)))

Source: http://www.greeningearthsociety.org

"OUR SITE HAS A NEW NAME AND NEW CONTENT

"Welcome to CO2andClimate.org, Greening Earth Society's newly expanded resource center for information concerning the impact of rising atmospheric CO2 levels on earth's climate and the biosphere.

"What's the Same? We're still the best place on the Web to find news, research and articles that express scientific skepticism over the potential for catastrophic changes in climate due to CO2 emissions.

"What's New? Our newly expanded content explores how exciting developments in the science of carbon sequestration can benefit agriculture, the environment and mankind."

(((What's not the same at the newly-renamed GES is this surprising new emphasis on "catastrophic change." Greening Earth, which is bankrolled by coal companies, always denied there would be any climate change == and that if there were, it would surely be a blessing: bumper crops, delightful winter weather and all that.

(((Their emphasis on sequestration is entirely new, and very Bush II. So is the sudden departure of chief Greening Earth zealot and propagandist, Chris Paynter.)))

Source: email

"Subject: Moving On

Date: Thursday, February 28, 2002 4:10 PM
From: Chris Paynter <cpaynter@co2andclimate.org>
To: CO2 and Climate Alert
<cpaynter@greeningearthsociety.org>


"I just wanted to let everyone know that subscribes to the Greening Earth Society (CO2 and Climate Alerts) that today is my last day with Greening Earth Society.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my past 4 years at GES and want to wish all of you the best of luck in the future. If anyone needs to contact me in the future I can be reached by email at cpaynter@yahoo.com.

"Ned Leonard will be your new contact for all inquiries related to GES starting March 01, 2002. Ned can be reached at the contact information listed below.

Greening Earth Society 1575 I Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20005

Ph: 202-898-1876 or 800-529-4503

Fx: 202-289-8450"


(((Chris doesn't say why he left (or was kicked overboard) but I swear I'll miss the guy. Chris Paynter was the infallible lodestone of Greenhouse incorrectness, like a needle that always pointed south. Why a guy of his fanatical devotion to mischief should have to suffer such an indignity after four years of selfless labor, that I'll never know. I can only assume he's headed some place more lucrative. If you can find out where Chris is lurking henceforth, by all means let the rest of us know. One thing is certain: it can't be good.

(((I can speculate on the meaning of these events. The keys are (a) the Enron scandal and (b) the Cheney Energy policy and its so-very-secret authors. When Bush II tried to abolish Kyoto (one of their first actions in office) the GCC cabal was living high on the Washington hog. They are now massive political liabilities. However, they achieved at least one major and lasting victory. So the word has gone out to take the profits and lie low.)))

(((What does this mean to Viridians? Well, we always defined ourselves as an org in stern opposition to these two groups. So it is now incumbent on us to reform our own activities. The 300th Viridian Note will shortly be upon us. After that major milestone, prepare yourself for some novel Viridian organizational developments.)))

(((In the meantime, we will have to pick out some new object of unifying hatred from these many surviving Greenhouse pressure groups. Or else, we can discover the newest versions of the GCC and GES, in whatever evil guises their founders choose to reassert themselves.)))

Links: Greenhouse denial groups on the web:

Cooler Heads Coalition http://www.globalwarming.org/ Green-Watch http://www.Green-Watch.com/ George C. Marshall Institute http://www.marshall.org/globalwarming.htm Heartland Institute http://www.heartland.org/ Center for Energy and Economic Development http://www.ceednet.org Environmental Perspectives, Inc. http://www.epi.freedom.org/ Fossil Fuels Org http://www.fossilfuels.org/ Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change http://www.co2science.org/

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
PICK YOUR FAVORITE CANDIDATE FOR
UNRESTRAINED LOATHING!
O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O