In 1971, The New York Times Published The First Climate Denial Op-Ed
The public mockery of “environmentalists” for concern about climate pollution began with a The New York Times op-ed by an Ayn Rand acolyte on August 28, 1971. Published with the headline “No, Breathe Easier,” mining executive and propagandist Eugene Guccione falsely claimed that “we are winning the war on pollution” and then called the greenhouse effect “idiocy”.
Unaware that particulate concentration is decreasing, “environmentalists” talk about the New Ice Age Theory. The build‐up of dust in the air, so goes the argument, will screen out the sun and we’ll all be turned into ice.Then there is the Greenhouse Effect Theory. The build‐up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so goes this particular idiocy, will cause a temperature increase throughout the planet … and we’ll drown in the tidal wave resulting from the melting of the polar ice caps, or roast to death.
These so‐called theories contradict each other. We cannot both freeze and roast at the same time. It’s either or. But relax. It’s neither. We won’t freeze because there is no such thing as a build‐up of particulates in the air, as lots of tests indicate. Nor will we roast because at the present level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere it would take about 957 years to triple the current level. Such speculations have no more scientific validity than the prediction that my puppy dog, at his present growth rate, would be fifteen feet long and weigh 900 pounds at age five.
The next week, the Times published a response from climate scientist Stephen Schneider, noting Guccione’s op-ed was both factually wrong and dangerously optimistic about the threat of pollution-induced climate change.
Guccione, a chemical engineer who embraced the ideology of free-market economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Alan Greenspan, was then the editor of Engineering & Mining Journal. He later edited Mining Engineering journal and chaired the Mountain States Lime cement plant in Utah as well as the free-market Committee for Monetary Research and Education. He continued to rail against environmental legislation for impeding the coal and oil industries, argued for subsidizing the domestic oil industry to compete with the Soviet Union, and fulminated against taxation as a form of mugging.
By the 1980s, the Times was running regular climate-denial advertorials from Mobil (and after a merger, ExxonMobil) on its op-ed pages into the 2000s. The tradition continued in the Internet age with dynamic greenwashing Web campaigns co-developed by the Times and ExxonMobil.
Full text of the Guccione op-ed:
We are winning the war against pollution. And this is the biggest untold story in America today. It is a fact corroborated by evidence avail able to anyone who bothers to look at the results of chemical and physical tests that have been run for many years by private and public institutions.Full text of Dr. Stephen Schneider’s response: To the Editor: The opinion that we are “winning the war against pollution” expressed by Eugene Guccione on his Aug. 28 Op‐Ed column is based upon conclusions that are often inaccurate and certainly misleading.In 1931 and 1932, for instance, after conducting extensive measurements in fourteen of the largest U. S. cities—including New York—the Public Health Service found that the average concentration of particulates in urban air was 510 micrograms per cubic meter, on an annual basis. (The term “particulate” refers to dust and other air borne solid matter.)
In 1957, when H.E.W. began a continuous air‐monitoring program in 56 cities, the average particulate concentration was 120 micrograms. Since then, the air‐monitoring program has been extended to 64 cities and, ac cording to data published by H.E.W. and the Environmental Protection Agency, the average particulate concentration has been decreasing yearly. In 1969, the average was 92, says William D. Ruckelshaus, director of E.P.A.
So, as far as particulates are concerned, our air is far cleaner today than it was during the Depression when industrial activity was at a low ebb.
Then there is the case of those poisonous gases released to the atmosphere. The worst of these gases is sulphur dioxide, according to “environmentalists” who have launched an all‐out war against such industries as copper‐smelting and power‐generating companies. Build‐up of sulphur dioxide is increasing constantly and has reached alarming proportions, we are told. This is untrue. As corroborated by data gathered by the National Air Pollution Control Administration in thirty major cities from 1964 to 1969, seventeen of the cities in 1969 had a lower level of sulphur dioxide than five years earlier, and three cities had the same level.
Yet, “environmentalists” cling to the notion that sulphur dioxide concentration in the atmosphere in creases annually. If that were the case, none of us would be here today because our parents, grandparents and great‐grandparents would not have been born; our distant ancestors would have died suffocated by the catastrophic buildup of sulphur dioxide that began when Prometheus stole the fire from the gods.
Unaware that particulate concentration is decreasing, “environmentalists” talk about the New Ice Age Theory. The build‐up of dust in the air, so goes the argument, will screen out the sun and we’ll all be turned into ice.
Then there is the Greenhouse Effect Theory. The build‐up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so goes this particular idiocy, will cause a temperature increase throughout the planet … and we’ll drown in the tidal wave resulting from the melting of the polar ice caps, or roast to death.
These so‐called theories contradict each other. We cannot both freeze and roast at the same time. It’s either or. But relax. It’s neither. We won’t freeze because there is no such thing as a build‐up of particulates in the air, as lots of tests indicate. Nor will we roast because at the present level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere it would take about 957 years to triple the current level. Such speculations have no more scientific validity than the prediction that my puppy dog, at his present growth rate, would be fifteen feet long and weigh 900 pounds at age five.
We are winning the war against pollution. Are the so‐called environmentalists happy? They should be, if a cleaner environment is what they want. But the fact that we are effectively reducing pollution, and that predictions of environmental dooms day are unwarranted, should not lead us into premature victory celebrations. The war isn’t over yet. Pollution does exist. And the problem, as usual, will be solved by men of reason and knowledge.
Eugene Guccione, a chemical engineer, is senior editor of Engineering and Mining Journal.
For instance, Mr. Guccione summarily dismisses an important theory of climate change—that the build‐up of dust in the air might eventually screen out enough sunlight to initiate an ice age. His reasoning is based on statistics showing that the average mass (weight) of suspended particles in the air over American cities has dropped since 1957 due to emission controls. It is misleading to conclude from this evidence that dust particles, therefore, have no potential effect on global climate.
Although the weight of the particles suspended in the air over American cities has gone down, the opacity of the atmosphere has gone up. Opacity is a measure of the “haziness” of the atmosphere and depends upon both the mass and number of particles in the atmosphere. An increase in opacity of the atmosphere results in a decrease of sunlight reaching the earth’s surface. Thus opacity on a global scale is the important variable in studying the effect of particles on climate, not merely the weight of particles suspended over American cities.
In some remote places and even far out in the Atlantic Ocean, in fact, recent studies have shown an increase as large as 100 per cent in opacity of the atmosphere from particles over the last fifty years. The reason that opacity is going up while at the same time emission controls seem to be decreasing particle concentrations in the cities is that controls remove only the large‐sized particles. Since these larger particles carry most of the weight of all suspended particles, it is tempting to assume (as Mr. Guccione did) that the total future effect of particles on the climate is also decreasing.
In supercilious tones, Mr. Guccione also decries the “idiocy” of the Greenhouse Effect Theory of increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on warming the climate.
It is again unfortunate that numerous atmospheric scientists do not share his optimistic views. These conclusions were drawn this summer in Stockholm at the international scientific conference “Study of Man’s Impact on Climate,” attended by more than thirty leading atmospheric scientists from all over the world. Their report will be available shortly.
At present, scientists can only show that it is possible that man’s activities might inadvertently affect the climate over the next fifty years. This is particularly important since a recent study has indicated that if the world population increase and energy demands continue at present rates, man’s “potential to pollute” will increase six‐ to eightfold in the next fifty years.
I agree with Mr. Guccione that it is obvious that “we cannot both freeze and roast at the same time.” But serious scientific studies have indicated that CO2 and dust pollution can affect climate, albeit in opposite directions. We do not yet know the magnitude of these influences well enough to be certain which, if either, of these effects might predominate.
Though some “environmentalists” may exploit this issue for its sensational appeal, Mr. Guccione should not counterattack with lullabies. What we do need is an accelerated program of scientific research along with improved international cooperation.
The writer is an atmospheric scientist of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Nearly 500 Fort Myers Residents Trapped in Milton's Path: "Inmates will be evacuated to top floors in case of flooding."
Lee County Jail lies about 1500 feet from the water’s edge in Evacuation Zone A
Nearly 500 Floridians are trapped in Milton’s path as it nears landfall tonight. Fort Myers’ Lee County Jail is 1500 feet from the tidal estuary of the Caloosahatchee River. The jail, a hulking, near windowless facility with 457 beds that serves as the main booking facility for the county, lies in Lee County’s Hurricane Evacuation Zone A. The county ordered all free people in Evacuation Zones A and B to flee by Tuesday evening, but Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno decided not to evacuate the 477 inmates in the overstuffed jail to safety.
The National Weather Service is warning that as Hurricane Milton makes landfall tonight, it will push the Gulf of Mexico waters past Cape Coral and into the Caloosahatchee, with tropical-storm-force winds bringing a storm surge of up to 6 feet of water into the estuary.
The Lee County Sheriff’s office confirmed to Hill Heat this morning that there are no plans to evacuate the facility.
“Inmates will be evacuated to top floors in case of flooding,” public information officer Julie Martin told Hill Heat, and the “kitchen is staffed and has two weeks of food for inmates and staff.”
There are contingency plans to evacuate the inmates to Lee County’s Core facility farther inland, Martin stated. The core facility currently has 1169 inmates and 47 spare beds.
Lee County Sheriff spokesman Nestor Montoya told the Fort Myers News-Press that all inmates are “safe”.
Lee County Jail is one of several carceral facilities in Florida not being evacuated from the fossil-fueled Milton.
Update October 10: The Lee County Sheriff’s Office reports that there is power and running water at the jail, with no flooding from Hurricane Milton.
Good Morning Brad,There are currently 477 inmates at the main jail, and 1169 inmates at the Core facility.
Evacuations of the jail are not taking place at this time. Please see a few facts about our jails preparedness below…
- The Jail and CORE facilities are 100% staffed.
- All inmates are in hardened structures.
- Water tanks are on standby if needed for drinking and sanitation.
- Kitchen is staffed and has two-weeks of food for inmates and staff.
- Medical staff will maintain 24/7care.
- Inmates will be evacuated to top floors in case of flooding.
- Both facilities have room and contingency plans if one needs to evacuate to the other. Vehicles and personnel are staged.
Thanks,
Julie
Calls for Climate: Josh Riley for NY-9
Join us to turn voters out this election to defeat Trump and elect climate champions!
The stakes in this election couldn’t be higher. That’s why we’re supporting Kamala Harris and Congressional candidates in key races across the country who will stand up for corporate polluters and put people before profits.
Join us on Tuesdays to call voters in key congressional districts and make sure they have a plan to get out and vote for climate champions.
At 6pm ET, we’ll be joined by Josh Riley to hear his plan to fight for climate action once elected. Hear directly from Josh about his priorities then make calls to voters to them out for him!
We’ll be making calls to support these climate champions:- Josh Riley for NY-19 at 6pm ET / 3pm PT
- Kirsten Engel for AZ-06 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
Both of these races can help Democrats take back the House. Josh and Kirsten are running in battleground districts currently held by Republicans. Join us to call voters and flip these seats.
This event is cohosted by Climate Hawks Vote, Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, Friends of the Earth Action, and Third Act.
See the schedule for the rest of the month.
Harris Campaign: Trump Will Sell America Out to Oil Barons
Vice President Kamala Harris at the COP 28 climate talks, 2023.
At her Tuesday campaign rally in Wisconsin, Vice President Kamala Harris said that Trump “literally promised Big Oil companies and Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations.”
The Harris for President campaign issued the following press release today.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that a “megawealthy coterie of oil tycoons” are “banking on promises” from Donald Trump to deliver his dangerous Project 2025 agenda that is even “more stridently pro-fossil fuel than Trump’s first administration.”
Trump already offered control of White House policy to oil barons while asking for $1 billion to his campaign.
These Big Oil donations solicited by Trump are being investigated as a “blatant quid pro quo” by Senate investigators and “make the magnates among some of Trump’s biggest donors and represent an increase from past election cycles.”
Trump promised to issue “immediate approvals” for Big Oil’s dangerous schemes while asking them to put him back in the White House.
Oil lobbyists are already drafting ready-made executive orders for Trump to sign to give them tax handouts, increase costs on Americans, and pollute our environment.
Trump has even said that he would cut “environmental agencies” and the Department of Interior, which are critical to protecting public lands and ensuring clean air and water for all Americans.
Harris for President spokesperson Joseph Costello released the following statement:
“Oil barons are salivating because climate denier Donald Trump promised to do their bidding while asking them to bankroll his run for the presidency. Trump’s promises to Big Oil would sacrifice good paying jobs that are driving an American energy and manufacturing boom, and instead give billion dollar handouts to corporations at the expense of working families and a healthy future for our children.
“Under the Biden-Harris administration, America is more energy independent than ever. Vice President Harris cast the tie breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, creating hundreds of thousands of good paying energy jobs and making the biggest climate investment in world history. But Trump promises to dismantle all this progress and sell out America’s future for his own personal gain.”
National Defend Our Climate Town Hall with Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Stansbury (NM-01)
Calling all climate activists! Please join us for a unique virtual town hall event with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), moderated by Earthjustice President Abbie Dillen. We’ll talk about record heat and what we can do about it. We’ll celebrate how all the climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act are speeding our transition to clean energy, creating jobs, and lowering energy costs. We’ll also spell out how we can all come together to Defend Our Climate when the big polluters and their allies in Congress would take us backward.
Mountain Valley Pipeline Protest
President Biden faced fierce opposition when he approved the Willow oil drilling project. He has done it again with the Mountain Valley Pipeline as part of the debt ceiling deal. Join us in front of the White House to demand Biden stop the MVP.
By backing Manchin’s Dirty Deal, the Biden administration has signaled they are willing to sacrifice Appalachians for their own political gain. For over a century, Appalachia has been deemed a sacrifice zone. The fossil fuel industry has destroyed our home and our wellbeing. We will not let the Mountain Valley Pipeline add to this legacy. We will stop MVP and secure a better, more just future for our home.
This is Biden’s pipeline. He can stop MVP just like he stopped Keystone XL. He can reclaim his climate legacy by stopping all new fossil fuel projects.
The MVP is one of many fossil fuel projects Biden could stop. This action sets off a stampede of distributed actions across the country June 8 – 11th with thousands of people calling on President Biden to stop all new fossil fuel projects.
Facing the Climate Emergency Book Launch
Join us for the release of Facing the Climate Emergency + discussion with author Margaret Klein Salamon and journalist Roberta Baskin.
About the Book —
Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth
A lifeline for those suffering from climate anxiety, Facing the Climate Emergency combines Salamon’s expertise in clinical psychology and disruptive climate activism to help readers transform their fear and grief into courage and heroism.
This beloved self-help book provides emphatic guidance for the overwhelmed and concrete strategies for tackling anxiety and other painful climate emotions. Facing the Climate Emergency offers inspiring portraits of ordinary people who are striking school, throwing soup onto paintings, and otherwise disrupting normalcy in order to raise the alarm and create rapid policy change.
Facing the Climate Emergency helps people. That’s why writer and director Adam McKay writes in the foreword to the 2nd edition, “I hope this book becomes as ubiquitous as the Heimlich maneuver in restaurants.”
About the Speakers —
Margaret Klein Salamon, Ph.D, is the executive director of the Climate Emergency Fund, which raises and grants millions of dollars to nonviolent disruptive climate activists. A graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. from Adelphi University, Margaret brings her psychological expertise to all of her climate work. As founder of the grassroots advocacy group Climate Mobilization, she spearheaded the campaign for governments to acknowledge the climate emergency through an official declaration. A climate emergency has now been declared by over 2,270 global governments, comprising more than 1 billion of the world’s citizens. Her Climate Awakening project facilitates hundreds of virtual and in-person small-group conversations, helping people transform their fear, rage, and despair into effective action.
Roberta Baskin spent more than 30 years as an awarding-winning investigative reporter at CBS News, ABC news, & PBS exposing stories of injustices. Roberta’s storied career garnered more than 75 journalism awards, including three duPont Columbia Awards, two Peabody Awards, and multiple Emmys. Her investigations reformed injustices and improved dozens of health and safety products and practices. She now serves on five non-profit boards dedicated to climate justice and solutions to socio-economic divides.
End The Era of Fossil Fuels
On Earth Day 2023, we declare the era of fossil fuels OVER.
Humanity is at a crossroads. Now is when we decide how we want to go on as a civilization. Will we create a livable, just, equitable future for everyone? Or will we let present and future generations live with chaos and destruction? The planet’s life supporting systems are disintegrating, and our environment needs to be restored.
Our biggest challenge is ending our reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning to renewable energy. To secure a livable future, we cannot afford new fossil fuel projects. We need the U.S. government in particular to say NO to fossil fuels. Our planet is on fire, and we can’t feed this fire any longer.
We come from all different backgrounds, fighting for a huge variety of intersecting causes. From plastics and biodiversity, to housing, anti-war, immigrant rights and gender and racial equality—our crises are interconnected, and our movement is stronger together.
To make the biggest difference, we need not just individual actions, but system change like we’ve never seen before.
This April we come together, fighting for climate justice and real change from decision-makers. We are demanding the federal government and other decision-makers end the era of fossil fuels to protect people and the planet.
2023 will be the most critical year yet for action on climate. It will be one of our last chances to mitigate the interlocking crises we face. We are fighting for a systemic change—and it can begin with you. There’s no time to waste.
12 noon – Youth-led rally in Freedom Plaza
Join us at 12 noon for a youth-led (but everybody included!) rally in Freedom Plaza. This one-hour rally will feature voices of young people from around DC and across the country, front line leaders fighting the worst impacts of climate change, and music from the Too Much Talent Band.
1pm – March to the White House
At 1pm we’re taking to the streets and marching to the White House to demand that President Biden take bold action to follow through with his promises to End the Era of Fossil Fuels! The full march is about 1 mile and we will be stopping to make some noise and hold a brief program on Pennsylvania Ave. in front of the White House
3pm – Earth Day Organizing Fair
This year’s Earth Day mobilization will be a powerful moment, we know that this is only the beginning. Join us for an organizing fair in Freedom Plaza, from 3-5pm on April 22nd to get connected and make plans to continue the work going forward. Organizational partners are making plans to hold climate cafe’s, participatory art projects, teach-ins, dance parties and other activities.
The Peoples' EJ Roundtable
On Wednesday, March 29, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC) is hosting a so-called Environmental Justice Forum throughout the day. Because we don’t think that the FERC forum will produce the results frontline advocates require nor was the event organized to ensure frontline and community-based organizations were truly respected, heard, and included, we’re hosting our own Peoples’ Environmental Justice Roundtable from 5-7p at Busboys & Poets, 450 K St NW, in Washington, DC and online to uplift the voices of communities that are impacted everyday by FERC’s decisions (food and music 5-6p, panel from 6-7p).
At the Peoples’ EJ Roundtable, we’ll spotlight the amazing work happening to challenge the rush to build new LNG and pipelines led by people from frontline communities who are building toward a future without LNG. Leaders will speak about their communities and will have space to reflect on what occurred during the day at the FERC event. Come enjoy great music, food, and conversation as we work toward a day where FERC is an agency that centers climate and environmental justice in its decision making.
Please join us to listen to and support our frontline leaders.
If your organization is interested in crossposting the livestream, please email [email protected]
Roundtable on Environmental Justice and Equity in Infrastructure Permitting
This Commissioner-led roundtable will provide an opportunity for the Commissioners and staff to engage with environmental justice community members, advocates, researchers, industry representatives, and government leaders on actions the Commission can take to better incorporate environmental justice and equity considerations into its decisions.
This discussion will strengthen the Commission’s efforts to identify and address adverse impacts associated with permitting applications for hydroelectric, natural gas pipeline, liquified natural gas, and electric transmission infrastructure subject to FERC jurisdiction. This roundtable will help further the goals of the Commission’s Equity Action Plan, which include reducing barriers to meaningful participation faced by underserved communities and ensuring that the Commission’s natural gas and hydroelectric policies and processes are consistent with environmental justice principles.
| Time | Details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30 am – 9:45 am | Welcome and Opening Remarks | ||||||||||
| 9:45 am – 11:15 am | Panel 1: Priorities for Advancing Environmental Justice and Equity in Infrastructure Permitting
As the Commission continues to advance its consideration of environmental justice and equity concerns in its infrastructure permitting proceedings, this panel will discuss how the Commission can better integrate and advance environmental justice and equity principles in its decision-making. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions:
11:15 am – 11:30 am | Break
| 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
| Panel 2: From the Front-Line: Impacted Communities and their Challenges
| During this panel, Commissioners will engage with members and representatives of overburdened communities impacted by FERC-jurisdictional infrastructure about the environmental justice challenges they face. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions: Location-Specific Impacts:
Meaningful Engagement:
Panelists: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
| Lunch
| Lunch will not be provided. 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
| Panel 3: Identifying, Avoiding, and Addressing Environmental Justice Impacts
| This panel will discuss how infrastructure applicants, the Commission, and its staff can better identify, avoid, and minimize adverse impacts on environmental justice communities. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions: Cumulative Impacts:
Identifying, Minimizing, and Avoiding Impacts:
Panelists: 3:30 pm |
Closing Remarks
| |