With CEI-Funded Denier Lone Farm Bureau Speaker On Climate, 40 Climatologists Demand Meeting

[hatrack]

It’s not just mountaintop removal mining that’s making activists of scientists. Now a group of 40 climate scientists backed by the Union of Concerned Scientists has written a letter demanding a meeting with American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman to discuss his group’s continued endorsement of climate denial and refusal to acknowledge the reality of anthropogenic climate change. For its part, the AFB shows no sign of backing down. According to ag journalist Chris Clayton, the AFB’s annual meeting which starts this weekend will feature the group’s climate denial prominently (sub req’d):

Farm Bureau has been opposed to climate legislation in Congress that would work to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through cap-and-trade, which would cap emissions and establish a trading program for emission allowances and offsets. Farm Bureau’s campaign is “Don’t CAP Our Future,” which is being highlighted at the AFBF convention. At the convention, Farm Bureau has scheduled a seminar titled “Global Warming: A Red Hot Lie?” which will be given by an attorney from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. And who is this attorney? According to UCS he is none other than:

"limate change denier Christopher Horner, who will be the only scheduled speaker addressing climate at the annual American Farm Bureau meeting later this week in Seattle. Horner is an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-funded, anti-regulation think tank that has received millions of dollars over the last decade from the auto and oil companies, most notably ExxonMobil, to try to block federal action on climate change."

Sigh. The climate scientists on the other hand beg to differ. From their letter (PDF):

"Climate change is already changing our world. According to the National Climatic Data Center (NOAA), the ten hottest years on record (since comprehensive temperature records began in 1880) have all occurred since 1990. Even though this year has been relatively cool in some parts of the United States, 2009 is on track to be the 6th warmest year on record in terms of global average temperature, and this decade will be the warmest on record. While it is true that Earth experiences natural warming and cooling cycles, scientists have accounted for these cycles in their analyses and in their models of the physics, chemistry, and biology affecting the Earth’s climate system. The evidence clearly shows that the primary cause of the observed warming in recent decades is a result of increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, which come from human activity."

EDIT

http://www.grist.org/article/scientists-demand-meeting-to-talk-climate-with-head-of-farm-bureau/

[clear eye]

1. Just like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Where is the WH? Why hasn't this guy been called on the carpet?

[TexasProgresive]

2. Maybe you need some murine to clear your eye

What could the White House do about a private individual and a private group?

[clear eye]

3. "murine to clear my eye" (chuckle) O.k., yes and no.

I was mistakenly thinking that the Farm Bureau was part of the Dept of Agriculture. Still, just as the President could bring the head of, say, an sutomakers' association into the Oval Office for a dressing down if its policy was obstructing something crucial, he could do so w/ the head of the American Farm Bureau. Since it is a private organization, unless one side or the other leaked news of the mtg to the media, no one would necessarily know it took place, and the association could just ignore the President's wishes. However, since they need the President's good will in many ways to help their membership, one would think they'd be more likely to listen.

Maybe Bill Moyers was right when he said, "Nobody's afraid of the President". I'm far from DC so I can't take its pulse, but it sure seems like the Farm Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce isn't.

[Kolesar]

4. I quit Nationwide Insurance because they have an association with the Farm Bureau

The Farm Bureau ram rodded a constitutional amendment in Ohio to preempt an effort by the Humane Society to improve the lives of farm animals.