5-Part Series Fueling the Fire on Climate Change and Communication

By Tom Harris, Executive Director of International Climate Science Coalition

 The Conservative Climate Language Trap - by Tom Harris Sep 15, 2023- Imagine your house was on fire, and the firefighters who responded to your 911 call simply added fuel to the blaze, making it far worse. Rather than working to put the fire out, they threw dry wood, paper, and even gasoline into the flames, all the while claiming that they were helping you save your property. You would be forgiven for wanting to shoot them on the spot. The actions of these firefighters are analogous to what many misguided, frightened conservative politicians, industries, and others in both the U.S. and Canada do all the time. They regularly use the language of their climate alarmist opponents in futile attempts at appeasement. But all they are accomplishing is fueling the climate change hoax that is threatening both our countries. And, as the late Dr. Jay Lehr and I have written over and over again on this site if the climate scare raging across our nations is not killed soon, it will indeed burn down America and Canada..............l

The Real Cost of Abandoning Fossil Fuels - by Tom Harris Sep 21, 2023 -  Conservatives and others who understand the importance of hydrocarbon-based energy sources—coal, oil, and natural gas—to maintaining a safe, free, and prosperous society must stop shooting themselves in the foot by using the language of climate alarmism (see part one of this series: “Fueling the Fire: The Conservative Climate Language Trap”). As was demonstrated by protestors on the streets New York City this week, climate activists want to entirely end all use of hydrocarbon fuels. Do not phase it down. Not operate with carbon dioxide capture. But kill so-called fossil fuels entirely. They chanted: “Sea levels are rising, so are we” “Keep that carbon in the soil” “There’s nothing natural about natural gas”. That last one begs the question: if natural gas is not natural, then is it supernatural?.............. 

Stories that Reshape the Climate Debate - by Tom Harris Sep 28, 2023 - “Words Matter. So, it’s time to change the words, so we can change the conversation, so we can change the world.”  So concluded Susan Joy Hassol in her presentation, “ClimateTalk: Science and Solutions,” at TEDxUMontana in 2015.   As I explained in part 1 and part 2 of this series on climate change communications, language is indeed key to changing the world.  As an award-winning climate change communicator, analyst, and author who’s been translating the UN’s perspective of climate science into layperson’s language for over 30 years, Ms. Hassol really knows what she is talking about when it comes to the importance of language in the climate debate, with a bachelor’s degree in Public Communication and Public Affairs, and now as the Director of the non-profit science and outreach project Climate Communication, she works to help scientists communicate more effectively, providing information to journalists, policymakers, and others.............. 

Challenging the "Green" in Green Energy - by Tom Harris Oct 5, 2023 - Conservatives and others who support a realistic approach to climate change and energy should pay close attention to the work of Susan Joy Hassol, Director of the nonprofit science and outreach project Climate Communication. While she obviously supports the politically correct perspective of these issues, a stance I oppose, of course, her communications advice is gold. In Part 3 of this series on “The Conservative Climate Language Trap,” I listed the advice Hassol gives climate alarmists in her February 1, 2023 article in Scientific American, The Right Words Are Crucial to Solving Climate Change – Scientific American.............. 

The Real Story of CO2 and Climate Change - by Tom Harris  Oct 13, 2023 - Over the past 40 years, the public has been subjected to one of the most successful and dangerous propaganda campaigns in history. It is the convincing of more and more people that carbon dioxide (CO₂), an invisible, odorless, and benign trace gas essential for all life on Earth, is a dangerous pollutant that must be severely curtailed. The fact that we are at one of the lowest levels of CO₂ in Earth’s history and that there is no consistent correlation between CO₂ and the “global average temperature” in the geologic record makes no difference. To “save the climate,” we must end our use of our most reliable energy sources and move to “net-zero” CO₂ emissions as soon as possible. To question this ludicrous mantra is “climate change denial,” resulting in public shaming, loss of employment, and even death threats.  In military parlance, this sort of propaganda is referred to as a psychological operation or “PSYOP,” and it is very appropriate that we apply the term to the fight for the hearts and minds of citizens across the Western World in today’s climate change war. Bing’s GPT 4 artificial intelligence describes PSYOPs, in part, as:....................