Greetings From the New Flat Earth

By Matt Wheeland. Posted to AlterNet on February 4, 2005:

"All right, look: the Earth is not warming, OK? It's actually cooling. There are studies that prove it! And even if it was warming, that would be a good thing for humans, and we'll easily adapt. Anyway, aren't all those environmentalists the real problem, what with their "actions" and protests and hysteria? I wouldn't be surprised if they're buying enormous drilling machines on the black market to cause earthquakes and tsunamis and raise heaps of cash for their shady nonprofit organizations!"

Surprisingly, these are not the rantings of a lone, wild-eyed wingnut, but actual assertions from an assortment of global warming deniers who use their diverse pulpits to belittle the idea that global warming is a reality.

The disproportional credence given to these arguments are what prompted the creation of the Flat Earth Award, announced last week in Vermont. The awards were created by three students at Vermont's Middlebury College in association with Green House Network, a Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit. The students hope to use the awards to publicize the widespread disinformation about global warming and build momentum for action on the issue.

The nominees for this dubious honor are mega-popular author Michael Crichton, mega-loud radio personality Rush Limbaugh, and mega-persistent scientist Dr. S. Fred Singer. Crichton's new novel, State of Fear, poses the idea that global warming is not as dangerous as the media makes it out to be, and goes so far as to blame environmental activists for whipping up a "state of fear"; Rush Limbaugh has long espoused his belief that global warming is a left-wing hoax; and atmospheric physicist Fred Singer has been trying to debunk warnings about global warming almost since they began in the late 1970s.

Given all the evidence and, yes, consensus about the reality of global warming, how do Flat Earthers like Crichton continue to feed the fire of this faux-debate? Simply put, there is tremendous interest from the petroleum industry and its many dependents to ensure the status quo remains the same. The global economy is built on the foundation of cheap oil for everything from shipping and heating to travel, plastics and personal lubricants. Any proposed change in how the world runs necessarily provokes substantial fear in those who are doing just fine in the short term.