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The Global Climate Coalition, a fossil fuel lobby, in public:
“The role of greenhouse gases in climate change is not well understood,” the coalition said in a scientific “backgrounder” provided to lawmakers and journalists through the early 1990s, adding that “scientists differ” on the issue.And in private:
“The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied,” the experts wrote in an internal report compiled for the coalition in 1995.Perhaps the most amazing part is that this happened 15 years ago. Since then, the strength of the scientific consensus has only increased. But you still have folks like Michelle Bachman getting out there and making things up on the floor of the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, Jon Chait finds an appropriate observation from Upton Sinclair.
-- Tim Fernholz
