[GreenYes] Re: Update on Sierra Club and biomass

["Steve Bloom" <spbloom@no.address>]

The Club has been opposed to MSW incineration for at least twenty years that I'm aware of.  There are advantages to being a large organization that takes advantage of the knowledge and energy of volunteer leaders, but obviously ensuring that such leaders all have a comprehensive knowledge of Club policies isn't one of them.

Regarding du Pont, I assume you're referring to his silly op-ed that ran on the WSJ editorial page a couple of days ago?  It begins with this paragraph:

"When Eric the Red led the Norwegian Vikings to Greenland in the late 900s, it was an ice-free farm country--grass for sheep and cattle, open water for fishing, a livable climate--so good a colony that by 1100 there were 3,000 people living there. Then came the Ice Age. By 1400, average temperatures had declined by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the glaciers had crushed southward across the farmlands and harbors, and the Vikings did not survive."

It sounds so good, but it is ever so made up out of whole cloth.  While it's true that the habitable areas of southern Greenland have been subject to some degree of climate variation over the centuries and increased cold might have been a factor in the failure of the Norse colony, the settlement areas remained unaffected by glaciers throughout.  It does make for a great story, though.  (Note also that the name "Greenland" was an early act of large-scale real estate fraud, since the "green" habitable areas were never extensive or very good for agriculture.)   

Most WSJ op-ed pieces on global warming are filled with lies and distortions of this sort .  A site has been established at http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/ especially to refute such things.  Also see www.realclimate.org, a site run by climate scientists (several of whom also vet the material on the first site I linked).  See in particular a RealClimate post of about a week ago on yet another fact-challenged WSJ editorial (they run them often, and many of the factoids/truthyisms get repeated frequently.)

du Pont is a former Congressman and Delaware Governor (Republican of course), but has been out of public office for over twenty years (and was never a senator).  He is very rich (inherited wealth) and keeps himself busy as "Policy Chairman" of his own right-wing think tank, the National Center for Policy Analysis (www.ncpa.org).  The site includes a global warming page and a bio page for du Pont.

-- Steve Bloom


    
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Susan Kramer 
  To: greenyes@no.address ; Alan Muller 
  Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 1:21 PM
  Subject: [GreenYes] Re: Update on Sierra Club and biomass


  Could someone help me find some information on a Pete DuPont ( Senator)  Not on the senator list, what his stnace on global warming is
  Thanks
  .Susan Kramer
  Pinedale, WY
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Alan Muller 
    To: greenyes@no.address 
    Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 9:09 PM
    Subject: [GreenYes] Re: Update on Sierra Club and biomass


    At 02:59 PM 2/22/2007 -0800, Dave Ciplet wrote:

      I talked with the Global Warming and Energy Program Director of the Sierra Club today.  He assured me that we can look forward to a statement from the Sierra Club next week clarifying that contrary to the biomass section of the American Solar Energy Society report, the Sierra Club maintains that it is strongly opposed to incineration of any municipal solid waste materials.  Also, the Sierra Club will be releasing a report in the near future that is consistent with this position. 
       
      Please note that I am not sure what the exact wording of their statement will say, this is only what I gathered from him over the phone.  
       
      Warm regards,
       
      Dave

    The Sierra Club is a very complicated organization and frequently different parts of it are not on the same page.  I think it is same to assume that the sign-on to the ASES report generated a lot of internal debate that will take some time to sort itself out.  Meanwhile, some public stomping probably doesn't hurt.

    am



       
      Dave Ciplet
      Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)
      Tel: 510.883.9490 ext. 102
      Fax: 510.883.9493
      dave@no.address
      www.no-burn.org
       


    

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