The New York Times today printed this story exposing at least 10 years of subterfuge by the oil and gas industries to conceal their own scientists' consensus with the rest of the scientific community on the validity of the Human contribution to global warming.

Here is an excerpt:

“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.

But a document filed in a federal lawsuit demonstrates that even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted.

Hearings began in Washington this week on the Climate Change Bill. Among the witnesses that appeared today were VP Al Gore, Senator John Warner and former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich. Most people could likely guess where the Speaker and the Vice President stand on the issue of Global Warming, but many people may be surprised to learn that Senator Warner has had a big change of heart, brought on partially by the urgings of his Grandchildren.

The hearings today, in one way, sounded just like others that have preceded this one. Fewer Republicans are outright denying the existence of climate change, but all who were present still could not resist disputing the modeling and severity of the consequences, and of course, the impact of the fossil fuel industry. All of them are hinting that without the inclusion of lots of nuclear and coal, they will not support any climate bill.

The hearings being held by the House Energy Subcommittee, Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), and Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), among others took center stage on C-SPAN today and will re air later in the evening. Other hearing will be held in the forthcoming days. Anyone interested in hearing the portions that included Al Gore and John Warner can view that here. Their appearance is followed by a round of discussion with Mr. Gingrich.

Speaker Gingrich's testimony illustrates very well how deeply entrenched the Republican Party continues to be in the oil, gas and automobile industries, the nuclear industry and the coal industries, all of which are dirty by nature, and less often discussed, all have unique and dangerous environmental consequences from their mining and processing activities. When we talk about coal, we don't talk about mining. When we talk about nuclear, we fail to account for waste disposal. So we end up with marketing campaigns that tout "clean-coal" and infinite atomic energy.

Follow up:

Americans who are still sitting on the fence, and who do not directly benefit from any of the dirty fuel industries, need to understand that these people do not care about your health or the future condition of the planet your descendants will live on. They are only interested in protecting the power and the profits they enjoy today. I have yet to hear a single argument against the radical changes we need to make that cannot be easily refuted or turned around. I also urge any reader who believes they have a good argument for not changing our energy paradigm, or why the science is wrong, etc. to please start that discussion here.

In my view, the whole discussion on "man-made" global warming is important, but ultimately moot for one very good reason. Scientific consensus is also that we are running out of fossil fuel resources at a rate that will soon begin to wreck havoc on the world economy anyway, and much more severely than the current housing bubble has done. Dwindling supplies mean higher prices and more fighting for those resources. Something the US has already been doing for over 30 years. One of Japan's chief reasons for waging war against the United States as a result of the December 7, 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor was over oil. So this isn't anything we haven't seen before.

Anyone who is determined to see America and the rest of the world move to a cleaner energy future need to do something about it. Without immense support from the citizens of this country, the industry lobbyists may, sadly, hold sway on our Congress as they have too often done in the past, particularly in the Senate where corporate influence is such a part of their daily life, and something so intertwined in their routines, that many of them cannot even distinguish it from what they claim is the will of the people.

At the very least people should actively participate in our Democratic system by calling and/or writing their elected Federal and State officials. Since the funding will also be distributed by the various state governments, it is very important that those politicians know how we feel as well. Another thing you can do is to write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper, or send an email to your local news station or attend local Public Utility Hearings where you can speak out and ask questions about your local energy company's future plans.

Petitions are also a very good way to get a message across to our electorate in unison, and is the primary purpose of my Blog, Road Maps. Although you will find the occasional petition here on The Rebel, as well as on my Blog, JellyFish, Road Maps highlights what I believe to be a sampling of some of the most universally acceptable grassroots causes from organizations who have the resources, experience and motivation to help us stand up to the monied corporations.

Relative to the climate hearing today, I posted a petition from the non-profit environmental legal firm, EarthJustice, on my Road Maps Blog concerning the regulation of soot. This is a climate warming pollutant that results from the bonding of contaminants and Carbon Dioxide, also known as "Black Carbon". I urge everyone to look into this cause.

In this post today I am listing two other climate and environmental petitions from the Environmental Defense Fund and a new group called by the simple name "Clean".

Here are the petition links:

Environmental Defense Fund - This is a petition addressed to your Representatives in Washington urging them to not let the influence of big oil, gas, coal and nuclear unduly affect the legislation currently being explored.

PDF of the Committee Discussion Draft Links Here:

Clean - "is a collaborative movement of organizations and individuals with the common goal of implementing a new energy future."

This is a relatively new group that has actually attempted to draw up a kind of legislative set of priorities, which they call the Citizens' Clean Energy Economy Investment Act.

I find this new effort intriguing in that it is an attempt not just to gather signatures from voters, but to directly influence legislative language while bringing together a multitude of other organizations, academics and other institutions in a concerted effort to counter corporate control over our future energy infrastructure when it is indifferent to our long-term survival. I will likely post about them in more detail on JellyFish later, after I have learned more about the things they are doing on our behalf.

Here is a short video they made to supplement their message.

I urge everyone to take a serious look at all three of these efforts, and participate in the hopeful future of your children and your neighbor's children.