"Carbon charlatanism:" Say that ten times fast...

     The Devil's going to the back of his closet to pull out the winter sweaters, cause Hell is about to freeze over.

     That's right, I'm agreeing with Fox News. Dum da duuuummm!

     Let me preface that statement (Please, give me a chance to defend myself)!! I went to Fox News looking for a really right-wing commentary that might be fun to rip into, and I came away with this. I've always been pretty eco-minded, and recently, finding myself without economic means for a car, I have been pedaling myself around with the fuel of my own self-satisfaction turning the wheels of my bike. So the subject is of some interest to me. I thought, Great. I wonder what Steven Milloy has to say on the subject of the environment; probably some rubbish about raping the planet. Alas, though I found such material as would be expected from a man in the employ of such imperials as Philip Morris and ExxonMobile as well as the author of a blog covering "all the junk that's fit to debunk," I also found that this particular post went beyond the usual global warming debate.

     Milloy informs his Fox audience about an interesting offer from the World Wildlife Fund, that organization of the ubiquitous panda logo, to participate in the journey of a lifetime! The irony is plain to see, that a company touting drastic lifestyle change--including reducing air travel--as a way to reduce human impact on the planet would offer such an extravagant and seemingly wasteful vacation. (The hilarity is amplified when you take a look at the banner across the top of the page which proclaims several lovely eco-platitudes each time the page loads: when I opened the page, there was a graphic of a bicyclist lecturing me to reduce my carbon footprint.) Concerning the "luxury" vacation, Milloy really just states the obvious about the hypocrisy, and he drives his point home with a look at the WWF's own carbon footprint calculator, finding that a journey such as the one advertised would cost over $44,000 in carbon offsets.

     So far, so good. However, as always with Fox and its affiliates, Milloy's post seems to infantilize both the target of his attack, in this case the green industry, as well as (subtly) his audience. He uses a tone that suggests the utter incompetence and therefore the complete incredibility of his target, so common to Fox broadcasters. That is what is so frustrating about the Fox News network in general: in some (very few) cases such as this one, I do agree with them, at least on certain points, but the obstinacy of their tone blinds me to any logic they might be using. And though I heartily agree with him on the point of the jet tour, I'm not so sure of his lambasting of the carbon-offset industry. I understand how such a product seems like snake oil, but when you take a look at the companies that offer these offsets, such as the now-famous NativeEnergy who offset the carbon footprint of the filming of "An Inconvenient Truth," what they really are is creative charities. The "guilt" money sent in by wealthy overconsumers goes toward funding green projects and--for NativeEnergy--offering hope to the decimated tribes of Native Americans. Of course, every industry has its bad apples, but it's naive to automatically discount the entire industry because some people are greedy.

     By turning the WWF's own preaching against them, this article of Milloy's does what is intended: it gives the Fox-devoted sheeple another talking point to shout about. Although I agree with the main point of the article, to expose the hypocrisy of a sometimes-dubious charity, I cannot be led to the same conclusion as Milloy, that all things green are a global scam created by kill-joy liberals to break up the earth-raping, SUV-driving, animal-hunting, tree-felling, reckless-living party. The moral of this story for me is look closely at a charity before forking over your hard-earned money, a lesson well learned particularly when giving to charities, but equally important in all aspects of life. And though I'm doubtful that conservatives and liberals will ever agree on the wider global-warming issue, I'm sure they can all agree that there will always be those who prey on the emotions of average, concerned citizens in order to exploit their response to charity. Hopefully, policy makers will understand that such behavior does not discredit an entire movement and regulate accordingly.