Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions

247 Pages·2010·1.036 MB·English

by  Joseph J. Romm

S U
TRAIGHT P
JOSEPH J. ROMM

S U
TRAIGHT P
America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger
Takes on the Status Quo Media,Politicians,
and Clean Energy Solutions
JOSEPH J. ROMM
Washington|Covelo|London
©2010JosephJ.Romm
AllrightsreservedunderInternationalandPan-AmericanCopyrightConventions.
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyanymeans
withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher:
IslandPress,Suite300,1718ConnecticutAve.,NW,Washington,DC20009
ISLANDPRESSisatrademarkoftheCenterforResourceEconomics.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Romm,JosephJ.
Straightup:America'sfiercestclimatebloggertakesonstatusquomedia,
politicians,andcleanenergysolutions/JosephJ.Romm.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-1-59726-716-8(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:1-59726-716-3(pbk.:alk.paper) 1. Climaticchanges—United
States.2. Globalwarming—Presscoverage—UnitedStates.3. Communica-
tioninscience—Politicalaspects—UnitedStates.4. Scientists—Psychology.
I.Title.
QC903.2.U6R662010
551.6--dc22
2009051086
PrintedusingCopperplateGothicandMinion
TextdesignandtypesettingbyJoanWolbier
Printedonrecycled,acid-freepaper
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Keywords:cleanenergy,climatechange,ClimateProgress.org,climateprogress,
CenterforAmericanProgress,TimeMagazineHeroesoftheEnvironment,renewableenergy,
right-wingdisinformation,IPCC(IntergovernmentalPanelonClimateChange),climatescience,
climatedenier,concentratedsolarpower,energyefficiency,atmosphericcarbon,emissions
scenarios,energypolicy,mitigation,DavidBroder,mediaaccountability
ToAntonia

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................ix
INTRODUCTION
WhyIBlog .............................................1
CHAPTER 1
TheStatusQuoMedia...................................11
CHAPTER 2
UncharacteristicallyBluntScientists........................43
CHAPTER 3
TheCleanEnergySolution ...............................67
CHAPTER 4
PeakOil?ConsiderItSolved.............................101
CHAPTER 5
TheCleanEnergyNewDeal.............................121
CHAPTER 6
TheBush-CheneyReignofError .........................137
CHAPTER 7
TheRight-WingDisinformationMachine..................149
CHAPTER 8
DiagnosingSomeonewithAnti-ScientificSyndrome(ASS) ....163
CHAPTER 9
WhyAreProgressivesSoLousyatMessaging? ...............181
CONCLUSION
IstheGlobalEconomyaPonziScheme?....................213
AFTERWORD...........................................217
INDEX ...............................................227

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I MUST FIRST THANK John Podesta and Melody Barnes for believing
in the idea of ClimateProgress.org and making it possible.A great many
people at the Center forAmerican ProgressAction Fund,now and in the
past, have given me invaluable advice and support since the blog was
launchedin2006,includingKariManlove,SeanPool,BradJohnson,Faiz
Shakir,JuddLegum,NicoPitney,AndrewSherry,DanWeiss,BrackenHen-
dricks,andagreatmanyinterns.
TheITwizardsatCAPAFhaveprovidedunmatchedtechnicalanddesign
supportfortheblog.I’despeciallyliketothankMattPusateri,NickLevay,
andJoshHill.
The fundamental reason I blog is the dire state of the science and the
myriad clean energy solutions that are available today.And so,while the
final judgments in each piece are my own, I am exceedingly grateful to
everyonewhohassharedtheirideasandpassionaboutclimatescienceand
solutionswithmeoverthepastfewyears:RichardAlley,JohnAtcheson,Bill
Becker,DanBecker,BrianCastelli,JosephCirincione,AnaUnruhCohen,
Jon Coifman, Bob Corell, Judith Curry, Noah S. Diffenbaugh, Kerry
Emanuel,Alex Farrell,Tim Flannery,Peter Fox-Penner,Andrew Frank,S.
Julio Friedmann,David Gardiner,Dean Grodzins,Hank Habicht,David
Hamilton,James Hansen,Kate Hampton,David Hawkins,John Holdren,
RolandHwang,AndrewJones,ChrisJones,TinaKaarsberg,ThomasKarl,
ix