EPA staffers get talking points playing down human role in climate change

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

EPA staffers get talking points playing down human role in climate change

By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin March 28 at 6:19 PM

Environmental Protection Agency staffers received a list of “talking points” this week instructing them to underscore the uncertainties about how human activity contributes to climate change.

A career employee in the department’s Office of Public Affairs distributed the eight talking points to regional staffers. The list offered suggestions on ways to talk with local communities and Native American tribes about how to adapt to extreme weather, rising seas and other environmental challenges.

Employees crafted the email, first disclosed Wednesday by HuffPost, on the basis of controversial — and scientifically unsound — statements that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has made about the current state of climate research.

“Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner,” reads one of the talking points. “The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.”

Another states that while there has been “extensive” research and numerous reports on climate change, “clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/03/28/epa-staffers-get-talking-points-downplaying-human-role-in-climate-change/

[Permanut]

1. No need for facts..

the Earth may turn into a giant pizza oven, but let's just talk it away with talking points.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I am in the middle of reading

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser. It's incredible, one of the most interesting books I've ever read.

I'll start by saying I discovered the Little House books when I was about seven, and have read and reread them many times over the years. I've even read the small handful of biographies of Laura Ingalls Wilder that are already out there.

Bear with me here. This book is a close look at everything connected to her life, the sociology, the Indian wars, the trials and tribulations of the settlers. And climate change. Yes, climate change. It talks about how plowing the land and destroying the native ecology produces climate change. It talks about the Peshtigo fire of 1871, which occurred at the exact same time as the Great Chicago Fire, but because it occurred outside a big city, and despite the fact that it killed anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 people, as compared to about 300 in Chicago, it's barely known. And yes, the Peshtigo fire affected the climate. As does cutting down trees and plowing the land, which Fraser indicates has actually been known for several hundred years. That knowledge has generally not been widely disseminated.

It goes into some detail about how the Panic of 1893, influenced very much by climate events, led to a world wide depression.

I think even someone who has minimal interested in Laura Ingalls Wilder will find the book completely fascinating. For those who've read the books (if you've only watched the series you have missed a lot) it's even more fascinating. Her life was MUCH harder than the books tell.

But right now I'm being blown away by the climate change stuff.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Very interesting summary. Thanks. . . nt

[democratisphere]

3. Yep.Scott Pruitt's EPA (Environmental Propaganda Agency) is diseminating

more fake sh't about environmental issues. Casting suspicion on the obvious facts.

[SunSeeker]

5. Apparently, they're using Pruitt's "cone of silence" to quarantine facts.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/pruitt-sound-proof-booth/index.html