Greening Earth Society
The Greening Earth Society (GES), established on Earth Day in 1998, was a public relations organization created by the Western Fuels Association. Its mission was to advocate for the viewpoint that increased levels of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), can have beneficial effects, particularly in promoting plant growth. GES argued that moderate global warming could enhance agricultural productivity and resilience of plants against various environmental stresses. The organization, based in Arlington, Virginia, was led by notable figures including Frederick Palmer and Bob Norrgard and was supported by various scientific advisers from reputable institutions.
In response to regulatory efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency concerning CO2 emissions, GES positioned itself as a counter-narrative to prevailing environmental concerns about climate change. It published the World Climate Report and a series of press releases, presenting skepticism regarding the consensus on climate change impacts and arguing that alarmist claims were often misrepresentations of scientific data. GES ceased operations in 2005, but it left behind a legacy of climate-related discourse reflecting a more contentious view of the scientific community's understanding of climate change.
Greening Earth Society
- DATE: Established 1998
Mission
The Greening Earth Society (GES), created by the Western Fuels Association, was a public relations organization promoting the idea that higher levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs), particularly of carbon dioxide (CO2), are beneficial because they promote plant growth. GES was founded on Earth Day, 1998, by Frederick Palmer, chief executive officer of the Western Fuels Association, a group of coal-based rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities. The purpose of GES was to promote the benefits of “moderate” global warming. The group was based in Arlington, Virginia, where both Palmer and Ned Leonard, director of communications and government affairs of GES and of the Western Fuels Association, worked as registered lobbyists. After 2000, Bob Norrgard, general manager of Western Fuels, assumed the directorship of GES. Its scientific advisers included Patrick J. Michael, professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia; Robert E. Davis, professor of climatology at the University of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Sciences; Robert C. Balling, director of the Laboratory of Climatology at Arizona State University; and Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The GES ended its operations in 2005.
The organization was founded in response to attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate CO2 as a pollutant. Higher concentrations of CO2, GES argued, are not harmful and at moderate levels actually “increase plant productivity, water use efficiency, and their resistance to a variety of environmental stresses, including heat, drought, cold, pests, deficient nutrients, and air pollution.” In a 1999 ad in The Washington Post, GES articulated its position that CO2 is a nutrient, not a pollutant, explaining,
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels have risen in direct proportion to human population since the 15th century. The good news is that today’s higher CO2 levels are producing more abundant plant life and greater agricultural yields. Unfortunately, good news like this doesn’t command the same attention as news about catastrophic climate change.
According to GES, there was no scientific consensus about the causes of climate change, contrary to media reports. According to the organization, environmentalists who argued that global warming represented a looming catastrophe were merely alarmists who either misunderstood or intentionally misrepresented scientific data.
Significance for Climate Change
Until 2003, GES published the World Climate Report, a biweekly newsletter intended to point out “the weaknesses and outright fallacies in the science that is being touted as ’proof’ of disastrous warming.” The group’s website described the newsletter as “the perfect antidote against those who argue for proposed changes to the Rio Climate Treaty, such as the Kyoto Protocol, which are aimed at limiting carbon emissions from the United States.” The international science journal Nature recognized World Climate Report as presenting a “mainstream skeptic” view of global warming.
From 2000 to 2003, GES also issued Virtual Climate Alerts, brief press releases with titles such as “Emissions Trend Doesn’t Support Claim of Ecological and Economic Disaster,” “More Cold Truth Dispels Hot Air,” and “How Popular Coverage of Melting Arctic S Overlooks Relevant Long-Term Research.” In addition, GES issued annual State of the Climate Reports; scientific reports, including “In Defense of Carbon Dioxide: A Comprehensive Review of Carbon Dioxide’s Effect on Human Health, Welfare, and the Environment” (1998) and “The Internet Begins with Coal: A Preliminary Exploration of the Impact of the Internet on Electricity Consumption” (1999); and the videos The Greening of Planet Earth (1992) and The Greening of Planet Earth Continues (1998). The group was named as a sponsor of the website www.co2and climate.org, an annotated collection of links, and it funded research through the Arizona State University Climate Data Task Force. By 2005, the group had ceased its operations.
Bibliography
Goodell, Jeff. Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future. Boston: Mariner, 2007.
Kirk, Karin. "The Video Origin of the Myth That Global Warming Is Good for Agriculture." Yale Climate Connection, 27 Sept. 2020, yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/09/video-origin-of-the-myth-that-global-warming-good-for-agriculture/. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
Michael, Patrick J., and Robert C. Balling. The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air About Global Warming. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2000.
Poole, Steven. Unspeak: How Words Become Weapons, How Weapons Become a Message, and How That Message Becomes Reality. New York: Grove Press, 2007.
Rampton, Sheldon, and John Stauber. Trust Us, We’re Experts! How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2001.