Information Council on the Environment (ICE)
The Information Council on the Environment (ICE) was an organization established to promote skepticism regarding the scientific consensus on global warming. Funded by various energy associations, including the Edison Electric Institute and the National Coal Association, ICE aimed to present global warming as a theory rather than an established fact. With a significant advertising budget, the organization deployed a scientific advisory panel of experts in related fields to amplify its message through media channels.
ICE conducted polls to gauge public opinion on climate change, targeting specific demographic groups to influence perceptions favorably towards less regulation of coal and fossil fuels. The group utilized provocative advertising to challenge mainstream views, including campaigns that questioned the validity of climate change science with striking imagery and messaging. Although ICE was short-lived, disbanding within months due to media scrutiny and internal conflicts, it left a complex legacy regarding the public discourse on climate change. The organization has been noted for its role in shaping the narrative around global warming during its operational period.
Information Council on the Environment (ICE)
- DATE: Established 1991
Mission
The Information Council on the Environment (ICE) was a skeptic organization created to promote the idea that there is no scientific consensus on global warming. ICE was a public information group funded by the Edison Electrical Institute, the National Coal Association, and the Western Fuels Association. Its mission, supported by a $500,000 advertising budget, was to “reposition global warming as theory rather than fact,” according to internal documents of Cambridge Reports, the Council’s polling firm. The group employed a scientific advisory panel comprising geography professor Robert Balling, research physicist Sherwood B. Idso, and climatologist Patrick J. Michaels, as well as environmental scientist S. Fred Singer, to promote skepticism in television and newspaper interviews, opinion columns, and advertisements. The polling firm advised the council to emphasize that “some members of the media scare the public about global warming to increase their audience and their influence.”
Significance for Climate Change
In addition to the messages carried by its spokespersons, ICE conducted polls about and greenhouse gas emissions, purporting to gauge public opinion about these issues. In fact, according to strategy documents, pollsters targeted “older, less-educated men from larger households who are not typically information seekers” and “young, low-income women” in areas whose electricity was generated by coal, in an attempt to skew the poll results in favor of less regulation of coal.
ICE also purchased magazine and newspaper ads in key sections of the country, including one that ran in Minnesota reading, “If the earth is getting warmer, why is Minneapolis getting colder?” Another ad showed a ship sailing off the edge of the Earth, with an open-mouthed dragon waiting to catch it. The caption read, “Some say the earth is warming. Some also said the earth was flat.” The Arizona Public Service Company declined to join ICE, declaring that the ads over-simplified a complex issue.
ICE was disbanded after only a few months, after a packet of internal memos describing the organization’s public relations strategies was leaked to the Energy Daily, a trade publication, and follow-up stories appeared in the Arizona Daily Sun, the National Journal, and the New York Times. After the press stories, Balling and Michaels broke with the council. In 1999, a former board member of ICE expressed regret that the campaign had not lasted longer, writing that ICE had resulted in a “dramatic turnaround in how people viewed the issue of global warming.”
During the 2010s and 2020s, the global climate science community moved towards an overwhelming consensus that climate change was occurring and was primarily caused by human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases. Studies showed that by 2024, at least 97 percent of climate scientists were in agreement on these points. Additionally, studies showed that a significant portion of the public underestimates this level of consensus. Campaigns like those conducted by ICE were partially to blame for this misinformation.
DeWeerdt, Sarah. "People Underestimate Scientific Consensus on Climate. Correcting the Record Goes a Long Way." Anthropocene, 17 Sept. 2024, www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/09/people-underestimate-scientific-agreement-on-climate-correcting-the-record-goes-a-long-way/. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
"Information Council for the Environment (ICE)." DeSmog, www.desmog.com/information-council-environment/. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.