The Paradigm of Alarmism Iain Murray Heartland Conference on Global Warming New York City March 2009

The Roots of the Alarmist Movement Explain Their Tactics Legal maneuvering Reliance on regulation Intimidation Mass protests Disdain for humanity The paradigm of alarmism

The Anti-DDT Movement Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Foundation of EDF and NRDC Local Bans Pressure on EPA EPA ignores own scientists’ advice Lobbying for international ban When confronted with inconvenient truths, claim not lobbying for ban

Atomkraft? Keine Danke! German anti-nuclear movement Mass protests Did not eschew violence Echoed in USA Extremely successful British roads protests Rent-a-mob/Swampy

Voluntary Human Extinction Movement Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb Zero Population Growth Direct ties with Sierra Club “Full-service” environmentalism Source of anti-human attitude Inconsistencies with pro-immigration stance glossed over

The Paradigm Identify your cause and the laws you want enacted (use syllogism) Create an apocalyptic scenario Claim there’s a threat to children Don the mantle of science and decry those who disagree as anti-science Create a clamor that rules out rational debate, using intimidation if necessary Once your measures have been adopted, defend them ruthlessly

The Paradigm in Action: DDT Birds are suffering; DDT causes birds to suffer; so ban DDT locally, nationally, internationally “Silent Spring” Threat of childhood leukemia Silent Spring filled with pseudoscience EDF, NRDC formed to push for bans DDT ban still held up as exemplary despite significant evidence of significant harm

The Paradigm in Action: Global Warming Earth warming; fossil fuels cause earth to warm; so ban fossil fuels A-Y of apocalyptic scenarios All scenarios take place 50-80 years out An Inconvenient Truth, IPCC, “consensus” $300m ad budget for ACP “Deniers,” “Delayers,” “Climate criminals”