Five Reasons to Pass the Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act (SB1161), J. Barbose

The following is a straightforward Reposting of the arguments Jason Barbose presented in favor of passing SB1161*.  This time no running commentary, or eye catching highlights, simply Jason's succinct explanation.  My thanks to Jason Barbosa and Union of Concerned Scientist for allowing me to Repost his article.

Five Reasons to Pass the Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act (SB 1161) March 29, 2016, Jason Barbose.

1) Some fossil fuel companies have long known about the risks of climate change.

2) The fossil fuel industry has spent decades deceiving the public about the science of climate change.

3) There are real costs to fossil fuel industry deception.

4) Deceiving the public is morally wrong.

5) A movement is building. California can stay at the forefront.

* It is true that SB1161 has been withdrawn, for the time being.  Nevertheless, this continues to be an increasingly important issue that won't go away, thus Jason's assessment is quite relevant.

Jason Barbose, Western states policy manager | March 29, 2016 

http://blog.ucsusa.org/jason-barbose/climate-science-truth-and-accountability-act-sb-1161

Sometimes the truth hurts. And when it does, it can be tempting to try to cover up the facts. But ultimately it’s better to face them honestly because eventually the facts catch up to you. While I learned that lesson a long time ago, the fossil fuel industry seemingly has not.

After all, they have spent millions over decades to convince the public that consumption of their product would not lead to dire consequences for the planet. To date, they have yet to fully reckon with that, but I’m hopeful that the truth is catching up to the fossil fuel industry and 2016 will be a turning point.

This year there is an opportunity for the California Legislature to help redress this long-standing deception by passing the Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016 (SB 1161).

Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act SB1161. What it really says.

The latest round of right-wing internet hysteria is over the California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016 (full text enclosed).  Right now they are celebrating a victory since State Senator James Monning withdrew the bill, though the bill had passed both the state Senate's environmental and judiciary committees.  What I've found more interesting than the merits or failing of SB1161, is the Right Wing Media's melodramatic misrepresentation of the bill.  Here's a sampling.

May 31, 2016 by California Political Review's Stephen Frank: "SB 1161: Makes Questioning “Climate Change” a Sue-able Offense. Criminal?" ~ June 3, 2016 Washington Examiner's Kyle Feldscher: "Calif. Senate backs away from bill criminalizing climate change doubt" ~ June 2, 2016 Washington Times' Valerie Richardson: "California Senate sidelines bill to prosecute climate change skeptics" to name but the three that I've read.

Marc Morano's June 3rd Climate Depot post sums up their mentality quite well via Kyle's puff piece, it reads:

June 3, 2016 Washington Examiner: "Marc Morano, a climate change doubter who runs Climate Depot, said the California bill is the logical end point of the debate between believers and doubters. 

(Morano) said those who believe in climate change have been trying for years to silence doubters and now, given the calls to investigate Exxon Mobil for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act violations and the California bill, there are attempts to actually charge people for their beliefs.

"You can't even question the predictions of 50-100 years from now or that's considered hate speech," (Morano) said. 

"That goes against everything this country was founded on." Morano said climate change believers want to delegitimize their critics instead of engaging in any sort of debate over the science. 

He said the bill proposed by Allen is another step in silencing dissent. "This is the language of religion, not science," (Morano) said.

Sounds quite frightening and extreme, but then I know a bit about this Morano character, a true master of malicious misinformation campaigns.  So I decided to look at California SB1161 myself.  Surprise, it's turns out to be nothing like how Morano represented it.  

Here we have yet another example of how the right-wing PR machine misrepresents issues from the gitgo, reframing everything to suit their own simplistic and painfully myopic storylines.  I mean they refuse to even listen to what's being said.  Instead they are busy constantly spinning their paranoid machinations about the bad greenies.

How can rational constructive adult dialogue exist if one side refuses to hear what the other is saying?  It's no wonder that our critically important Anthropogenic Global Warming education dialogue of the past decades has been such a tragic endless dog-chasing-tail squandering of precious time.  

Back to SB1161, let's look at what this bill actually says.