CPAC "Climate Science" Presentation: It's All A Greenie-Marxist Hoax, Oh, And Bigger Crabs/Lobsters

[hatrack]

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--a66l7s6X--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/cphox72amnult76yqzsz.jpg

Packing them in, as you can see . . .

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD—On the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference, in a small, airless ballroom in the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, a few dozen people gathered to be reassured that the planet was not facing imminent catastrophe. “There’s so much disinformation out there, so much propaganda,” moaned Jim Lakely, communications director at The Heartland Institute. The panel was titled “Trump’s America First Energy Plan: Restoring Our Prosperity and Destroying Eco-Left Memes.” “You’re gonna walk out of this room today knowing why you’re skeptical that humans are causing a climate crisis,” Lakely promised, a serene mountain landscape screensaver filling the projector screen to his left. “You’ll see with your own eyes that we’re not causing a climate crisis.”

My mind briefly flickered to the 80-degree February weather we’d enjoyed the day prior before settling on the panelists, four slightly rumpled white men whose task it was to serve up the Heartland Institute’s main dish: the latest contorted iteration of modern American climate denialism. The idea is not so much that the climate isn’t changing, but that it isn’t changing very much, and that we aren’t sure how responsible humans are, and that scientists disagree, and that warmer weather is nice.

“You’re standing in the way of what they really want, which is to command and control the economy,” Lakely informed a nodding audience. “Cause if you can convince the people that the only way we can save the planet is to force you to do what I say? What does that sound like? Sounds like communism, sounds like socialism. It sounds like authoritarianism.”

EDIT

During one particularly striking scientific cherry-pick, Legates attempted to rebut research demonstrating the deteriorating effects of ocean acidification on snail shells by pulling up photographs of crawfish and crabs that had grown after being exposed to higher CO2 levels. Several audience members gasped; one let out a barking, victorious laugh. “Now, that one’s a keeper,” Legates said. “Those are the kind of crabs we want to find.” It is true that increased CO2 has been shown to bulk up crustaceans like lobsters, crabs, and shrimp; it’s weird, though, to imply that crabs getting huge means everything is fine. For most other sea creatures vulnerable to acidification (and even the super-crabs, who scientists believe may be feeling “loopy”), everything is not. Legates also assured his audience that they ought not believe the “hype” about the recent death of large sections of the Great Barrier Reef.

EDIT

https://theslot.jezebel.com/things-are-fine-and-the-crabs-will-get-huge-according-t-1823254448

[janterry]

1. I love the stupid Marx hyperbole

Do any of us really know ANY Marxists?

I have some relatives that lived on and helped found a very large commune (it's now a cooperative). Even at its height, they weren't Marxists.

They are democrats. And that's how they vote.

[Canoe52]

2. The shells themselves get thinner, offering less protection, less survive...

Another little problem with this crab, lobster bs they are spouting on about, the warmer water is bringing more red tides, it can be deadly if you eat an infected shellfish.