Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

No he didn't.

In the screenshotted "evidence" from 1993, Charles said global warming "is an issue which we have to address now".

Even a child can see he did NOT say "we have less than ten years to save the planet from global warming", as "Tony Heller" falsely asserts.

Here's Margaret Thatcher in 1989, one of the few senior right-wing free-market-supporting politicians to take the evidence of the link between fossil fuels & climate change seriously. It's ironic that think tanks in her name continue to downplay the risks.

https://twitter.com/ProfRayWills/status/1612018076840783872?s=20

So who the heller is Tony Heller?

He's a climate science denier who goes by the pseudonym Steven Goddard.

Far from being a climate science expert, he has a Masters in Electrical Engineering & a BS in Geology, & decades of experience in bullshitting.

desmog.com/steven-goddard/

Goddard contributes to WattsUpWithThat & operates the “RealClimateScience” blog, which both promote climate change denial.

He describes himself as “an independent thinker who is considered a heretic by the orthodoxy on both sides of the climate debate.”

desmog.com/anthony-watts/

Goddard describes global warming as the “biggest scientific fraud in history” & is known for a 2008 article in the register where he posited that Arctic Sea ice is not receding & the opposite was incorrect.

Goddard eventually issued a retraction on his statement.

Goddard now operates a climate science denying blog titled “RealClimateScience”.

He was profiled in @DeSmog's Disinformation Database about how climate science deniers backed violence & spread pro-insurrection messages before, during, & after January 6.

desmog.com/2021/02/16/cli…

Heller moderated a discussion panel sponsored by the CO2 Coalition at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) - think of CPAC as the swivel-eyed wing of the National Conservatives (who recently held their mini-CPAC #NatC event in London).

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1664196541463052291?s=20

Thought to be living in Maryland, USA, Heller gets around, & his climate book is listed by the influential Australian free-market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs, which is funded by eg ExxonMobil, Philip Morris, Shell, Esso, & BAT.

theconversation.com/another-attack…

Heller doesn’t just believe climate change is a “fraud”, a “hoax”, & a “scam”, but he has also promoted conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.

Perhaps most disturbing is the sheer volume & prevalence of climate science denial since Elon Musk bought @Twitter.

False information about climate change has flourished online over the past year, researchers say, with denialist social media posts and conspiracy theories surging after US environmental reforms and Elon Musk's Twitter takeover.

france24.com/en/live-news/2…

Although Musk has tweeted "I do think global warming is a major risk", & created a $100 million dollar prize for carbon capture technology innovations, he's enabled disinfo & conspiracies to flourish, & prolific climate change deniers like Heller have hailed him in their tweets.