Ed Note: The erroneous, agenda-laden ExxonKnew narrative was again in evidence in last weekend’s WSJ News Exclusive, “Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change.” For other rebuttals involving the author, (see here).

“Exxon doesn’t ‘know’ anything. It’s a collection of people and just like any other organization with many people, there are many views and understandings on almost every topic imaginable. I worked with Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, and Libertarians.” – Glen Lyons, former employee (below)

A sober look at the “ExxonKnew” campaign reveals an anti-fossil-fuel agenda inspiring a myopic view of the company’s old investigations into carbon dioxide (CO2).

There are many corrections to this leaky narrative. First, note that the company assigned the CO2 studies to individuals with their own personal motivations and did not partake in studies on the offsets to CO2 (from sulfur dioxide) or the benefits of CO2 (plant growth and resiliency, global greening, warmer winters).…

“Climate deniers are often simply awful people.”

Michael Mann, September 15, 2019

An army of climate denier bots & trolls have been released to deflect attention from the unprecedented climate change-fueled extreme weather we’re witnessing. If you encounter, report first. Then block. Don’t engage!

Michael Mann, July 19, 2022

Not people. Mostly bots.  July 19

In response to a Sierra Club study, “Climate Deniers Are More Likely to Be Racist. Why?” Michael Mann answered: “Because, in general, they’re pretty awful people. Racism, misogyny, climate denial often come bundled:   September 3, 2019.

Jonathan Watts, “Climatologist Michael E Mann: ‘Good people fall victim to doomism. I do too sometimes‘” The Guardian, February 27, 2021.

The Victim

“For more than two decades I was in the crosshairs of climate change deniers, fossil fuel industry groups and those advocating for them – conservative politicians and media outlets.…

“Power DeSmog into 2023,” the headline of a year-end fundraising appeal read. “We’re closing in on 1,000 profiles across our databases, which demands a lot of our team’s time to update and build. Every donation helps!”

The rest of the appeal read:

Every day, our global team of researchers continues to expand and update our Climate Disinformation Database, Koch Network Database, and Agribusiness Database. These critical resources collect information on individuals and organizations responsible for casting doubt on climate science and delaying climate action. VICE describes DeSmog as the “thorn in the side of corporate climate denial” — a badge of honor we’re proud to wear!

Several months ago, I celebrated the DeSmog blitz with a post, “Climate “Disinformation Everywhere! (winning against alarmism)“. I wrote:

At some point, the climate alarmists are going to have to wonder if the universe of “climate denial” and “climate skepticism” is growing so large that the real outliers are themselves.

“DeSmog’s methodology of listing the ‘denier’ qualifications, quotations, and activities–as if the debate was settled toward climate alarmism and forced energy transformation–is utterly unconvincing. Their growing list is impressive and a badge of honor, so let their project continue.”

Stephen Koonin has done much to help “mainstream” the problems with alarmism based on climate modelling–at least for the open-minded and curious. Humility must rule in the face of radical complexity. After all, what can be known in the absence of causal physical equations that are sub-grid scale anyway?

Climate models cannot be expected to “get it right,” if earth modeling is even possible. This is why data-data-data can and should drive the climate sensitivity debate.

Professor Koonin has been profiled relative to Andrew Dessler at MasterResource (here and here).…