The Whine Industry

Two climate primates, Ross Gelbspan and Chris Mooney, ganged up on a MobilExxon apologist on a Democracy Now! segment on industry funding of global warming skeptics. Clearly at a loss of anything to say and exasperated as well (listen to the audio), the spokesman said this:

Myron Ebell: The -- you know, this large megaphone that we have, I'm a little bit surprised that Ross Gelbspan has mentioned that, because, of course, the environmental movement, which largely spends a lot of its effort supporting the Kyoto Protocol and energy rationing policies is a huge industry. The Sacramento Bee a couple years ago, maybe it's three years ago now, estimated it was an $8.5 billion a year industry.

The environmental movement an industry? More likely an artful conceit of projection plus framing. Now, $8.5 billion sounds like a lot, but this is like $30 per capita per year invested in health, conservation, and whatever else besides global warming that environmentalists from Sierra Club and elsewhere raise awareness on. (I did look up the original SacBee article here and the writer, Tom Knudson, mentioned only a $3.5 billion figure in 1999. Go figure.)

Conclusion:
Sour grapes make whine.