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  The great anti-carbon dioxide conspiracy
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ContributorArmyDem 
Last EditedArmyDem  May 18, 2006 03:17pm
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News DateThursday, May 18, 2006 09:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionPosted 2:41 pm | Printer Friendly

In all seriousness, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a parody. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a front-group funded by the oil industry, has unveiled a new TV ad that hopes to convince Americans not to worry about global warming. The pitch — I swear I'm not making this up — is that carbon dioxide is inherently good.

The first ad portrays global warming science as a vicious smear campaign against carbon dioxide. The ad, which despite appearances is not an SNL parody, helpfully reminds us that carbon dioxide is "essential to life" because "we breath it out."

It's comforting to know that this is the best global warming rejectionists can come up with. There are plenty of things that are healthy and essential in reasonable quantities but harmful in extremely large quantities. (For example, drinking a few glasses of water is beneficial. Drinking 10 gallons of water can kill you.) We need some carbon dioxide, but too much causes global warming.

You really have to see the ad to believe it. The tag line is so over-the-top, you'd think the Competitive Enterprise Institute was simply going for a cheap laugh: "Carbon dioxide: They call it 'pollution'; we call it 'life.'"

You know, if the ad is in any way successful in changing Americans' minds, it may open up a whole new way of arguing complete nonsense. For example, I can imagine those who make nuclear bombs creating ads explaining how great the nucleus of an atom is –"They call it a 'weapon of mass destruction'; we call it 'a basic particle of matter."
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