Posted on 05/04/2009 12:53:02 PM PDT by Notoriously Conservative
If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again.
WASHINGTON — The problem with global warming, some environmentalists believe, is “global warming.”
The term turns people off, fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes, according to extensive polling and focus group sessions conducted by ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing and messaging firm in Washington.
Instead of grim warnings about global warming, the firm advises, talk about “our deteriorating atmosphere.” Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.”
EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support for climate change legislation and other initiatives. A summary of the group’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations by someone who sat in this week on a briefing intended for government officials and environmental leaders.(...)
Environmental issues consistently rate near the bottom of public worry, according to many public opinion polls. A Pew Research Center poll released in January found global warming last among 20 voter concerns; it trailed issues like addressing moral decline and decreasing the influence of lobbyists. “We know why it’s lowest,” said Mr. Perkowitz, a marketer of outdoor clothing and home furnishings before he started ecoAmerica, whose activities are financed by corporations, foundations and individuals. “When someone thinks of global warming, they think of a politicized, polarized argument. When you say ‘global warming,’ a certain group of Americans think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.”
The answer, Mr. Perkowitz said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language. “Energy efficiency” makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of “saving money for a more prosperous future.” In fact, the group’s surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term “the environment” and talk about “the air we breathe, the water our children drink.”
“Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology,” said the e-mail account of the group’s study.
Mr. Perkowitz and allies in the environmental movement have been briefing officials in Congress and the administration in the hope of using the findings to change the terms of the debate now under way in Washington.
-New York Times (of all places)
That way, no matter if the temperature of the planet goes up or down...it's man's fault, Bush's fault, SUVs fault...you name it.
How about just calling it “Bullsh$t”?
A t*rd by any other name...
My suggestions:
“Cap and Trade” replaced with “Loot and Pillage” or “Rob and Plunder”.
“Green” replaced with “Communist” or “Totalitarian”.
“Global Warming” replaced with “Fear Doctrine”.
As always, the left shrouds its drive for absolute tyranny behind terms of freedom.
Just like the definition of “political correctness”:
the belief that you can pick up a turd by the clean end.
Hmmmmmm.....
How about "World Toastiness"??
Or...."Earth - Warm and Fuzzy"
Or...."World Public Radio" (er...sorry....that's another campaign entirely)
Or...."Mother Earth Needs to Lower Her Thermostat - Let's All Help!"
Come on youse guys...I'm sure you can put up a few!!
And since the climate changes every day, this will mean nothing.
-PJ
Wow, we managed to do that?!
The answer, Mr. Perkowitz said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language.
Oh, like going from n----r to negro to black to colored to african american?
“Energy efficiency” makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of “saving money for a more prosperous future.”
I can see it printed on the side of the next dishwasher I buy: Energy Efficienty: Saves Money Bigtime For Our Glorious Future!
In fact, the group’s surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term “the environment” and talk about “the air we breathe, the water our children drink.”
Yeah, the "do it for the children" thing is novel--been there done that.
It cuts both ways.
We spend hours qualifying ‘gay marriage’ because it’s a non-entity but the term is here to stay for better or worse.
‘Global warming’ and ‘swine flu’ are also here to stay no matter which group of moaners or martinets attempts to change them.
Man Caused Disaster should cover it. THEN we can prosecute those who keep expelling all that co2 for crimes against humanity
This is another of my problems with the whole global warming thing as a science. Good science sells itself. Good science doesn’t need a massive PR effort.
“Good science doesn’t need a massive PR effort”
consider the adult stem cell research that doesn’t get much press vs embryonic.
Exactly WHAT about it is deteriorating?
Damned liars.
Looks like it’s time to update my Newspeak Dictionary.
How about "Cap & Tax"?
>>How about just calling it “Bullsh$t”?<<
Well, that is what Bulls....Hit called it.
I am getting so sick of all this new speak garbage they are cramming down our throats.
observe that in all the propaganda of the ecologists
—amidst all their appeals to nature and pleas for
‘harmony with nature’—there is no discussion of man’s
needs and the requirements of his survival.
Man is treated as if he were an unnatural phenomenon.
Man cannot survive in the kind of state of nature that
the ecologists envision—i.e., on the level of sea
urchins or polar bears
AYN RAND
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