Back in April I wrote about the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and their continued and persistent close association with the fossil fuel industry, and with ExxonMobil, in particular. This “special relationship” is so entirely inappropriate and illogical that the shockwaves continue to be felt (for the AGU Board, at least). You can read my initial post here. I made sure to let the AGU know exactly how I felt in an email, and I included a link to my April post. 

This is their mission statement, by the way:

And on June 22, 2016, I received the email (below) from AGU President, Margaret Leinin:

I’m just now getting around to a suitable response to Margaret, which can be read below:

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I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m ALL OUT OF both time and give a shit with these people, and it’s not just the AGU. Before I move on from them, I want to take a moment to drive home the point of just how screwed up this climate change “business” is with, and within, the American Geophysical Union.

There was a recent article appearing in several media outlets referencing a letter signed by 31 scientific organizations begging Congress to do literally anything about climate change. Here is one such article which appeared on Scientific American‘s website on July 1st.   In the Scientific American piece, the AGU Executive Director/CEO, Christine McEntee (who signed the letter to Congress on behalf of the AGU), had the gall to say:

“I’m certainly hoping that this time we’re going to see this increasing momentum, increasing discussion, and we’re hopeful that we’re going to see bipartisan support for climate change action.”

“This time?” Who should pay any attention to anything she and the AGU say? They’re talking out of so many sides of their mouth that they must look like Jack Nicholson as The Joker over at The Prow…

The onion-layers-of-stupid here are too plentiful to rehash and may even border on the corrupt. For example, when House “Science” Committee Chairman, Lamar Smith (R-Texas) sent out threatening “subpoenas” (they were less than fully authoritative since there wasn’t a majority of members signing them) to 17 state attorneys general and 8 activist, science outreach and legal groups, who Smith thinks are illegally going after ExxonMobil for RICO-type activities, guess who wasn’t on the receiving end of Smith’s harassment request for all pertinent documents? Here’s the list:

1. 350.org
2. Climate Accountability Institute
3. The Climate Reality Project
4. Greenpeace
5. Pawa Law Group, P.C.
6. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund
7. Rockefeller Family Fund
8. Union of Concerned Scientists

No sign whatsoever of the American Geophysical Union on that list. I can smell the quid pro quo  from here. You can read a good article about what Lamar Smith is trying to do here (at the Inside Climate News website).

Suffice to say, the AGU Board, like the Swarthmore Board, the US Departments of Energy and Interior, and most members of Congress have tied themselves into more knots than a Kaluza-Klein braid attempting to explain away the contradictions and the insanity implicit in saying one thing, while doing another.

But the AGU Board isn’t alone in its epic levels of deception and double-speak. While the list of offenders is far too long to fit into this post, one particularly nasty and distasteful ruse can be seen playing out, in real time, by the Obama Administration. While the President continues to publicly flail his arms about, acting so terribly concerned about climate change, he is simultaneously doing his level best to snuff out the far-reaching and worthy lawsuit by Our Children’s Trust which seeks to hold the US government accountable for not protecting our environment (which they shouldn’t need to be told to do, constitutionally-speaking).

What does it say about adults who vote these clowns into office and then pay their salaries when even our children can see their lying and hypocrisy?

Apparently, the AGU is planning on upgrading its building. They even have a fancy website dedicated solely to their big plans. I think they should wear their fossil fuel money as a badge of honor if they truly stand behind their decisions and, in doing so, I bet they’d rake in even more dirty money if they adopted appropriate signage, much like a sports stadium.

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Further reading:
Exxon Fraud Probe Is Shaping Up To Be The Biggest Bipartisan Climate Battle Ever, July 1, 2016;
This is what comes after #ExxonKnew, November 8, 2015;
The most important legal case on Earth, April 11, 2016;
AGU announcement (From The Prow) regarding continued alliance with ExxonMobil, May 10, 2016;
Let’s welcome new Wall of Shame member, Gil Kemp, April 13, 2015;
Swarthmore (still) sucks, August 5, 2015;
ExxonMobil’s mad science, November 13, 2015.