I really do believe there is an organized, coordinated and well-financed operation out there generating pollyannish articles in supermarket checkout tabloids and Sunday supplement inserts that combs the internet for obscure little articles on how clever scientists out there are hot on the trail of solving the climate issue once and for all.

Like all propaganda, there may a germ of truth to these articles, perhaps a valid chemical reaction or the preliminary work of an obscure but legitimate researcher somewhere. The whole point is to convince the casual reader that "they" are well on the way to solving this problem and we need not adopt any policies that might cause real real economic disruption and pain.

We've seen this before, right here on the Zone. We've seen it about AGW, cigarette carcinogens, pesticides, lead platformates, the ozone hole...I could go on. Since most of the journalistic community is science-illiterate, they often pick up on these feel-good stories and even help circulate them.

These people (the ones originating this stuff) must know enough science themselves to make these (on the surface plausible) proposals, but surely they must see they won't stand up to...well, even a good high school preparation in basic science. What we are seeing here are the TBs and Lindsey Grahams of the tech community.

They tried to take over this chat room before. We must never allow them to try again.