About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

39 Ecology L.Q. 831 (2012)
Deceitful Tongues: Is Climate Change Denial a Crime

handle is hein.journals/eclawq39 and id is 851 raw text is: Deceitful Tongues: Is Climate Change Denial a Crime? William C. Tucker* The consequences of global warming and associated climate changes are now apparent. No longer can there be any doubt that anthropogenic (human- caused) warming of the Earth is happening, caused mainly by greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide, from burning fossil fuels. Climate change poses a grave threat to humankind. The world is already experiencing the consequences of global warming: more frequent and prolonged droughts, increasingly severe and more frequent storms, rising sea levels worldwide threatening coastal and vulnerable island populations, the melting of mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets, increased intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes, and more frequent and widespread fires. Without immediate action to curb greenhouse gas emissions, climate change can only get worse. In the period since the issue of global warming was brought to the attention of the general public in the late 1980s, both the legislative and the executive branches of the United States government have launched a number of initiatives to assess the threat and formulate policies to address it. Nevertheless, two decades later the United States government has failed to take effective measures to address climate change domestically or to assert international leadership on achieving meaningful carbon emission reductions. It is now well-documented that a shift in public opinion and failure of political will on climate change took place at the turn of the millennium, a change which can be largely attributed to a sophisticated, nationwide public relations campaign designed to conceal the dangers of burning fossil fuels from the American public by deceiving it as to the true state of climate science. Yet this deception is arguably punishable as Copyright C 2012 Regents of the University of California. . William C. Tucker, A.B. cum laude Harvard College, J.D. Northeastern U. School of Law, is an Assistant Regional Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II. He is writing here in his individual capacity and not as government counsel. All opinions expressed herein, including but not limited to positions on legal or policy issues, are entirely his own and are not to be construed as those of EPA or of the United States. Furthermore, this paper is not an indictment and does not and is not intended to allege any criminal or tortious actions on the part of any specific individual, corporation, or organization. Its purpose is rather to begin a public discussion of whether the deceptive practices described herein, given their potentially devastating consequences to humanity, rise to the level of criminal fraud under U.S. law. 831

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most