8 Comments

It is worth remembering that Shellenberger was contracted to create an important disinformation program as a smoke screen for the Chávez regime when it ran into trouble over its abuse of power. Alternative facts were used to discredit human rights defenders, indigenous leaders, environmentalists and journalists who were targeted by the dictator. Disinformation is Shellenberg's business. I never heard he was an environmentalist, all the contrary.

Expand full comment

Do you have more information on this?

Expand full comment

I wonder if any of them have ever picked up a piece of garbage

Expand full comment

Frowning about "promoting fracking as a clean energy alternative" is a bit funny when Greenpeace and EU Greens are happily recommending fossil gas as a "clean and safe transitional fuel" to the next half century. Fossil fuel, as a reminder, has carbon intensity of 482 gCO2/kWh.

Expand full comment

Carl, can you point toward a reference?

I can't speak for Greenpeace or other "EU Greens," but having worked at Greenpeace USA for 10 years, I can tell you they absolutely do not support gas development. At all.

Maybe a decade + ago, the position was a bit different, before it was established that methane venting and flaring made gas about as terrible as coal, in terms of carbon pollution.

Even those now-outdated positions on gas were not an endorsement for its continued use long into the future. Just enough to get away from coal and oil until the renewable buildout was in full effect.

EDIT: I deleted and re-pasted this reply to remove a confusing typo ("...under the renewable buildout...")

Expand full comment

Enrique - that is a fascinating tip.

Is there any other material or documentation you can point to?

I can be reached at grassrootbeer@protonmail.com, or DM on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClimateConnor

Expand full comment

As you will comprehend, these type of black ops usually does not document itself. With more and more reports of human right abuse, including Human Rights Watch and Amnistía documents, Chávez created the Ministry of Communication and Information with the objective of "communicational hegemony", and in Washington DC and later Miami Florida, established the notorious Venezuela Information Office Investments Corp (VIO) to launch the regime propaganda offensive, fabricate regime favorable fictional counter narratives to immediately deny US media articles critical of the Supreme Commander, and aggressively discredit human rights, social and environmental organizations, so VIO is the nexus and a point to start. Propagandists in the USA received officially hundreds of thousands of US dollars oil income contract as legal agents of the Venezuela regime (check for a start Global Exchange, Lumina Estrategies, Venezuelanalysis, Center for Economic and Policy Research), and who knows how much (millions) under the table, because the budget for 5 years propaganda in USA was ONE BILLION dollars.

Expand full comment

Hydraulic Fracturing IS a clean energy technology.

Expand full comment