Envirofundamentalist Friends of the Earth cynically exploits Sandy victims

It is easy to feel sympathy for retired NYC firefighter Don Green and the other Sandy victims, but the way the Friends of the Earth uses their stories in order to frighten people to donate money to its dubious activities is both cynical and highly objectionable. 


Envirofundamentalist Friends of the Earth has launched "Climate Stories",  one of the most cynical fund raising campaigns ever, using victims of the tropical storm Sandy and other natural events in order to scare people to finance its dubious activities: 

The project, produced in partnership with HEIST (http://heistprojects.com), uses powerful, emotional video shot entirely on location to bring to light the very real and tangible effects that climate change and extreme weather are already having on Americans all across the country.

Inspired in part by the devastation left in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and this summer’s record-breaking drought, Climate Stories documents unique, personal stories from Americans living across the country, from Alaska to Nebraska, Louisiana to Vermont.

“We’re already seeing the effects of climate change everywhere, affecting Americans regardless of political affiliation or background,” said Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica. “This campaign represents a new way of approaching the issue. It’s time to hear from real people whose lives are already being transformed. Stories are a powerful way to mobilize and inspire everyone -- most importantly, President Obama --  to act now to on climate change.”

The website, found at www.ClimateStories.us, highlights short videos of Rockaway Beach, New York, and Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, emphasize the large-scale loss of neighborhoods and homes to Superstorm Sandy and encroaching sea levels, respectively. In the videos, interviews with residents draw contrasts between past weather patterns and the recent, erratic events that are destroying their ways of life.

The campaign also compiles user-submitted stories and invites visitors to submit their own accounts, pictures and videos. In Wisconsin, unseasonable temperatures ruined apple crops for a farming family and other apple-growers across the state, while in Colorado, a family explains the heartbreak of losing their home in recent record wildfires.

The well paid Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica most certainly knows that Sandy was not caused by global warming/climate change. But he is doing exactly what professor Roger Pielke Jr. is warning us about:

Public discussion of disasters risks being taken over by the climate lobby and its allies, who exploit every extreme event to argue for action on energy policy.-

There are no signs that human-caused climate change has increased the toll of recent disasters, as even the most recent extreme-event report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds. And even under the assumptions of the IPCC, changes to energy policies wouldn't have a discernible impact on future disasters for the better part of a century or more.