#2923: Steve Goreham

Steve Goreham is executive director of the Climate Science Coalition of America (CSCA), a group of people who try to argue there is no evidence that global warming is man-made or will be a crisis, and which is affiliated with the denialist (for money) organization the Heartland Institute. The CSCA is a fine example of an astroturf organization; it is a member of the well-funded climate change denialist Web of Deceit, and was for instance among the groups that in 2018 signed on to an open letter asking President Trump to ignore criticisms of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. There is a good resource on the group here.

 

A self-declared “researcher on energy and environmental issues”, Goreham himself is, predictably, not a climate scientist (his degree is in electrical engineering), and his audiences are, predictably, those who don’t quite recognize the difference between researcher and blogger & columnist for climate-denialist organizations. He’s regularly described as a “climate change expert”, however, by people and groups that like his conclusions (and he gets invited a lot by such people and groups). For instance, Goreham was one of the signatories to a petition organized by Richard Lindzen of the Cato Institute urging President Trump to pull the US out of the United Nations international convention on climate change (UNFCCC); according to Lindzen, “more than 300 eminent scientists and other qualified individuals from around the world have signed the petition below.” Goreham’s signature is telling enough; Lindzen’s list contained, entirely predictably, only a handful of signatories who could be considered remotely qualified or eminent on anything, and none in the field of climate science; rather, it contained plenty og individuals who, for various reasons, were “interested in climate”. Goreham is also the author of Climatism! Science, Common Sense, and the 21st Century’s Hottest Topic, which baldfacedly and falsely asserts that “the science clearly shows that global warming is due to natural causes, despite the tidal wave of world belief in man-made climate change”.

 

And yes, his arguments are usually centered on familiar denialist lies and talking points (like this one), such as the eminently silly claim that there’s been no warming since 1998, that Antarctica is actually gaining ice, or that warmer weather is actually good for us. Meanwhile, he laments how SUV owners and power company officials are treated like witches were in the Middle Ages.

 

There is a decent Steve Goreham resource here. 

 

Diagnosis: Professional astroturf activist and denialist, and he seems to be good at it. His career opportunities seem endless these days.