George Monbiot cuts through Shell Oil's PR spin

Fri, 2009-01-23 20:20Kevin Grandia
Kevin Grandia's picture

George Monbiot cuts through Shell Oil's PR spin




The CEO looked pretty stressed. I don't think he'll be doing any more Monbiot meetings for a while.


Monbiot Had him Over a Barrel

Face it.  Shell could care less about how it pollutes Canada's air or Nigeria's air.  It is only interested in the bottom line of it's profit statement.  But they are no worse than other careless companies who like to exploit resources and people where they mine their liquid gold.




We need people like Monbiot who has made it his duty to hold these people to account (I would call that something useful to do) and to ask those difficult questions that they don't want to talk about but we need to be answered. If they don't realise exactly what they're letting themselves in for, then they should have done their homework!

I'm ambivalent about Monbiot, I don't always like his approach, but I'm pretty certain that people of his ilk will make the world a little better than it might otherwise have been.

It's quite obvious why certain people don't like him. But that's exactly why we need more like Monbiot.

I felt quite sorry for David Bellamy when he received the Monbiot roasting on Channel 4 ( But not sorry enough to wish it hadn't happened, it was entirely justified, even though I don't like seeing people being humiliated.






Bellamy's arguments were shredded and revealed for what they really were - complete tosh. He was completely outclassed and overwhelmed by Monbiot's grasp of the science. All Bellamy could do was waffle.

See my previous comment for a link to the video.





This is all well documented.

Revelle's record speaks for itself - he was a great scientist.

If as you claim, an 'ignorant, mean spirited turd like Monbiot' (your words), can demolish Bellamy with facts and science, what does that imply about Bellamy? As for the despicable Seitz and Singer, whose records speak more eloquently of their characters and actions than any ad hominem.


I will leave others to draw their own conclusions.

Are you suggesting that muck raking media attack dog Monbiot is a "world-class expert specialist"? I hope that I'm misinterpreting your intent but, from a true believer, anything is possible.


Your reference to Seitz as "despicable" is pretty damned despicable and typical of the more vicious sort of warmists. You should hang your head in shame.

The canard about Revelle having been "bullied" by Singer or losing his faculties when he co-authored the Cosmos article has been refuted by his family and by his personal secretary. The sorry saga of that slander of a fine scientist, which was thrown at him merely because he refused to be dogmatic, has been addressed in detail many times, most recently by Lawrence Solomon in "The Deniers".  

Unfortunately, yours is the typical warmist approach - not only on blogs such as this but in the MSM. You'd gain a lot of credibility by showing a little respect for scholars who show the slightest devience from your certitudes.

BTW, I'm not a scholar - just a working scientist quite prepared to roll in the mud with narrow minded, intolerant Gaians.

Bletch said: "I find that comment more than a little offensive."


Time to actually read some honest articles for a change, you might become just "a little offensive" if you do so.




Your argument is bankrupt.





In-fact, while I didn't spot all of the deceits hidden inside, I spotted enough to know it was a heap of miserable pseudo-scientific drivel.




What do you have to say about Seitz' deceit formatting the Petition document to closely resemble a NAS reprint [and therefore peer-reviewed] and the letter from Seitz a former NAS President?

It is perfectly clear from the NAS press release that NAS members were confused. It seems perfectly clear that Seitz intended to deceive, and it worked. This hardly reflects well upon Seitz' integrity, does it?


Seitz later admitted that 'it was stupid' for the Oregon activists to copy the academy's format..,' This was clearly also a deceit, how could an intelligent man like Seitz make such a 'mistake'?


Anyone who believes otherwise must  surely believe that pigs might fly.


Debunking the Oregon Petition and its associated documents:









There are loads of links on DeSmogBlog about Solomon:

Search DeSmogBlog for Solomon


by someone who probably had useful things to do,

Useful things, like making more money for himself by wrecking the environment and other people's health?

-- bi

Agreeing to the interview was a dumb thing to do. He had to know how it was going to go considering who the interviewer was. I don't feel a bit sorry for him. If he thought he could sweet talk Monbiot, then he's really not smart enough to be Shell CEO anyway.

Being questioned by the headmaster about the rude graffiti that had been painted on the girls' washroom walls.

Monbiot wrote an article on the source of the lie "half the world's glaciers are growing." He traced it to a web page of Singer's: Singer later said this was posted by an "administrative assistant". Right.

A relative arguing with me about the reality of global warming quoted this not-fact. Because of Monbiot's article I was able to reply, "That's a lie and I know the name of a liar."

This is the risk you take when you surround yourself with yes-men who applaud when you spout nonsense. It's a routine occupational hazard for a senior corporate executive (and for their shareholders). You can easily come across as an ill-prepared nitwit when confronted with a well-informed and intelligent interviewer who has no vested interest in stroking your ego.

No sympathy.


"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!" (Superchicken)
