UPDATE:
I realize this core point is also the argument of Oreskes & Conway, Merchants of Doubt. I didn't mean to slight them; it's just that I'd more recently read McCright & Dunlap and that was at the front of my mind. I'll be adding an update to the DeSmogBlog post to reflect this.
My latest post is now up at DeSmogBlog--exploring the arguments of sociologists Aaron McCright and Riley Dunlap, who suggest that climate denial isn't simply being driven by a quest to improve the bottom line in the fossil fuel industry. Rather, it's about free market and libertarian zeal. To quote from the piece:
Dunlap and McCright note that “conservative think tanks increased their opposition to climate science and the IPCC, even as major portions of industry were reducing theirs.” And I don’t think there’s any denying it: Corporate views on climate change have grown considerably more diverse, ...
