Grassroots —
adjective of, pertaining to, or involving the common people, esp. as contrasted with or separable from an elite.

Astroturf —
trademark used for an artificial grass-like ground covering.

In the lead up to next month’s climate negotiations in Copenhagen and
the possibility of the U.S. Congress voting a climate bill, many groups
are claiming to “represent Americans” and their views on energy and
climate legislation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has claimed to speak for 3 million American businesses in their rejection of cap-and-trade. After
Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson did some math
on that claim, however, the Chamber amended its membership number to
300,000 — a 90% reduction in its mandate to speak for America’s
businesses. Facing a number of high-profile defections over its
opposition to climate legislation, the Chamber sent a letter
to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to clarify its
position. Less clear is whether its members agree on what that would
be.

Repower America, a campaign of the Alliance for Climate Protection — an organization closely linked to former Vice President Al Gore — has created a wall
for people to show their support for clean energy, some of which will
be used in advertising campaigns. Sprinkled among the teachers, actors,
students, workers, veterans and other “ordinary” folks, are a number of
celebrities, organizations and corporate logos, including Exelon, eBay,
Starbucks and Avon, NAACP, National Wildlife Federation, United Steel
Workers and Republicans for Environmental Protections. It is difficult
to know from looking at the wall what the participants are supporting
other than the broad idea of “clean energy”.

There have been other, perhaps more definitive, demonstrations of
broad support for addressing the climate crisis. On October 24, for
example, 5,200 events in 181 countries were organized for 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action. The organization has collected 22,000 photos
of both the ordinary and extraordinary ways in which participants were
making a common statement: address climate change by doing what is
necessary to reduce atmospheric CO2 to 350 parts per million.

In their own effort to mobilize for a common purpose the American Petroleum Institute
(API), held rallies and mobilized “energy citizens” over the summer to
show their opposition to climate legislation. It later was discovered
through a leaked memo
written by API President Jack Gerard that among those “ordinary” folks
were paid employees, retirees, vendors and contractors. Those claiming
to be real grassroots activists call this “astroturfing”.

I asked Climate Cover Up author James Hoggan to explain the difference between a truly grassroots organization and one practicing astroturf.