If you say something enough after a while people start to believe it.

It’s been many years since I started working on global warming and climate justice issues. It’s also been many years since we’ve used the term “climate criminals” to describe the executives who head the fossil fuel empire that has created the climate crisis.

In 2003, I was part of the Global Warming Crimes Unit that served warrants to Exxonmobil executives for “crimes against the climate.”

Last November, we wrapped a Citibank branch in Washington D.C. and lots of subsequent ATMs and bank branches in “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape (We kinda see global warming as a crime scene).

Now Dr. James Hansen, the country’s premier climate expert, has come out and validated years of name-calling by accusing the climate profiteers of “high crimes against humanity and nature.”
Speaking before Congress today on the 20th anniversary of a groundbreaking speech warning the world of global warming, Hansen said that companies like Exxon and Peabody had actively spread doubt about global warming. He compared them to tobacco companies blurring the line between smoking and cancer. He also said he was considering targeting and campaigning against members of Congress that had acted in support of the climate deniers.

It’s a powerful meme envisioning the most powerful of the powerful sitting in Nuremberg like trials.

We need more of it.