I've always been troubled by the tremendous impact that a magazine cover has. So many more folks see just the cover image than thoroughly read what's inside.

That's why I'm actually more disturbed by this week's Newsweek cover than I am by the tales it tells. So many more folks are going to see the screaming cover headline* than are going to read the fine print in the lower left-hand corner (much less the coverage itself).

To be sure, I'm angered and frustrated by the fact that, as the Newsweek report states:

the denial machine is running at full throttle—and continuing to shape both government policy and public opinion.Since the late 1980s, this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change. Through advertisements, op-eds, lobbying and media attention, greenhouse doubters (they hate being called deniers) argued first that the world is not warming; measurements indicating otherwise are flawed, they said. Then they claimed that any warming is natural, not caused by human activities. Now they contend that the looming warming will be minuscule and harmless.

But this is old news. In fact, as Newsweek's global warming timeline shows, in 1989,

Fossil-fuel interests, including Exxon, the American Petroleum Institute and other industries form the Global Climate Coalition to oppose legislative action targeting climate change.

That's right, Al Gore has been pushing the proverbial rock uphill, against well-funded opponents, for almost 20 years. Every time he makes a little progress, the denial machine throws a little more fuel on the fire (money in the pot).

Truth be told, Newsweek's coverage paints a grim scene and is well worth reading. I just wish they'd used a different cover gimmick.

*On first glance, I hardly noticed the asterisk. How about you?

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