Global Warming Denier Group Funded By Big Oil Hosting Climate Change Denial Conference
Global Warming Denier Group Funded By Big Oil Hosting Climate Change Denial Conference
From March 2-4, right-wing climate-denier group The Heartland Institute will host what it calls a ‘Climate Skeptics’ Conference. Heartland President Joseph Blast boasted that his conference would feature climate change deniers: “This is their chance to speak out.” The online poster for the conference declares, “Global Warming is not a crisis!”
Heartland’s environmental stance is completely out of the mainstream. The debate over human contribution to global warming is long over. Even as all three top GOP presidential candidates recently endorsed California’s effort to reduce auto greenhouse gas emissions, Heartland ridiculed the idea, calling California and its allies “environmental extremists.”
Heartland’s extreme anti-environmentalism no doubt spawns from its supporters. Between 1998 and 2005, oil giant ExxonMobil gave nearly $800,000 to Heartland. The group’s Board of Directors also explains the group’s climate change denials:
– Thomas Walton is the Director of Economic Policy at General Motors.
–James L. Johnston is a former senior economist for oil company Amoco Corporation.
–Walter F. Buchholtz is a former member of Heartland’s board of directors and worked as ExxonMobil’s Senior Issues Advisor.
–James M. Taylor is editor of Heartland’s weekly Environment & Climate News and wrote an op-ed criticizing Gore’s “Assault On Reason” insisting that “global warming threats they should not be deliberately exaggerated as a means of building support for a desired political position.”
RealClimate quips, “Normal scientific conferences have the goal of discussing ideas and data in order to advance scientific understanding. Not this one.”
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I wonder if they are going to have Huckabee come in and tell them that the dinosaurs are only 5,000 years old?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:10 pmOil companies financing fake science? Who’d of thought.
I think Phuckabee thinks the dinosaurs are 5,999 years 364 days old, and they lived along side humans….what a numbskull.
Buck Fush
February 1st, 2008 at 5:13 pmWhat a joke.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:13 pmcatapult the propaganda! That’s what they do!
February 1st, 2008 at 5:17 pmAre you saying that because they have a different stance than you do they can’t meet and talk about global warming.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pmWhy don’t you talk about how GE funds green tech. Spends millions pushing to make the government force it’s light bulb on people.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pmAre you saying that because they have a different stance than you do they can’t meet and talk about global warming.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
they meet to talk about their wide stances. and then they conspire to rip us off even more. they’re not talking about global warming, they’re talking about global thievery.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pmSpends millions pushing to make the government force it’s light bulb on people.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
and the oil companies spend billions to keep on poisoning our planet, and putting its shills in office. why don’t you ever bring that up? Bush and Cheney are cheap whores for the oil industry, that’s a fact.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:27 pmThis will be followed by:
February 1st, 2008 at 5:30 pm“The 2008 Global Conference Holocaust Deniers”.
I totally support their right to meet to discuss how to keep fools like Veterans Administrion Voter duped into thinking that global warming is a myth.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:33 pmBTW Va Voter, at which Veterans Administration hospital are you getting your mental conidition treated? They’re doing a lousy job, you’re still delusional..
February 1st, 2008 at 5:34 pmthe issue I have with this is the line “The debate over human contribution to global warming is long over.” But it’s not. You can belittle the folks that don’t agree with you but they do have a right to think that and express that.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:36 pmWhy does this sound like a “Smoking is NOT Bad For You!” conference sponsored by R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris, Lorillard, the American Tobacco Company, and Liggett & Myers?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pmGeneral Motors is deep doodoo already. Americans don’t want GM executives flaunting the truth. We want executives to do the right thing – not the wrong thing.
Do you remember what happened to Circuit City when they laid off their experienced employees? We didn’t like it and we won’t like this.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pmAre you saying that because they have a different stance than you do they can’t meet and talk about global warming.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
A different stance on global warming is like a different stance on the heliocentric model of the solar system.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:43 pmWhy does this sound like a “Smoking is NOT Bad For You!†conference sponsored by R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris, Lorillard, the American Tobacco Company, and Liggett & Myers?
Comment by missmolly — February 1, 2008 @ 5:39 pm
You- you mean it’s not good for your T-zone?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:44 pm“The debate over human contribution to global warming is long over.†But it’s not.”
It’s over between the people who actually know what they’re talking about. What is so hard to understand about that? Do you really think that unnaturally dumping countless Billions of tons of dangerous materials into our fragile atmosphere has no negative effect?
It really only takes common sense to figure it out. You only feel “belittled” because you’re wrong and in the tiny minority.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:44 pmThis is akin to the International Burglars Association hosting a conference on how to secure your home.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:44 pmHow about we build all those global warming deniers out there an igloo in the Arctic. Lets see how long they can continue to deny it while underwater.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:46 pmAre you saying that because they have a different stance than you do they can’t meet and talk about global warming.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
I don’t think anybody here is saying that these people should be forbidden to hold a conference. We are guaranteed freedom of assembly, after all.
However, we are also free to express our ideas about such a conference. And I posted my thoughts in #14 — comparing such a conference to a conference designed to dispel the “myth” that smoking tobacco can kill you.
I think that’s a comparison worth a little more detail. For decades, the tobacco industry tried to convince the public that smoking wasn’t harmful, that smoking wasn’t addictive, etc. It’s one thing to catapult propaganda to the public if you believe it to be true. However, if you KNOW it’s not true and you still perpetuate it, you can be held liable for any damage that results from it. It turned out that the tobacco companies had evidence for years about the health risks of smoking — even while they denied it and continued to make money off their product. They were eventually held liable for this.
If the oil industry is sitting on similar information about the causes and effects of global warming, yet continue to insist that it’s a myth, they may be held liable, too. Unfortunately, that may be too late.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:48 pmHow about we build all those global warming deniers out there an igloo in the Arctic. Lets see how long they can continue to deny it while underwater.
Comment by robertoroberto — February 1, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
Um, do you think it’s really a good idea to stick a whole bunch of oil company executives so close to all thoe untapped oil deposits? As soon as the ice melts they’ll be drilling the ocean floor with a corkscrew.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:49 pmFred Singer, the lobbyist, has promoted BOTH the “lack of evidence of dangers of tobacco”, AND “the myth of global warming”. Oil and Tobacco industry lobbyist!!!!
The “debate” has shifted from “There is no global warming”, to ” Global Warming on Mars”, to “Humans are not causing it”
http://www.desmogblog.com/s-fred-singer-one-whopper-on-top-of-another
And look who started this “debate”
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/wolcott200705
February 1st, 2008 at 6:08 pmthe issue I have with this is the line “The debate over human contribution to global warming is long over.†But it’s not. You can belittle the folks that don’t agree with you but they do have a right to think that and express that.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
Sorry, pal, but the debate is over in the scientific community. It is only going on in the flat earth community now. Yes, you have a right to think otherwise, but you shouldn’t be surprised when people belittle you for it.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:10 pmThe “debate†has shifted from “There is no global warmingâ€, to †Global Warming on Marsâ€, to “Humans are not causing itâ€
Actually, the latest phase in this phony debate is the accusation that vast numbers of scientists are faking their results to get research grants. Speaking of pathetic, any Washington Post article on AGW published these days draws an absolute frenzy of deniers, thrashing like deadenders in their last throes.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:12 pmI’ve gotta admit,
February 1st, 2008 at 6:15 pmAs one with a Bachelor of Science degree, married with two children, our Global environment looks bleak. I worry about my kids future, our future. I’ve long believed that the introduction of CO2 that began with the industrial revolution and has increased exponentially, lock-step with the evolution of “modern society”, has at least, if not more than, affected the Globe more than any single, or multiple natural (volcanic) event. I have trouble explaining to my children what’s happening to their beloved Polar bears. I’ve visited glaciers, thankfully, which will disappear (tragically) before I’m able to return to them. I worry about my relatives who chose to retire to coastal abodes (while subsequently investing wholly in the stock market…) But recently, I’ve realized something profound.
The Earth has endured multiple environmental, fundamentally life-altering events. Species have either have become extinct, or adapted and evolved. We are no different except we have the ability to alter our evolutionary fate.
But consider one thing. Satellite imagery is in it’s infancy in relation to geological time. Our polar ice caps are the weather stabilizers on Earth. Perhaps their waning is a by-product of the Earth’s “healing”. Given 50 to 100 more years, who’s to say our current environmental crisis will be halted by natural, cyclical or reactive events? I guess we can cross our fingers and hope that the peak oil crisis might force our hand.
As a child of the 70’s, I remember the glow-in-the-dark “Turn out the light”, conservation stickers on my switch plates!
My family goes well out of it’s way to recycle and reduce consumption.
We sold the Suburban and will only drive V6’s.
I’m afraid for our planet’s future and our place in it.
But our prespective is but a blip on the radar of geo-time. We need to be aware, concerned and reactive. But overreaction will only greet the noble cause with pessimism and doubt.
The effects of our choices will soon be too damaging to ignore. Even in our own backyards.
BTW Va Voter, at which Veterans Administration hospital are you getting your mental conidition treated? They’re doing a lousy job, you’re still delusional..
Comment by RUCerious — February 1, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
I believe Va Voter says the Va is for Virginia, which explains the macaca comments he/she offers.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:15 pmThe short version of my rant:
Like our form of Government, which is designed to “settle” on a stable, middle ground, discussions concerning global climate change SHOULD take place, but on a neutral turf, with a balanced offering of viewpoints and suggestions from which sound, stable, effective, long-term policy can be derived.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:22 pmthe issue I have with this is the line “The debate over human contribution to global warming is long over.†But it’s not. You can belittle the folks that don’t agree with you but they do have a right to think that and express that.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
Sorry, VA Voter, but the issue has been decided. I am sick and tired of people like you who will believe whatever your conservative masters tell you to believe. You are like those who joined the Know Nothings of the past who took great pride in their ignorance of science. I mock fools like you who will believe that those with great monetary interest in the outcome of the debate would never lie to reap their billions of dollars in the industry’s profit but that socially involved scientists are not to be believed because they eek out a modest living through grants. Let us face it, you will always believe the rich and powerfull because you know in your heart that you are inferior to other people in morals, intellect and courage. Instead, you are bootlicker to those you believe to be your superiors.
I am sick and tired of those who really are intellectually inferior, such as you, attempting to create a legitimate debate over creationism v. evolution, the age of the earth or whether the earth is flat. It seems that each generation comes up with little minded people like you who can not accept the role of science, knowledge and advancement of humanity.
Yes, I would never deny the right of those who want to hold a conference – it is their right. However, I am sick of stupid, ignorant morons like you who seem to insist that I have to give their financially self interested bunk respect. I give them no more respect than I would to those who believe such bunk.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:34 pmThis is going to be held at the Marquis Hotel near Time’s Square, so if any of you TPers are nearby might want to get together a protest of this perversion?
March 2-4
February 1st, 2008 at 6:37 pmThe doubt about human involvement in global warming might be likened to doubts about evolution. Usually sold by those with something to gain to those who never heard of a fruit fly and never will.
I have grandchildren. I am very concerned.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:51 pmwhy has the “debate” about climate change completely ignored the other awful realities of carbon emissions; say, air pollution, or even more mildly, traffic congestion?
are the climate change deniers in favor of clean air? clean water?
ok, let them quibble over the causes, the effects, etc. but can we all just finally admit that cars really are a serious health problem?
February 1st, 2008 at 6:53 pmThe industry-funded deniers are looking more and more ridiculous every month. Just two weeks ago, the scientific community told us that ice sheets in Antartica were melting at a far greater rate than they even guessed before. So what. These industry whores are just the modern version of “The Tobacco Institute.” Most of us understand that by now. But, there will always be crackpot dead-enders like “VA Voter” who whine and cry that they’re not being respected or they’re being marginalized. Poor fool.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:17 pmWhy do trolls think that ridiculing people for foolish beliefs is the same thing as censoring them?
February 1st, 2008 at 7:21 pmI know, I know! Is it because… they’re stupid?
February 1st, 2008 at 7:35 pmYeah, we need to put more polluting crap in our air anyway! Hang on while I find me a big old pile of rubber. Hey, VA Voter, I’m gonna burn that in your back yard. You don’t mind, right? :)
February 1st, 2008 at 7:57 pmThe Heartland Institute
Catchy title! Like “The Clean Air Act.”
February 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pmNext on the agenda for The HeartLand Institute:
A Global Conference to refute the heliocentric theory. Who says Copernicus was right when he proved that the Sun is the center of the universe? The HeartLand Institute will bring in skeptics who say that the Sun rotates around the Earth!
Don’t miss this conference. It will blow your mind
February 1st, 2008 at 8:16 pmWhen it is too late they will change they’re tune to “No one could have foreseen….”
February 1st, 2008 at 8:21 pmWhen it is too late they will change they’re tune to “No one could have foreseen….â€
Comment by Dreary Urbanite — February 1, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
You are wise, Grasshopper.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:36 pmI even know some hard core Libertarians who took the Global Warming denier stance that are beginning to come around. Their biggest gripe is the Al Gore “Carbon Tax”. Forget the Hard Right Wingers. They are too steeped in Fundamentalism, Oil, and War to understand.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:44 pmWhere’s Sen. James Inhofe? Shouldn’t he be there taking it up the ass from the oil industry?
February 1st, 2008 at 9:02 pmI bet they could all show you their charter membership cards to the “Flat Earth Society,” too.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:38 pmI’d believe in the religion of global warming.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 1, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
Riiiight… and you also believe that codpiece is “real” and you just felt it “move”. Truth of the matter, Li’l Footie? No one give’s a GOOPer’s ass what you think. BTW, nice Tinker Ballsâ„¢.
We were all wondering what you were going to do after the holidaze ended. You seemed so “attached” to yer Jingle Ballsâ„¢. Nice to see you found a suitable summer replacement.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:35 pm“the issue I have with this is the line “The debate over human contribution to global warming is long over.†But it’s not. You can belittle the folks that don’t agree with you but they do have a right to think that and express that.
Comment by VA Voter — February 1, 2008 @ 5:36 pm”
Yes, yes it is.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:39 pm“Record snowfalls in the U.S.
Blizzards in China where they don’t have blizzards.
Snow in Jerusalem and Baghdad for the first time in anyones memory.
At this point I’d be more likely to believe in global cooling, or a flat earth, before I’d believe in the religion of global warming.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 1, 2008 @ 10:19 pm”
You live in the south, don’t you? Any northerner knows there is a point where it gets too cold to snow.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:40 pm“It’s 28 degrees here in the “south†right now.
Looking for a low of 18.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 1, 2008 @ 10:48 pm”
Whew, lucky you!! However, your “evidence” of the lack of global warming is pretty flimsy. Look at the trend over the past 50 years and you can see we are warming. If you want to ignore it, that is up to you.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:00 pmWow, good evidence. Look at these graphs and you will see your faulty logic.
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/warming/pages/temperature.html
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:01 am43 years of personal experience? Wow, let me bow down now. Don’t actually look at hard data or anything…like all those scientists do.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:14 amIf I could post visuals…those hear, see, speak no evil monkeys would be front and center.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 amThe belief in global warming requires only three things: Lack of Faith, suspension of disbelief, and willfully ignoring what is actually happening around you.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 2, 2008 @ 12:07 am
as usual, bigfoot is a day late and a dollar short. the concern is global climate change, and the human influence on it, not global warming, although that shuld be a concern to any thinking person, leaving bigfoot out. bigfoot’s 43 years of experience consist of him putting his head all the way up his, ass, and leaving it there. That’s how valuable his input is. reframing the issue only highlights his ignorance and fear.
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:41 amOoooohhhhh…sounds pretty bad! Doomsday is at hand! The end is Near!!
Yeah, right.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 2, 2008 @ 9:33 am
Are you talking about those scary terrorists who “hate our freedoms” again
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 amThe belief in global warming requires only three things: Lack of Faith, suspension of disbelief, and willfully ignoring what is actually happening around you.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 2, 2008 @ 12:07 am
And the refusal to believe the scientific consensus requires only three things: lack of intelligence, a complete misunderstanding of the scientific method, and a blissful ignorance of what is actually happening in the rest of the world.
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:13 amAs long as they can instill fear, weak minded followers will continue to fund them.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — February 2, 2008 @ 9:33 am
the republican mantra. Without it, america would still be a free country. bigfoot is nothing if not the perfect example of the fear and ignorance-driven rightard that bushco relies on for their profits, and he falls right in line, every time. a cheap saleman of cheap goods, who hasn’t done an honest day’s work in his life, bigfoot is the “base” that bush snickers at as he empties the nation’s treasury in his quest of genocide and the destruction of the American dream. notice how little bigfoot contributes to the discourse that has any factual basis; only his opinion, based on the browbeating of the oilmen in charge, can count. his mormonism has blinded him to any reality, and he is nothing but a brainwashed, cultist nutcase. fortunately, he is in the tiny minority of Americans who have been fooled by the cheapsuited bush carnival barkers. shame on you, bigfoot, and your traitor friends in Washington. you have weakened this country, and your greed has put the UA in a precarious position that only the left can save it from.
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 ambigfoot should be bighorn. he is, after all, a sheep.
make that littlehorn.
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 amI remember when the tide turned on smoking. In just a few years it went from acceptable to unacceptable.
Public sentiment made a huge difference. Pretty much anybody who could quit did, even though it’s terribly addicting.
If that same public sentiment started to frown on or laugh at these people who have a car that’s 3 times bigger and uses 10 times more gas than the rest of us, then moved on to the 2 times bigger and 5 times then…
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:06 pmWe’d make a huge difference.
“…attendance, though, is predicted to be light, because there’s a holocaust-denier convention in town those same dates. Organizers could not be reached for comment.”
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 pmTempearatures rose in the quarter century ending 1998 but have been stable in the last ten years. Meanwhile, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has continued to increase. Therefore, rising concentration of CO2 does not increase temperature.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pmThe statement that the deniers are “out of the mainstream” has no place whatsoever in a scientific discussion. The “mainstream” is often wrong on scientific matters. The “mainstream” used to think the world was flat, and that earth was the center of the universe.
Either the data supports the hypothesis, or the data doesn’t support the hypothesis. I happen to think the data supports the hypothesis that human activities is at least contributing to global warming, but what the “mainstream” thinks is irrelevant.
Please do not fall into the “mainstream” “science” trap in reporting on global warming issues. You do your readers, and the nation, a great disservice in reporting on this important issue in such a frivolous manner.
February 4th, 2008 at 3:59 pmGlobal warming is a naturally occuring event.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:08 pmIt is unfortunate when science gets discredited because some group took money from some organization which is perceived to have the “wrong” agenda. People will only believe data brought forth from the “right” group no matter what the result say or how good the data (if there even is any). Both Earthwatch and Exxon-Mobil give money for scientific research, often without any strings attached. Anyone who is truly interested in science should read studies from all sides to accurately determine the truth. No science is ever truly settled, but is continuously updated as current studies contribute more understanding. Remember some of this early scientific “facts”: the sun and stars revolve around the Earth, fever-producing chills should be treated with heat, ulcers are caused by stress, and acid rain causes acidified lakes. Who knows what tomorrow’s research will uncover.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:29 ammissmolly Says:
Why does this sound like a “Smoking is NOT Bad For You!” conference sponsored by R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris, Lorillard, the American Tobacco Company, and Liggett & Myers?
February 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
That’s because Singer, Seitz, and company WERE in fact funded by the Tobacco Industry to claim that nicotine and tobacco was not to blame for ill health. They are major “Brains” behind the denier crwod, also funded by Exxon Mobil. Oh, I forgot, the same group is also funded by the BioTech industry, to enlighten us on how beneficial GMO crops are.
http://www.heartland.org/PolicyBotTopic.cfm?artTopic=711
April 15th, 2008 at 8:58 pmtreehugger69 Says:
Remember some of this early scientific “facts”: the sun and stars revolve around the Earth.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Huh??!! It was the Church that was burning and jailing scientists for speaking these truths, not other scientists. You deniers have a Corporate/Bottom Line agenda, and could care less about the good of humanity. Stop playing dumb!
April 15th, 2008 at 9:03 pmphree2004 Says:
The statement that the deniers are “out of the mainstream” has no place whatsoever in a scientific discussion. The “mainstream” is often wrong on scientific matters. The “mainstream” used to think the world was flat, and that earth was the center of the universe.
Wrong!! it is 100,000+ Climatologists that think Global Warming is mainly human influenced. A few hundred Exxon Mobil funded “skeptics” think differently, and most are not climatologists. Again, the “mainstream” during the Dark ages was the Church, not 100,000+ climotologists.
Everything clear for you now?
April 15th, 2008 at 9:07 pmninja97 Says:
You atheist liberal wackjobs claim scientists say Earth is BILLIONS of years old. Am I wrong? Then your scientists say there were Ice Age’s, correct? So you you admit that over billions of years, the temperature CHANGED WITHOUT HUMANS.
Now you look at 100 years of data, and announce that, beyond the shadow of a doubt, global warming is real and we caused it. The funniest part is you guys are the ones accusing conservatives of fear mongering.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Well, you know 100,000 years ago, humans were driving cars, Coal was used, and rain forests were cut down for the meat, ethanol, and leather industries. Since, according to you, these same industries have been operating for 100,000 years, then how could humans have accelerated it?
Religious crackpots like you should talk about Fear-Mongering. Your F**king Bible is the biggest blood bath of them all, and I bet you especially like Revelations 8:7
The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:16 pmI think that’s a comparison worth a little more detail. For decades, the tobacco industry tried to convince the public that smoking wasn’t harmful, that smoking wasn’t addictive, etc. It’s one thing to catapult propaganda to the public if you believe it to be true. However, if you KNOW it’s not true and you still perpetuate it, you acer btp-25d1 battery,acer travelmate 330 battery can be held liable for any damage that results from it. It turned out that the tobacco companies had evidence for years about the health risks of smoking — even while they denied it and continued to make money off their product. They were eventually held liable for this.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:48 am