Big Oil Fueling Critics of Copenhagen Climate Meeting
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When world leaders meet to discuss climate change in Copenhagen this December, it could lead to the most sweeping global warming initiatives since the Kyoto Protocol. A deal is essential--scientists predict catastrophe if the world’s leading emitters don’t make changes soon, and the current global agreement on carbon emissions expires in 2012. So why are some influential politicians, journos, and organizations so vocally opposed to it?
For some, the answer is in the funding:
-James Inhofe
While a ranking member of the U.S. Senate's Environment & Public Works Committee, Inhofe trash-talked Al Gore's congressional testimony about the importance of a Copenhagen deal: "He already has his $100 million…Science and logic are on our side, and we are winning."
Kickback: The oil and gas sector has been a key source of campaign funding--including nearly $500,000 last year.
-Steve Milloy
The Fox News columnist has a Copenhagen Countdown Clock on his JunkScience website that is ticking down the days until "the Kyoto farce will finally crash and burn."
Kickback: Milloy is head of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has received more than $2 million from Exxon.
-Bjorn Lomborg
Lomborg, who founded the Copenhagen Consensus, a group that opposes funding to fight global warming, once noted: "The U.N. estimates that for less than half (what's being spent on climate change), we could provide clean drinking water, sanitation, basic health care, and education to every single human on the planet. The same warped sense of priorities will continue to bedevil us this December in Copenhagen."
Kickback: The book tour for his tome Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming was sponsored by the Fraser Institute—a conservative think tank that has received $120,000 from Exxon.
-Heartland Institute
This organization sponsored the 2009 "Denialist Conference," where a group of students who said they wanted to protest Copenhagen were recognized and applauded.
Kickback: Between 1998 and 2006, the institute received $676,500 from Exxon.
-Science & Environmental Policy Project
SEPP called Copenhagen a "gabfest" in a recent ediorial, and stated, "A number of (formerly) respected national science academies (incl the US-NAS) have joined in issuing statements that are blatantly untrue. All this will lead to more pious declarations by politicians before and during Copenhagen–but no real action."
Kickback: SEPP has received $20,000 from Exxon. Founder W. Fred Singer has admitted to receiving money from Exxon, ARCO, Shell and Unocal.
(Image by Matěj Baťha; Liverpool, England)
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Comments
The adipose answer apparatus
The adipose answer apparatus abaft “climategate”
Tags: American Enterprise Institute, Center for a Constructive Tomorrow, Altitude Gate, Climategate, Kevin Grandia, Media Analysis Center
The a lot of articulate organizations about the University of East Anglia afraid email adventure (aka. “climategate”) accept been complex in a decade-plus advance to adjournment activity on altitude change.
The ambition of this campaign, which began about the time of the aboriginal Kyoto Protocol negotiations, was to accumulate a accumulation of agreeing “free-market” anticipate tanks and pseudo-experts that would accompany into catechism the accurate realities of altitude change, actualize agnosticism with the accessible and politicians and finer adjournment the addition of apple-pie activity action in the United States.
It’s no accompaniment that the groups blame this adventure the hardest accept a continued history of demography money from oil and atramentous companies to advance the abstracts fabricated by altitude scientists.
What I wouldn’t do to accept a few of these organizations clandestine emails over the years!
Here’s a few of the groups I’m talking about and a actual abrupt accomplishments on their antecedent activities, as able-bodied as allotment sources:
Center for a Constructive Tomorrow: owns and accomplish ClimateDepot.com, which has been a capital clearinghouse for the bourgeois climategate answer chamber. ClimateDepot.com is managed by Marc Morano, above abettor to Republican Senator James Inhofe. CFACT has accustomed grants from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and acclaimed bourgeois foundations like the Carthage Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.
American Enterprise Institute: Offered to pay “experts” $10,000 to address affidavit that countered the IPCC reports. AEI has accustomed abutting to bisected a actor from oil-giant ExxonMobil, above Exxon Chairman Lee Raymond sits on AEI’s lath of directors.
Media Analysis Center: run by Brett Bozell, this accumulation aswell operates the accepted bourgeois blog, Newsbusters.org. The Media Analysis Center has accustomed over $257,000 from oil-giant ExxonMobil back 1998.
Cato Institute: Is the capital foreground accumulation for the a lot of abounding altitude denier, Patrick Michaels. Cato is the additional better almsman of allotment the foundations run by Koch Industries Inc. (the better clandestine activity aggregation in the United States).
Heartland Institute: Organizes a “denier conference” every year for the accomplished three years. Used to accept allotment from ExxonMobil, still recieve grants from tobacco companies and are aswell a above almsman of grants from the foundations run by Koch Industries Inc. (the better clandestine activity aggregation in the United States).
Heritage Foundation: Heritage is massive and operates on about $50 actor a year. They accept accustomed cogent allotment from ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and added deposit ammunition companies.
National Center for Action Analysis: the NCPA is a small, but actual articulate Dallas, Texas-based freemarket anticipate catchbasin and has accustomed over $540,900 from oil behemothic ExxonMobil back 1998.
Competitive Enterprise Institute: The CEI is acclaimed for its accessible efforts to aggressively adverse the accurate affirmation for human-induced altitude change, abnormally afterwards their abominable set of television ads with the tag band “C02, We Call it Life.” Back 1998, the CEI has accustomed over $2 actor in allotment from oil-giant ExxonMobil.
While these are some of the a lot of vocal, there are more. So amuse leave a animadversion beneath if you anticipate there’s anyone abroad who should be added to this account and we’ll do the research.
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foreign exchange :: design engineering jobs Cumbria
Good point
You are right that financial corruption knows no political affiliation. This post examines the motives behind people denying man-made climate change, who tend to be on the right. But I too would be interested in reading an examination into the other side of the matter.
Surely people on the other
Surely people on the other side of the argument get their funding from somewhere too?
A suggestion
Given how well you've researched and written this article, might I suggest that you follow it up with an expose?
A request
It would be really interesting if in addition to looking at folks on the right, you took a look at what folks on the left are gaining with respect to their contention that global climate change is the direct result of man-made environmental intervention. Al Gore's business endeavors alone would give one a wealth of conflicting business related interests.
Money is everywhere, it's up to us to account for it all despite what we believe about the causes of global climate change.