$120 Million Poured Into Climate Denial | Drudge Retort

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

$120 Million Poured Into Climate Denial

Conservative billionaires used a secretive funding route to channel nearly $120 million to more than 100 groups casting doubt about the science behind climate change, The Guardian reports. The funds, doled out between 2002 and 2010, helped build a vast network of thinktanks and activist groups working to a single purpose: to redefine climate change from neutral scientific fact to a highly polarizing "wedge issue" for hardcore conservatives. "The funding of the denial machine is becoming increasingly invisible to public scrutiny. It's also growing," said Kert Davies, research director of Greenpeace, which compiled the data on funding of the anti-climate groups using tax records. "These groups are increasingly getting money from sources that are anonymous or untraceable. There is no transparency, no accountability for the money. There is no way to tell who is funding them."

Posted by zatoichi at 03:31 PM | 46 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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"[A] chain of journalistic investigations ... revealed a web of anonymous donors that spends millions of dollars each year casting doubt on climate-change science and fighting efforts to address the problem," reports Columbia Journalism Review.

Comments

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Bbbbbut we know climate change is a myth cuz that's what the guy on the Fox News told us! They can't lie on TV, it's against the law.

#1 | Posted by danni at 2013-02-27 08:02 AM | Reply | Flag:

So, climate change denial has become a big business...ain't capitalism great?

.

#2 | Posted by Dave at 2013-02-27 08:24 AM | Reply | Flag:

Infinite growth is unsustainable. You can't argue "if" only "when" it will come crashing down. Yet they do everything they can to accelerate process. It's their bronze age superstition. It seems that mankind has no future (apparently never did) because the rapture is just around the corner. So we got a lot of coal to burn between now and the end.

#3 | Posted by Species8472 at 2013-02-27 08:50 AM | Reply | Flag:

Maybe if you climate people didn't lie and cook the data so much you would not feel so persecuted when some news organization holds you little green feet to the pollution producing fire.

#4 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-27 09:05 AM | Reply | Flag:

#4 | Posted by paneocon

It comes as no surprise that you have no clue as to the meaning of the word 'persecuted'.

.

#5 | Posted by Dave at 2013-02-27 10:15 AM | Reply | Flag:

#1 | Posted by danni

I say you are full of it. We all know there is climate change. Your fear of climate change and your desire of more taxes paid by other people controls your comments.

#6 | Posted by KBM at 2013-02-27 10:20 AM | Reply | Flag:

Your fear of climate change and your desire of more taxes paid by other people controls your comments.

#6 | Posted by KBM

Did Michelle Malkin write that for you?

#7 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-27 10:38 AM | Reply | Flag:

"Infinite growth is unsustainable. You can't argue "if" only "when" it will come crashing down. Yet they do everything they can to accelerate process. It's their bronze age superstition. It seems that mankind has no future (apparently never did) because the rapture is just around the corner. So we got a lot of coal to burn between now and the end.

#3 | Posted by Species8472

NW flag. 200,000 people will be born today, and 200 species will go extinct.

#8 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-27 10:40 AM | Reply | Flag:

More than 90% of net global population growth is occurring in "Less than Developed Countries", with India and Nigeria leading the percentage parade. Asia's contribution to global population growth is approximately 25% greater than that of the combined total of the Western Developed Nations.

#9 | Posted by Daniel at 2013-02-27 10:56 AM | Reply | Flag:

"More than 90% of net global population growth is occurring in "Less than Developed Countries"

What about it? A child born into the industrial West will consume more natural resources than a hundred Somalian children.

#10 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-27 11:09 AM | Reply | Flag:

And yet, the industrial west makes it possible for those hundred Somalian children to live, yes?

#11 | Posted by Daniel at 2013-02-27 11:16 AM | Reply | Flag:

The Colorado river is half its original length. Most if not all of the American southwest is unsustainable due to the lack of fresh water. At some point these areas will have to be evacuated. We can't go on too much longer wasting resources on them. But conservatives won't be happy until the great lakes are drained to support golf courses and water parks in the middle of deserts. It's suicidal. So in the meantime they worry more about who has sex with who and the rights of trailer trash to shoot them selves in the ass in the checkout line at wal-mart.

#12 | Posted by Species8472 at 2013-02-27 12:43 PM | Reply | Flag:

It comes as no surprise that you have no clue as to the meaning of the word 'persecuted'.
#5 | POSTED BY DAVE

I do but one would have to ask if you do?

persecute
1: to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically : to cause to suffer because of belief

2: to annoy with persistent or urgent approaches (as attacks, pleas, or importunities) : pester

#13 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-27 01:42 PM | Reply | Flag:

Interesting that RCADE puts the gun thread on the front page and not this one. This actually matters.
How much are they paying you Rogers?

Warming climate could mean bigger blizzards, less snow
www.cnn.com

Love those headline writers.
Ain't no 'could' about it.

#14 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 03:24 PM | Reply | Flag:

The 21 inches that fell on Wichita, Kansas, in February just broke a monthly snowfall record set in 1913. Amarillo, Texas, saw 19 inches of snow on Monday alone, a total greater than its annual average and smashing a daily record of 12 inches that had stood since 1893.

As researchers are quick to point out, weather is different than climate. Weather is what happens today, while climate involves trends in temperature and precipitation over decades. But global average temperatures are up about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) since the 1880s, according to NASA, and because warmer air holds more moisture, a cold snap is likely to leave more snow on the ground.

"We have to keep in mind that in any given winter, you're going to have some big snowstorms," said Marshall Shepherd, a research meteorologist at the University of Georgia. "But we're loading the dice or stacking the deck toward more intense blizzards."

While the idea of long-term climate change is a controversial notion politically, it's accepted as fact by most researchers. The warming trend is expected to continue if heat-trapping carbon dioxide -- a byproduct of fossil fuels -- continues to build up in the atmosphere.
www.cnn.com

The data clearly show the tipping point was passed in 1980.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

#15 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 03:26 PM | Reply | Flag:

"Interesting that RCADE puts the gun thread on the front page and not this one. This actually matters."

Guns, God and gays are what drives Retort traffic, as a gun nut like you should know. Maybe if you stopped babbling about El Paso all the time your climate threads would be taken more seriously. Just a thought.

#16 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-27 03:32 PM | Reply | Flag:

Would love to know how much of a carbon tax bill these donors would be facing... i.e. what's the actual ROI on their $120M.

#17 | Posted by snoofy at 2013-02-27 03:40 PM | Reply | Flag:

I spent an hour denying climate in my driveway this afternoon.

#18 | Posted by Ben_Berkkake at 2013-02-27 03:55 PM | Reply | Flag:

Greenpeace is upset. Who funds them?
Is Soros no longer a billionaire?

#19 | Posted by Diablo at 2013-02-27 04:02 PM | Reply | Flag:

Is Soros no longer a billionaire?

#19 | Posted by Diablo

The Right has a bunch of billionaires. The Left can't have one? And since Soros is the only name that ever comes up, I guess one is all we have.

#20 | Posted by WhoDaMan at 2013-02-27 05:06 PM | Reply | Flag:

The Koch Brothers are ten times richer than George Soros.
And a lot more active in American politics.

#21 | Posted by snoofy at 2013-02-27 05:29 PM | Reply | Flag:

That is peanuts compared to what the left wing liberals have spent trying to sell this pig. Bottom line is if it is actually happening, it is becasue of the sun getting closer to the earth. It is nothing new, the huge heat and drought of the 30's and the coming ice age circa 1975 are two examples. Believe it or not there are some things we humans do not have control of.

Add to that the email scandal where scientists were discussing how to hide the facts and skew the data toward run away global warming should give some of you a clue. It all comes down to control and money, the scientists would lose their grants, aka free money, if global warming was a non issue. THe U.N. and government see it as a way to control the population, kind of like the vast right win conspiracy that Hillary Clinton refferred to.

Ozone Al even sold his TV station to the oil sheiks in the middle east, so of course he only believes in global warming when it adds to his pocketbook.

But it is okay for all you global warming enthusiasts, set an example, do not use fossil fuels, or anything derived from them. No autos, electricity, electric or natural gas furnaces, no air conditioning. If you truly believe in this garbage stand up and make a statement, otherwise it is all B---S--- and quit bothering us with it.

#22 | Posted by gtjr at 2013-02-27 05:38 PM | Reply | Flag:

Bottom line is if it is actually happening, it is becasue of the sun getting closer to the earth.

Hard to imagine you're of the same species that sent a man to the moon, nevermind returning him safely.

#23 | Posted by snoofy at 2013-02-27 06:24 PM | Reply | Flag:

"the sun getting closer to the earth."

Another F in second grade astronomy.
The future will not be kind to the dismally stupid.

#24 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 06:28 PM | Reply | Flag:

"These groups are increasingly getting money from sources that are anonymous or untraceable.

Which might mean these people are probably right afterall.. The left loves mello-drama, we all know that.

#25 | Posted by phesterOBoyle at 2013-02-27 06:45 PM | Reply | Flag:

#7 | Posted by nullifidian

No. Did Doc_Sarvis put you up to this?

#26 | Posted by KBM at 2013-02-27 07:23 PM | Reply | Flag:

"$120 Million Poured Into Climate Denial"

As of 2007 over $50 billion has been poured into fear mongering climate change/global warming.

#27 | Posted by KBM at 2013-02-27 07:23 PM | Reply | Flag:

As of 2007 over $50 billion has been poured into fear mongering climate change/global warming.

#27 | Posted by KBM

Did the Gateway Pundit dictate that for you?

#28 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-27 07:25 PM | Reply | Flag:

"The Right has a bunch of billionaires. The Left can't have one?"

No, if the left keeps claiming donations are tainted for their opponents because they come from - Gasp! - billionaires. These are evil people based on income, according to the left.
And please do not whine about only one billionaire after the Gates gave a ton of money to typically liberal causes as did the Facebook punk. The Geraldine Dodge Foundation? How about that liberal feed trough? The Ford Foundation....the list goes on and on for megabucks to the left.

#29 | Posted by Diablo at 2013-02-27 07:54 PM | Reply | Flag:

#24

Sorry to hear that Zatochi, because you failed second grade astronomy if you believe the orbits are fixed and occur the same way everytime. Guess you are one of the dismally stupid that the future will not be kind to.

#30 | Posted by gtjr at 2013-02-27 10:16 PM | Reply | Flag:

It is pretty obvious that they did not release the amount of money that is pouring in from known and anonymous sources supporting global warming because the story would have been "XXXX Billions of dollars have been spent to sell global warming" and that is not the left wing agenda.

#31 | Posted by gtjr at 2013-02-27 10:20 PM | Reply | Flag:

Maybe if you climate people didn't lie and cook the data so much you would not feel so persecuted when some news organization holds you little green feet to the pollution producing fire.

LOL funny how every supposed instance of "cooked" data turned out to be nothing with no consequences for the scientists dragged through the mud.

It's also funny how, seemingly without fail, most peer-reviewed articles touted by the deniers end up being easily ripped to shreds because it's garbage published in off topic-journals that is by no means taken seriously by anyone in the field.

Which is almost as funny as deniers sudden faith in peer reviewed science once it appears to agree with them.

#32 | Posted by jpw at 2013-02-27 10:24 PM | Reply | Flag:

Add to that the email scandal where scientists were discussing how to hide the facts and skew the data toward run away global warming should give some of you a clue. It all comes down to control and money, the scientists would lose their grants, aka free money, if global warming was a non issue. THe U.N. and government see it as a way to control the population, kind of like the vast right win conspiracy that Hillary Clinton refferred to.

You, uh, don't expect to actually be taken seriously with this sort of, hmmmmm, point, do you?

#33 | Posted by jpw at 2013-02-27 10:28 PM | Reply | Flag:

because you failed second grade astronomy if you believe the orbits are fixed and occur the same way everytime.

Do you have an actual link supporting your contention that the current climate change is due to the earth being closer to the sun? (LOL I remember my mom telling me that's why there's seasons...boy was she wrong LOL)

Not that orbits change, but that it's changing currently and that that better explains our climate changes?

Because right now I'm thinking I wouldn't be able to manage the stench of BS emanating from your computer at the moment.

#34 | Posted by jpw at 2013-02-27 10:31 PM | Reply | Flag:

"if you believe the orbits are fixed and occur the same way everytime(sic)"

LOL

Orbital Mechanics I
physics.info
Deal with it.

In other news:
We just came off the lowest level of solar irradiance since Galileo started counting sunspots.
The energy that the Earth receives from the Sun is almost constant. There is a slight variation, which is connected to the amount of sunspots.
climap.net

The future will not be kind to the stupid.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

#35 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 11:23 PM | Reply | Flag:

Is the distance from the Earth to the Sun increasing, and by how much in kilometers / earth year?
Is the orbit itself changing? Well, there are some long-period oscillations, but those are very small, and don't imply that we're systematically moving towards or away from the Sun.
curious.astro.cornell.edu

oops

LOL

#36 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 11:27 PM | Reply | Flag:

I guess 2nd grade astronomy was a stretch, try kindergarten.

#37 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 11:28 PM | Reply | Flag:

Irreversible Warming Will Cause Sea Levels to Rise for Thousands of Years to Come, New Research Shows
www.sciencedaily.com

New York can look forward to flooded subways again.
Yay.
New York sucks, I love the thought of that armpit totally inundated.

#38 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2013-02-27 11:30 PM | Reply | Flag:

Which is almost as funny as deniers sudden faith in peer reviewed science once it appears to agree with them.

#32 | POSTED BY JPW

FINALLY! Someone tells it like it is! Sheeeeesh!.

#39 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2013-02-28 12:26 AM | Reply | Flag:

Is it true that the watermelon organizations (you know, green on the outside but red on the inside....)get anonymous billions of $$$ from the oil barons of the Middle East? Who would have a better reason to cripple the US energy companies? Follow the money.

The Greenies are easily duped and only want any radical cause to join with other easily duped activists. Tell us again why all those glaciers melted that covered North America down to northern Kansas. Who knew those crafty cave men drove SUV's and burned coal in their caves? And just where did they park -- in their two-cave garage.....? Wake up greenie dupes.

#41 | Posted by bumpkin44 at 2013-02-28 12:12 PM | Reply | Flag:

M.M.G.W. is irrelevant; what is relevant is how to deal with the situation while still continuing to improve our high quality way of life.

The earths climate will always change with or without us, it is a required imperative for us, as a species, to adapt to these changes. Ergo, science and technology.

What we forget is that this cold, dark, universe has more devastating ways to destroy mankind that a little case of "the global warmings".

#42 | Posted by danv at 2013-02-28 08:23 PM | Reply | Flag:

"M.M.G.W. is irrelevant; "

The human species seems intent on suicide in any event, so if that doesn't do it, something else will. Cheers!

Three paths to near-term human extinction
transitionvoice.com

#43 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-28 08:44 PM | Reply | Flag:

"The human species seems intent on suicide in any event..."

Abortion comes to mind.

#44 | Posted by Diablo at 2013-02-28 10:14 PM | Reply | Flag:

What do we want?

Abortions!

When do we want them?

Now!

#45 | Posted by nullifidian at 2013-02-28 10:19 PM | Reply | Flag:

Over 9 years? That doesn't sound like very much money. In comparison, that's how much deficit money Obama borrows from the Chinese and the Fed every 80 minutes.

#46 | Posted by uglyblinddate at 2013-02-28 10:20 PM | Reply | Flag:

Comments are closed for this entry.

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