Oops. DeSmog blogger Richard Littlemore reports that nearly 10% (and counting…) of the Heartland Institute’s list of “500 scientists” who supposedly dispute climate change are quite surprised and shocked to find themselves on such a list considering their scientific research has led them to conclude the opposite — that the climate is changing and that it is due, at least in part, to human activity.
The Heartland Institute is fairly well-known as a conservative- and corporate-funded ‘think tank’ designed to promote conservative partisan platforms (in other words, propagandize ‘conservative’ views). To the point, among other backers, Exxon had funded Heartland to the tune of nearly $800,000 in recent years and execs with Amoco and Exxon have also served on the Heartland Institute Board of Directors.
Mr. Littlemore had a hunch that Heartland’s “list” of 500 scientists wasn’t on the up and up so he started emailing the people listed. He’s been getting plenty of feedback about Heartland’s use of so many people’s names with at least 45 telling him directly they’re name was used without permission and falsely since they actually disagree with the Dorothys chirping ‘there’s no such thing as climate change, there’s no such thing as climate change…’
Here is just one note Mr. Littlemore was cc’ed on:
I have NO doubts ..the recent changes in global climate ARE man-induced. I insist that you immediately remove my name from this list since I did not give you permission to put it there.
Dr. Gregory Cutter, Professor, Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Old Dominion University
Why did the conservatives at Heartland feel a need to lie and, in so doing, mock these scientists? Disgraceful.
The only people who ought to be doubtful here? The folks on the receiving end of Heartland’s propagandist fallacies.
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May 1, 2008 at 12:08 am
Gore 08
Silly to lie about this when in a decade or two they’ll all be claiming they predicted the mini ice-age we’ll be in.
Yep, we better do something about global warming quickly…before it’s too late…such as after people realize it’s a scam.
Then, all of the hypocritical greens who pushed for bio fuels previously but now condemn them as genocidal can jump over onto the global cooling ship.
May 1, 2008 at 12:27 am
robnesvacil
08, do you have any points, or just mindless automaton conservative talking point drivel and ad hominem attacks against your nameless foes…?
You might want to tell all that ice melting at the poles (and the islands and coasts that are seeing rising waters because of it) that it’s just a “scam”. I’m sure the ice will be sympathetic to your hollow rhetoric and start refreezing itself.
And what on earth is wrong with “doing something about it”? Curbing pollution and cutting our dependence on oil both have other tremendously valuable benefits to our health, security and economy. Why are you opposed to doing something positive for our country’s bottom line issues?
PS: It was the conservatives who were caught lying, not the scientists. What was it you were saying about a scam?
May 2, 2008 at 10:29 am
Gore 08
Apologies for the confusing pronouns. I meant, it is silly for the ‘cons’ to lie when in a decade or two the ’scientists’ will all be claiming they predicted the mini ice-age we’ll be in.
I do believe in conservation. I do support limiting pollution. What I do prefer, however, is that people research the consequences of their proposals so that we don’t end up committing genocide by starvation by being so evil as to burn food in our automobile engines.
May 2, 2008 at 12:39 pm
robnesvacil
Rice and wheat and other grains are not being used to fuel cars… yet rice is at the heart of the runs (and riots) and all food prices (even the basic staples like grains other than corn) are rising in cost…
Moreover, Brazil has been using biofuels (from sugar cane) for years yet worldwide food prices didn’t spike til recently. (Gee, what else has been spiking in price lately???? Hmm…
)So please explain why you’re using that lame food-as-fuel canard.
The only thing common to all food and the only thing which logically explains why costs are rising across the board for all foodstuffs is the cost of the fuel used to process and distribute the food.
It takes fuel to power the farms. It takes fuel to process the food. It takes fuel to ship the food. At every stage — whether it be grains or meats or processed/prepared foods — fuel is needed to move from one stage to the next.
As for a mini-ice age… cute attempt at distraction. Temps in both the air and the oceans have been shown to be consistently increasing for the past century. Sunspots have not been consistent in all that time. Volcanic activity has not been consistent in all that time.
Again, the only consistent element at play over the past century has been the burning of fossil fuels and the generation of the pollution from such use.
We’ve been treating the air we breathe like a massive “free” garbage dump, but nothing comes for free.
Your quips don’t stand up to logic and the facts.
January 12, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Mad Bluebird
Sierra club sending out its fruadulent junk mail urging us to oppose oil drilling claiming harm to the ANWR what a load of bull kaka SCREW CARL POPE AND THE SIERRA CLUB TO
January 12, 2009 at 6:46 pm
robnesvacil
It took you nearly a year to come up with that diatribe Mad Bluebird?
….er, take a chill pill dude.