Greenpeace exposes sceptics hired to cast doubt on climate science

[bananas]

Source: Guardian

An undercover sting by Greenpeace has revealed that two prominent climate sceptics were available for hire by the hour to write reports casting doubt on the dangers posed by global warming.

<snip>

Happer is one of the most prominent climate sceptics in the US and on Tuesday was called to testify at a congressional hearing into climate “dogma” convened by Ted Cruz, the Republican presidential candidate and chair of the Senate science committee. He is also chairman of the George Marshal Institute in the US and an adviser to the Global Warming Policy Foundation in the UK.

<snip>

In both cases, the professors discussed ways to obscure the funding for the reports, at the request of the fake companies. In Happer’s case, the CO2 Coalition which was to receive the fee suggested he reach out to a secretive funding channel called Donors Trust, in response to a request from the fake Greenpeace entity to keep the source of funds secret. Not disclosing funding in this way is not unlawful under US law.

<snip>

Clemente, who was approached by the sham Indonesian firm to produce a report countering findings linking coal to high rates of premature death, said such a project fell within his skill set. He estimated a fee of about $15,000 for an eight-to-10-page paper, according to email correspondence released by Greenpeace. The professor said he charged $6,000 for writing newspaper opinion pieces.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/08/greenpeace-exposes-sceptics-cast-doubt-climate-science

[bananas]

1. The Princeton Academic Testifying for Ted Cruz’s Climate Hearing Is For-Hire by Fossil-Fuel Corporat

http://www.thenation.com/article/the-princeton-academic-testifying-for-ted-cruzs-climate-hearing-is-for-hire-by-fossil-fuel-corporations/

The Princeton Academic Testifying for Ted Cruz’s Climate Hearing Is For-Hire by Fossil-Fuel Corporations

A new report reveals ties between dirty-energy interests, a prominent climate denier, and a notorious dark-money group.

By Zoë CarpenterTwitter TODAY 1:40 PM

On Tuesday afternoon, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz will lead what is sure to be a sober and informative hearing on climate change, titled, “Data or Dogma? Promoting Open Inquiry in the Debate over the Magnitude of Human Impact on Earth’s Climate.” Four of the five witnesses set to appear are prominent climate-change skeptics. Three are academics, a designation that should indicate some degree of insulation from political or corporate influence. But according to a new report from Greenpeace, at least one of those expert witnesses is available for hire by the fossil -fuel industry.

That witness is a Princeton physics professor emeritus named William Happer. Happer, by his own admission, is “not a climatologist,” but that hasn’t stopped him from arguing publicly that increased levels of carbon dioxide will benefit the planet. Happer worked in the Department of Energy under George W. Bush, served on the board of the Exxon-funded George C. Marshall Institute, and is affiliated with a brand-new group called the CO2 Coalition, whose tagline is, “Carbon dioxide, a nutrient vital for life.” Although the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at a record high, Happer recently claimed that “We are in a CO2 famine.” He’s been particularly supportive of coal: Early this month at a summit of climate-change deniers in Texas he said, “If plants could vote, they would vote for coal.”

<snip>

[bananas]

2. Industry shill Patrick Moore reports Greenpeace to the FBI under RICO and wire-fraud statutes

Patrick Moore is a well-known shill for the nuclear, GMO, and other toxic industries. He runs a PR firm called Greenspirit.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/12/08/breaking-greenpeace-co-founder-reports-greenpeace-to-the-fbi-under-rico-and-wire-fraud-statutes/

BREAKING: Greenpeace co-founder reports Greenpeace to the FBI under RICO and wire-fraud statutes

Guest Blogger / 4 hours ago December 8, 2015

‘Greenpeace has made itself the sworn enemy of all life on Earth’

By Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace

Greenpeace, in furtherance of what is in effect its war against every species on the planet, has now turned to what, on the face of things, looks to me like outright breach of the RICO, wire-fraud, witness-tampering and obstruction-of-committee statutes. I have called in the FBI.

Greenpeace appears to have subjected Dr Will Happer, Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics at Princeton University, to a maladroit attempt at entrapment that has badly backfired on it.

<snip>

Now Greenpeace has knowingly made itself the sworn enemy of all life on Earth.

<snip>

By opposing fossil-fueled power, it not only contributes to the deaths of many tens of millions every year because they are among the 1.2 billion to whom its campaigns deny affordable, reliable, clean, continuous, low-tech, base-load, fossil-fueled electrical power: it also denies to all trees and plants on Earth the food they need.

Paradoxically, an organization that calls itself “Green” is against the harmless, beneficial, natural trace gas that nourishes and sustains all green things. Greenpeace is against greenery. Bizarrely, it is opposed to returning to the atmosphere a tiny fraction of the CO2 that was once present there.

<snip>

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Patrick_Moore

Patrick Moore is an ecologist who denies that humans cause climate change, and a corporate consultant through his firm Greenspirit Strategies. Moore has consulted for the Nuclear Energy Institute, and the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition. He has worked for the mining industry, the logging industry, PVC manufacturers, the nuclear industry and has worked in defense of biotechnology.

Although Moore was once (1981, 1986) a leading figure with Greenpeace Canada and subsequently with Greenpeace International, in 2008 Greenpeace issued a statement distancing itself from Moore, saying he "exploits long gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes." [1]

<snip>

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. This is a smoking gun. Conspiracy to evade funding laws. Hired gun testifies at Cruz hearing. nt

[bananas]

6. And filing a false and malicious FBI report.

Patrick Moore should get prison time for that.

[bananas]

4. Here's the GreenPeace report.

https://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/12/08/exposed-academics-for-hire/

Exposed: Academics-for-hire Agree Not to Disclose Fossil Fuel Funding

by Lawrence Carter and Maeve McClenaghan

Leading climate sceptic who will testify at Ted Cruz senate hearing today agrees to write pro-fossil fuel paper secretly funded by oil company

A Greenpeace undercover investigation has exposed how fossil fuel companies can secretly pay academics at leading American universities to write research that sows doubt about climate science and promotes the companies’ commercial interests.

Posing as representatives of oil and coal companies, reporters from Greenpeace UK asked academics from Princeton and Penn State to write papers promoting the benefits of CO2 and the use of coal in developing countries.

The professors agreed to write the reports and said they did not need to disclose the source of the funding.

Citing industry-funded documents – including testimony to state hearings and newspaper articles – Professor Frank Clemente of Penn State said: “In none of these cases is the sponsor identified. All my work is published as an independent scholar.”

Leading climate-sceptic academic, Professor William Happer, agreed to write a report for a Middle Eastern oil company on the benefits of CO2 and to allow the firm to keep the source of the funding secret.

<snip>

[DhhD]

5. Hope Congress addresses some sort of consequences on Cruz over his deceit. n/t

[Orrex]

7. I hate the use of "sceptic" here

They weren't sceptics; they were paid contrarians. Not at all the same.


k/r.

[daleanime]

10. +1

[senz]

13. Good point.

[starroute]

8. Not Donors Trust again!

Doing a site search on them in that little Google window up there is highly instructive.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos

Working out of an nondescript brick rowhouse in suburban Virginia, a little-known organization named Donors Trust, staffed by five employees, has steered hundreds of millions of dollars to the most influential think tanks, foundations, and advocacy groups in the conservative movement. Over the past decade, it has funded the right's assault on labor unions, climate scientists, public schools, economic regulations, and the very premise of activist government. Yet unlike its nearest counterpart on the progressive side, the Tides Foundation, a bogeyman of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, Donors Trust has mostly avoided any real scrutiny. It is the dark-money ATM of the right.


http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2013/02/15/revealed-donors-trust-secret-atm-machine-climate-deniers

A new Greenpeace analysis released today shows that Donors Trust, a shadowy funding vehicle, has laundered $146 million in climate denial funding from 2002 to 2011. Yesterday’s article in the Guardian referenced part of the Greenpeace analysis. Today’s report is now up to date with the latest available funding from 2011. As climate denial funding from traceable Big Oil sources like Exxon and the Koch brothers is declining, the anonymous money funneled through Donors Trust is skyrocketing. . . .

In addition to today’s Greenpeace analysis, yesterday a Center for Public Integrity report detailed the efforts of Donors Trust to set up conservative media megaphones in state capitals. Today, the Guardian reported that these ideological media outlets have been instrumental in anti-climate fights at the state level. These include state and regional attacks against wind power, solar power, and carbon pollution reduction programs.


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dark-money-funds-climate-change-denial-effort/

From 2003 to 2007, Koch Affiliated Foundations and the ExxonMobil Foundation were "heavily involved" in funding climate change denial efforts. But Exxon hasn't made a publically traceable contribution since 2008, and Koch's efforts dramatically declined, Brulle said.

Coinciding with a decline in traceable funding, Brulle found a dramatic rise in the cash flowing to denial organizations from DonorsTrust, a donor-directed foundation whose funders cannot be traced. This one foundation, the assessment found, now accounts for 25 percent of all traceable foundation funding used by organizations promoting the systematic denial of climate change.

[starroute]

9. Also see this other current thread about Hillary's emails

The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026959275

Like most groups funded by the Koch network, the specific sources of Cause of Action's money are not disclosed. Tax records show that by 2013, its operations were mostly funded by $4.35 million from Donors Trust, a nonprofit group through which the Kochs and their allies distribute tens of millions of dollars without needing to disclose the sources of the funds.

Asked why the donors want to be anonymous, Epstein invoked a precept of the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides, who wrote that the highest form of charity is help given "without the expectation of public acknowledgment for one's good deeds."

"I suspect this sentiment motivates a lot of our donors," Epstein wrote.

[Buzz Clik]

11. I've run into Happer's bullshit before.

Unlike some of the total idiots out there (e.g., Pat Michaels, Steve Miloy), Happer's arguments were more difficult to derail. Certainly not impossible, but they required more work.

This is a great day for Greenpeace and a really bad day for Happer.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Wonderful! Thanks to Greenpeace, and congratulations. n/t

[NNadir]

14. Greenpeace opposes the world's largest, by far, source of climate change gas free primary energy.

They have huge responsibility for causing climate change.

Having Greenpeace comment on climate change is rather like having Donald Trump comment on interfaith relationships.

[Scuba]

15. These fuckers give whores a bad name.

[rockfordfile]

19. yeah I think they're sleaze.

[Enthusiast]

16. Kicked and recommended!