Author: Brendan DeMelle

A welcome message from DeSmogBlog executive director Brendan DeMelle. We’re pleased to introduce DeSmog UK, a brand new investigative journalism and research outlet dedicated to clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate science and exposing the individuals and organizations attacking solutions to global warming. The newest addition to the international DeSmog

Mark Fiore perfectly sums up the summer recess plans of the 113th Congress in Camp Do Nuttin’.  Watch below.  Fiore explains on Daily Kos:  House Republicans seem to have created an activist PR agency rather than a functioning legislative body.  Why worry about funding the government past September 30th when

The Heartland Institute is reviving its global warming skeptics’ gathering this week in scorching hot Las Vegas for the ninth “International Conference on Climate Change” — which DeSmog long ago dubbed “Denial-a-Palooza”. Sin City is a fitting spot for the world’s most anti-science front group to convene its friends who deny

The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change was released this week by Island Press and I highly recommend you check it out. It’s not only a fun read to educate yourself or your crazy uncle about climate science basics, it’s also full of practical information presented in simple but elegant illustrations

“Sometimes you can’t convince people, you just have to defeat them.” That was Washington state governor Jay Inslee’s message about dealing with climate deniers today at Climate Solutions‘ 6th annual breakfast in Seattle. “We’re not going to wait until the last person in Washington understands physics and chemistry in order

A jury in Dallas, TX today awarded $2.925 million to plaintiffs Bob and Lisa Parr, who sued Barnett shale fracking company Aruba Petroleum Inc. for intentionally causing a nuisance on the Parr’s property which impacted their health and  The jury returned its 5-1 verdict confirming that Aruba Petroleum “intentionally created a private

Looking for something inspiring to watch tonight instead of Game of Thrones? Check out this sneak peak of Years of Living Dangerously, which will premiere on Showtime on Sunday, April 13 at 10pm. Years Of Living Dangerously is a 9-part series produced by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Weintraub along

Looking for something inspiring to watch tonight instead of Game of Thrones? Check out this sneak peak of Years of Living Dangerously, which will premiere on Showtime on Sunday, April 13 at 10pm. Years Of Living Dangerously is a 9-part series produced by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Weintraub along

The Junkman has a new job, and yet again it involves defending fossil fuels and attacking science. Steve Milloy, who long ago dubbed himself “The Junkman,” is listed as Director of External Policy & Strategy, Murray Energy Corporation, in a description of a global warming panel happening Thursday afternoon at

Look out, folks. Bill O’Reilly is about to talk about global warming again on the O’Reilly Factor. Of course, he’s already reached his conclusion that “Nobody can control the climate but God.”  It’s just that he doesn’t have any data to back up his anti-science theory.  So he has one

Greenpeace USA’s Polluter Harmony project released another great spoof video this week as part of it “world’s dirtiest dating service” series mocking polluters and bought-off politicians.  Watch:  Tags:  PolluterWatch.org Polluter Harmony Duke Energy ALEC

President Barack Obama’s remarks on energy and climate change during the State of the Union address: (H/T The Guardian) Now, one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today,

DeSmogBlog regrets the incorrect claims made in an article published late Sunday night regarding the origins of the chemical spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia. The piece incorrectly asserted that the chemical was produced by Georgia-Pacific. In fact, it was produced by Eastman Chemical. DeSmogBlog sincerely regrets the

Today, we wrap up 2013 with a slideshow of photographs taken this past year by DeSmog contributor Julie Dermansky. We’re grateful to have Julie on our team, and as you can see from her photographs, she witnessed some awe-inspiring and awful scenes in 2013. A self-described Accidental Chronicler of Climate

A train carrying crude oil from the Bakken shale derailed in Casselton, North Dakota today, with fiery results. Residents have reported multiple explosions and are sheltering in place to avoid the toxic plumes of smoke enveloping the area. Watch footage of one of the explosions, courtesy of Dan Gunderson, recorded

This Thanksgiving, Americans can be thankful that Canadian tar sands crude isn’t flowing across the border through the Keystone XL to refineries and export facilities on the Gulf Coast. Canada, which is home to the third largest deposit of oil on the planet, is looking to export the fuel source

Staying classy as ever, the anti-science Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) sent a fundraising request to its fans this week and made a reprehensible reference to the Holocaust, likening the United Nations’ efforts in international climate negotiations to the Nazi concentration camps. After writing that “there simply is no

Oil Change International released a briefing paper today at COP19 in Warsaw revealing that subsidies lavished on the fossil fuel industry by wealthy industrialized nations add up to more than five times the amount of climate finance aid the same countries have so far pledged to deliver to poorer nations to

The second week of the COP19 UN climate change conference in Warsaw kicked off today with a focus on the continuing obstruction of the bad actors in the process – Japan, Australia and Canada – as well as the head-scratching decision by the Polish government to co-host a ‘clean coal’

The Alliance for Northwest Jobs & Exports issued a misleading statement to the Seattle Times in response to last week’s guest post by contributor Mike Stark: Why Are Coal Industry PR Pros Laughing About Climate Change in Private Talks on Export Terminals? The Alliance statement accused Mr. Stark of “eavesdropping”