Mauna_Loa_Carbon_Dioxide.png There's a saying that trouble comes in threes. Earlier this week, the International Energy Administration announced that emissions reached a record high last year, increasing by 1 Gt worldwide. At the Bonn climate talks, experts have warned that the window to curb a global temperature rise of more than
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DeSmogBlog: Massey WV Coal Battle Take Two: Erie, CO Citizens Fight Fracking
shutterstock_15465343 (1).jpg Erie, CO meet Naoma, WV. Though seemingly different battles over different ecologically hazardous extractive processes — hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for unconventional gas versus mountaintop removal for coal — the two battles are one in the same and direct parallels of one another. On June 2, a coalition of activist organizations
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: How To Divide And Conquer The Free Market Climate Change Denial Movement
head-in-the-sand.jpeg Much has been made lately of the Heartland’s Institute’s implosion over it extreme position on climate change. In February there was the revelation of internal strategy documents that included a plan to promote climate change scepticism in schools. In early May they unveiled a billboard equating those who believe
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Chesapeake Energy And Other Fracking Companies Squatting On New York Citizens’ Land
chesapeake-energy-logo.jpg New York landowners are having a hard time evicting an unwanted tenant, it seems. That's why over 200 people residing in the Marcellus Shale are suing energy companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Inflection Energy, arguing that the land leases they originally signed with the companies over 5
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: ALEC Slips Exxon Fracking Loopholes into New Ohio Law
Exxon-Mobil-XTO-Energy-e1338448150794.jpeg This is a guest post by Connor Gibson, cross-posted from Greenpeace. Wake up and smell the frack fluid! But don't ask what's in it, at least not in Ohio, cause it's still not your right to know. Ohio is in the final stages of making an Exxon trojan horse
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Big Waffle? New Report Exposes Corporations That Try to Split the Difference on Global Warming
caterpillar-logo-2401.jpg We hear a lot about the Koch brothers. And before them, we heard a lot about ExxonMobil. In other words, we all know the names of the corporations, and the corporate leaders, who have sought to undermine public understanding about global warming—for instance, by supporting think tanks that misrepresent
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fracking Industry Trying To Keep Doctors Silent About Chemical Dangers
doctor silence.jpg Polls conducted in recent years show that close to 80% of Americans trust their doctors. They believe, rightly so, that their personal doctors are looking out for their patients’ best interests, and that doctors will do what is necessary to get patients healthy. But what happens when a
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Top Scientist Ignores the Science of Why People Deny Science
800px-Richard_Leakey.jpg In the world of evolutionary science, you don’t get much more prominent than Richard Leakey (pictured here). An anthropologist and conservationist, he’s the son of the archaeologist couple Louis and Mary Leakey, famed for their human origins research in Africa. Richard Leakey is credited with multiple major discoveries, including his
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Toothpaste More Dangerous Than Fracking, "Expert" Says
strawman-argument.jpg It's okay, people. We've been blowing this whole fracking thing way out of proportion. Dr. Barry Stevens of To-Be-Determined America sets the record straight in hopes that we'll re-align our focus and concentrate on the real issues at hand, which, by the way, is not fracking (Spoiler Alert: it's
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Russia’s Hidden Arctic Nightmare Revealed [shocking never-before-seen video]
2012-05-24-120523_Russia_Oil_pipeline_spills_komi16 (1).jpg "I have to see it to believe it," was the reaction to my Russian colleague, Jon Burgwald, when he told me that every spring the rivers in Northern Russia turn black with oil saturated ice. read more
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Verizon, and CUNA Drop Heartland Institute, Continuing Corporate Defections
This is a guest post by Jesse Coleman that originally appeared at PolluterWatch. Pharmaceutical giants Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline, along with Verizon, Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, and Credit Union National Association, have announced that they will not fund the climate change denying Heartland Institute in 2012. According to the Heartland Institute’s own
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: NRDC Report Predicts 150,000 Heat-Related Deaths Due To Climate Change
Melting Ice People WWF Rosa Merk.jpg Chances are, if you're already concerned about being off'ed by climate change, it's probably because you imagine being swept away by a super-charged hurricane, drowned by rising sea levels, starved because of drought-induced crop failure, or set aflame by roaring wildfires. But as it
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Joe Bast Announces the Death of Denial-a-Palooza at Final Heartland ICCC Conference
heartland_billboard.jpg During his closing remarks at the Heartland Institute's Seventh "International Conference on Climate Change," Heartland President Joseph Bast revealed that the group has no plans to hold another conference and is struggling to pay its staff following the defections of corporate sponsors in the wake of the disastrous Unabomber
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Closer Look at Heartland’s ICCC7 Denial-a-Palooza Speakers and Sponsors
sponsors.png This afternoon, Joseph Bast delivered the closing remarks to the Heartland Institute's Seventh and final "International Conference on Climate Change." The final Denial-a-Palooza was co-sponsored by dozens of organizations that have received over $67 Million from ExxonMobil, Koch, and Scaife family foundations. There was tension in the air at
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Meaning of Tropical Storm Alberto–and a 2012 Hurricane Rap Session
800px-Atlantic_hurricane_tracks.jpg Uh oh. Hurricane season has started early. On Saturday (the 19th), when Tropical Storm Alberto spun up off the Carolina coast, forecaster Brennan of the National Hurricane Center had this to say: ALBERTO IS EARLIEST–FORMING TROPICAL STORM IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN SINCE ANA IN 2003. THIS IS ALSO THE FIRST
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Heartland Denial-a-Palooza Sponsors Have Received $67 Million From ExxonMobil, Koch and Scaife Foundations
heartland_billboard.jpg The Heartland Institute's Seventh "International Conference on Climate Change" – the somewhat-annual gathering of climate deniers that we call Denial-a-Palooza – is underway in Chicago. Heartland's contrarian gathering this year is clouded by the group's incredibly offensive billboard campaign that flamed out within hours but is causing lasting damage
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Will Climate Denial, Like, Ever End?
The_Heartland_Institute_logo.png This week, as the Heartland Institute commences its annual conference, the organization is clearly back on its heels. Funders, experts, and even some staff are bailing, reports The Guardian. Apparently pushed into defensive mode by Peter Gleick and his attempt to expose its funding, the Institute struck back with its
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Who Are The Australian Backers Of Heartland’s Climate Denial?
heartland.jpg ANY conference worth its salt needs a nice long list of sponsors to give the impression of widespread diverse support for whatever the conference organisers are advocating. In the case of the Heartland Institute and their advocacy for the denial of the risks of human-caused climate change, their just-started conference
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: House Republicans Attempt To Nix Military’s Clean Energy Initiatives
20090217-army-solar-panel.jpg Republicans on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee have decided that the military’s push for clean, renewable energy has gone far enough, and have proposed for next year’s budget that the Pentagon not spend a dime on renewable energy sources that cost more than traditional dirty energy. This news
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New Shill Gas Study Published by SUNY Buffalo Institute With Heavy Industry Ties
shutterstock_15465343.jpg When does a study on the unconventional shale gas industry become a "shill gas study"? The quick answer: when nearly everyone writing and peer reviewing it has close ties to the industry they're purportedly doing an "objective" study on. The newest kid on the block: a recent study published by
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