Tag: global warming

Corporations, Environment, Ethics, politics

Koch-Funded Climate Skeptic Now Warns of Global Warming

by Anne Landman • July 30, 2012 • 1 Comment

UC Berkeley Physics Professor Richard A. Muller

A University of California, Berkeley physics professor and longstanding critic of prevailing global warming science has reversed course and now attributes climate change directly to greenhouse gases produced by human-related activities. Professor Richard A. Muller, a climate change skeptic in the past, has taken funding from the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation named after billionaire Charles G. Koch, owner of the big petrochemical conglomerate Koch Industries and one of the most prolific funders of climate change denial and misinformation on Earth. Muller says a research project he undertook actually showed “that the average temperature of the Earth’s land has risen by two and a half degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, including an increase of one and a half degrees over the most recent 50 years. Moreover,” he says, “it appears likely that essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases.” Muller further concludes that “Humans are entirely the cause” of global warming. He calls his stance a “total turnaround” from the way he used to think. Muller authored an opinion piece in the Saturday, July 28 issue of the New York Times titled “The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic.”

Source: Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2012

Advertising, Corporations, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Front groups, Media

Heartland Institute Likens People Who Believe in Climate Change to Mass Murderers

by Anne Landman • May 10, 2012 • 0 Comments

The Heartland Institute's billboard in Illinois

The Heartland Institute put up an inflammatory billboard along a major highway Illinois that compared belief in global warming to mass murder, but public reaction to the board — and even that of Heartland supporters — was so angry that Heartland pulled it down within 24 hours. Heartland posted the billboard along Interstate 290 in Illinois, which runs through Chicago. It featured a mug shot of Ted Kazinski, the “Unabomber,” alongside text that said, “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you? www.heartland.org” Despite the strong negative reaction to the ad, Heartland says it plans more similar billboards featuring Charles Manson, Fidel Castro and Osama bin Laden. The Heartland Institute is a climate change-denying think tank that accepts funding from big energy interests like Exxon Mobil and foundations related to Koch Industries. Heartland also belongs to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Heartland says the board was meant to promote its upcoming climate denial conference slated to begin May 21 in Chicago. In a media advisory about its ads, Heartland says the billboard was intentionally provocative and was an “experiment” intended to grab attention.

Main source: The Raw Story, May 4, 2012

Environment

89 Degrees in the Rocky Mountains in April?

by Anne Landman • May 7, 2012 • 0 Comments

Aspen, CO snowless ski race (Photo credit: 350.org)

At 4,500 feet elevation on the Rocky Mountains’ western slope, the average daytime temperature in the month of April in the city of Grand Junction, Colorado is 65 degrees. This year saw abnormally high temperatures for almost the entire month, with a record high of 89 degrees on April 23. Moreover, Grand Junction wasn’t alone. March, 2012 was the warmest March on record in the contiguous 48 states since 1895, when the government started recording climate data, says the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Data Center. The average temperature across the U.S. was 8.6 degrees F higher than the 20th century average for March, with 15,272 warm temperature records (day and night) shattered across the country during the month. March is also traditionally Colorado’s wettest month, but this year Colorado had its driest March on record, depressing income for ski resorts and commercial rafting companies. A lack of snow kept the Vail ski area from opening its back bowls. In addition to record high winter and spring temperatures, in recent years Colorado has also experienced extensive pine beetle infestations, early season wildfires, decreased snowpack and droughts. To draw attention to the increasing impacts of climate change, the Aspen Skiing Company recently teamed up with 350Colorado.org to put on a snowless skiing event called “Protect Our Winters: Connect the Dots,” that featured speakers and activities linked to climate change. Attendees were encouraged to wear white to substitute for the snow that would normally be present on the ski slopes this time of year.