Canadian Taxpayers Money to Promote Fossil Fuels

The Harper government has launched a $16.5 million PR campaign to promote Canadian fossil fuels but refuses to provide details about how it is spending taxpayers money. What is known is that the campaign will sell the "benefits" of the tar sands, oil, gas, pipelines as well as other Canadian natural resources.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver would not answer questions from opposition MPs who pressed the minister for details.

Oliver is providing a training program to instruct his department’s scientists and other officials as to what they can and can't say to the press and the public. As explained by Oliver, it is “designed to help them communicate with the public.” The propaganda program will cost Canadian taxpayers half a million dollars.

Video - Evolution and Global Warming Denialism: How the Public is Misled

How can so many be so woefully misinformed about the veracity of anthropogenic climate change? To help answer this question we need only look at the history of the teaching of evolution. Teachers have long been pressured to teach "alternate views" of evolution. Now they're being pushed to deny that global warming is happening, or if it is, that humans aren't a major factor. In this video Genie Scott dissects the tactics of climate change deniers, and the parallels with anti-evolutionists.

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Popular Media is Distorting the Facts about Climate Change

Major news organizations are not accurately reflecting the truth about climate change. Fox News, the Wallstreet Journal and even PBS have been charged with misrepresenting the facts about climate change.

According to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, 93 percent of Fox News' and 80 percent of the Wall Street Journal opinion pages' climate coverage is inaccurate and misleading. This is the finding of an analysis titled "Is News Corp. Failing Science". Even the PBS aired an interview with a biased climate skeptic tied to the controversial Heartland Institute.

Video: Interview with Michael Mann on the War on Climate Scientists

Climate Science Watch interviewed Michael Mann on the release of the Penn State University "Final Investigation Report" on allegations of misconduct levied against Dr. Mann late last year by climate change 'skeptics' and denialists. The report concluded that there is "no substance" to the allegations. We also asked Dr. Mann about ongoing attacks on the credibility of climate science and on the integrity of climate scientists, and about his recent comments about the iconic 'hockey stick' graph of the global temperature record.

Video: The Controversy Surrounding Michael Mann's Hockey Stick Graph

Michael Mann created a widely known graph commonly referred to as a "hockey stick." His data shows that the temperature has increased significantly at the same time as man has started pumping CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Climate deniers tried to refute his results accusing Mann of using faulty statistics, some even suggested that he was guilty of fraud. Although there is some variability, a host of scientists have corroborated Mann's hockey stick. If anything newer research suggests that the earth has gotten even warmer than suggested by Mann's hockey stick.

Video: Climatologist Michael Mann Headlines 2012 U.Va. EnviroDay Event

Climatologist Michael Mann of Penn State University speaks about scientific findings relating to global warming in this University of Virginia EnviroDay appearance. His talk, titled "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From the Front Lines," shows how his findings have brought political heat from some Virginia and national politicians. Mann continues his research and outlines its scientific soundness during this packed public presentation. Prior to his move to Penn State in 2005, Mann served as a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia.

Video: Michael Mann and the Climate Wars

Michael Mann talks about the research related to the scientific finding that the earth is warming. He goes on to discuss the war between those who accept science and reason and those who do not. Mann reviews how he has been subject to criticism for his scientific research. Even though his life and safety have been threatened, he continues to wage war in defense of science. Mann compares the war against the science of climate change to the misinformation campaign efforts of the tobacco industry, some have even compared it to McCarthyism.

Heartland Institute’s Deniergate: A New Definition for Irony

The past few days haven’t been very pleasant for the faux think tank Heartland Institute. On Tuesday a source going by the name of “Heartland Insider” leaked several strategy documents and Heartland’s 2012 budget to the DeSmogBlog.

Foster Friess is the Climate Denying Money Man Behind Rick Santorum

Foster S. Friess is the climate denying money-man behind Rick Santorum's bid for the GOP presidential nomination. The Republican hopefuls are following the money, Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is betting on Newt Gingrich and Friess is bankrolling the pro-Santorum super PAC. Friess is a Wyoming cowboy who is known for his opposition to the science of climate change.

Video: The Koch Brothers are Oil Billionaires on a Maniacal Mission

The Koch brothers are oil billionaires who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to increase their own profits through decreasing regulations. With a net worth of $43 billion the Kochs have already spent decades of their lives and over $324 million of their wealth exerting their influence. Here is a video from Brave New Foundation outlining the top five worst things this climate denying duo are doing to fulfill their self serving agenda.

Video: What do the Koch Brothers talk about at thier Secret Right Wing Retreats?

The Koch brothers are right-wing, climate change denying, oil billionaires. They hold secret retreats for rich conservatives. During one of these retreats Charles Koch was caught comparing president Obama to killed 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden. In this video, the Young Turks host Cenk Uygur shares more details.

A Reintroduction to the Climate Denying Duo Known as the Koch Brothers

The Koch brothers use the media to promote their climate denying circus of lies. Here is a succinct summary of their environment killing crusade.

Right Wing War Against Sustainability

A right wing front-group funded by big oil has launched a misinformation campaign against environmental groups and companies that are working to engage more sustainable practices. In a widely distributed letter they dismiss renewable energy and threaten to boycott companies for being more environmentally responsible.

Video: Koch Brothers Climate Denial Machine

A short animation detailing the efforts of billionaire oil barons Charles and David Koch to undermine belief in climate change and prevent legislation that threatens their profits. By pouring money into pseudo-scientific studies and funding third parties such as think tanks and front groups (posing as everything from Senior's groups to Women's groups) the public is led to believe a genuine scientific debate is raging. In truth, as one climate denier candidly admits, those doubting the science are just a small, if brilliantly coordinated, minority.
© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Canadian Global Warming Denial from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

Like Americans, Canadians are influenced by climate denial groups posing as think tanks. Peter Holle is the founding president of one such climate-denying think tank known as the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. This Winnipeg-based group is behind a series of ridiculous assertions related to energy and climate change.

Americans have powerful misinformation networks like the Heritage Foundation and the Mercantus Center. Canadians have the Frontier Centre for Public Policy which describes itself as an independent public policy think tank whose mission is "to broaden the debate on our future through public policy research and education and to explore positive changes within our public institutions that support economic growth and opportunity."

This so called "think tank" is really a made in Canada propaganda machine that takes a strongly cynical stance on the science supporting global warming.

One of Holle's paradoxical beliefs include the notion that first-hand extreme weather experiences make Canadians skeptical about global warming. Another one of Holle's bizarre beliefs is that “carbon dioxide is not the pollutant source of global warming.”

Holle discredits the wealth of scientific research supporting the anthropogenic origins of climate change. He ignores mainstream science that contradicts his views and recruits scientists who argue that cooling and warming cycles are part of the earth’s normal pattern.

Sadly, a minority of Canadians continue to fall for the well used lie that human activity is not behind global warming.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Anti-Environment Crusades of ExxonMobil and Koch Industries

Despite an increase in the number of companies that are adopting sustainable practices, major multinationals like ExxonMobil and Koch Industries are waging war on the environment. These two companies are aggresively resisting the trend towards a low carbon economy. In addition to being major producers of greenhouse gasses, ExxonMobil and Koch use their influence to lobby governments and create resistance to global-warming-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the UN sponsored Conference of the Parties (COP). Some of their most destructive actions pertain to their funding of misinformation campaigns that fuel climate change denial.

According to a 2004 study commissioned by Friends of the Earth, ExxonMobil and its predecessors caused 4.7 to 5.3 percent of the world's man-made carbon dioxide emissions between 1882 and 2002. The group suggested that such studies could form the basis for eventual legal action.

ExxonMobil has been a leading figure in the business world's position on climate change, providing substantial funding to a range of climate change denial groups. According to Mother Jones ExxonMobil-funded a total of 40 organizations that "either have sought to undermine mainstream scientific findings on global climate change or have maintained affiliations with a small group of "skeptic" scientists who continue to do so."Between 2000 and 2003 these organizations received more than $8m in funding.

Koch Industries is the major source of funding for climate denial. From 2005 to 2008, Koch donated $5.7 million on political campaigns and $37 million on direct lobbying to support fossil fuel industries. According to the non-partisan research group the Center for Responsive Politics, between 1997 and 2008, Koch Industries donated a total of nearly $48 million to climate opposition groups. Koch Industries and its subsidiaries spent more than $20 million on lobbying in 2008 and $12.3 million in 2009.

For ExxonMobil and Koch it may be too late, however, for all but the most egregious, there is hope for redemption. The Survey of America's Greenest Brands show that even companies with very poor environmental reputations can redeem themselves and go from environmental pariah to eco-superstar by incorporating sustainable practices.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Koch Industries Destroys the Environment and Funds Climate Denial

Koch Industries is the second largest privately held company in America and as revealed by Greenpeace they are guilty of crimes against the environment as well as being a leading supporter of climate denial groups.

Koch industries has a dismal environmental record and to add insult to injury, they are pouring almost $50 million dollars per year into climate denial misinformation.

Koch Industries is a conglomerate of more than twenty companies with $100 billion in annual sales, operations in nearly 60 countries, and 70,000 employees. Their diversified holdings are a virtual top ten list of the most environmentally destructive sectors of the economy, they include petroleum refining, fuel pipelines, coal supply and trading, oil and gas exploration, chemicals and polymers, fertilizer production, ranching and forestry products and cattle.

In addition, Koch Industries has held multiple leases on Alberta's polluting tar sands as well as pipelines that carry tar sands crude from Canada into Minnesota and Wisconsin where Koch's Flint Hill Resources owns oil refineries.

Koch Industries work to delay policies and regulation aimed at stopping global warming. As revealed by Greenpeace's successful campaign against Trader Joe's, the public will no longer countenance environmentally insensitive businesses. Koch Industries' ownership of Lycra and Stainmaster carpets are just two of their holdings that are vulnerable to social action.

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Next: Koch Industries' Environmental Crimes / Koch Industries Financing Climate Denial

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