www.csua.org/u/z2w -> news.yahoo.com/charities-funnel-millions-climate-change-denial-171452053.html
Oil billionaires like Charles Koch are funding climate-change denial, an investigation alleges. A British newspaper claims to have discovered the convoluted way oil billionaires in the United States can funnel huge amounts of cash toward climate change-denial campaigns, while reaping tremendous tax advantages in the process.
The trust indirectly receives millions of dollars in funding from a third-party group called the Knowledge and Progress Fund, which the Koch family operates, the paper claims.
Forbes called Charles Koch "one of the 50 most powerful people in the world, one of the 20 wealthiest -- and one of the dozen most vilified." The IRS recognizes the Donors Trust as a charitable organization due to its status as a "donor-advised trust."
The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted "It's becoming the vehicle of choice," said Robert Brulle, a sociologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, referring to the donor-advised trust.
But what do the recipients of the estimated $500 million in donor funding since 2003 actually do with the money? "It goes into the black box of Donors Trust" where the money is, for the most part, untraceable.
website for Donors Trust provides some clues to their interests: "The current environment on university campuses values Diversitas over Veritas -- but cultural diversity is a poor substitute for truth, which must be the prevailing aim of the university. And discovering truth is impossible without a commitment to freedom of inquiry and the broadest possible range of viewpoints -- what we call intellectual pluralism. "Typically, we provide top-notch professors with substantial seed capital, spread over three years. After these professors have demonstrated progress with their 'centers,' we assist them in identifying other funding sources -- alumni, institutional or foundations -- to sustain their efforts." According to the Independent's investigation, Donors Trust has given significant funding to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank. Climatologist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University has sued that group, claiming it accused him of scientific fraud and compared him to a child molester. "I like to think we're turning the corner on this issue. The damaging impacts that climate change is already having on us here in the US ...
increasingly clear to the person on the street," Mann told LiveScience in an email interview. "Climate-change denial, despite the great degree of funding and organization behind it, is simply no longer credible to the vast majority of the public," Mann said. "It is my hope -- and my expectation -- that we will soon transition from the unworthy debate about whether the problem even exists to the worthy debate to be had about what to do about it."
Will Climate Change Get Cold Shoulder in Obama's 2nd Term? com As President Barack Obama prepares to take the oath of office for the second time, he has promised ...
The White House says tackling climate change and enhancing energy security will be among President Barack Obama's top priorities in his second term. Obama will have to do that work with new heads of the agencies responsible for the environment. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all have announced they are leaving. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is expected to follow his colleagues out the door in coming weeks.
The White House says tackling climate change and enhancing energy security will be among President Barack Obama's top priorities in his second term. Obama will have to do that work with new heads of the agencies responsible for the environment. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all have announced they are leaving. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is expected to follow his colleagues out the door in coming weeks.
Climate Change: Obama Pledges Action in Inaugural ABC News President Obama's inauguration speech was broad, as such addresses tend to be, but he got specific ...
larry o 1 hr 9 mins ago So this guy koch is pretty much giving himself money and writing it off as charity, then uses the charity to promote his business. User o 1 min 52 secs ago there is climate change, but its a natural process that has happed many times before, and will contiue to happen.
scott o 1 hr 3 mins ago If deniers had any brains, they would realize a conspiracy of global warming by 35,000 scientists is not possible. But a conspiracy to deny AGW financed by a few wealthy old white men is easily possible.
Jut o 53 mins ago If they could take the effort that is put into denying science and put it towards something that actually benefited society instead of their overstuffed pockets. It's not even an issue of having big pockets, but how they cheat and manipulate people to fill them.
R o 7 mins ago Gary A, Fortunately, climate scientists have had over 160 years to wrap all of those issues up--that is how long we've known CO2 is a greenhouse gas. You could read the IPCC summaries, as all your questions are answered there. To answer some of your questions 1)There are several ways to determine global temperature. One is to sample temperature on land and in the oceans and extrapolate. We have about 4x as many samples as we need for a good determination of temperature, which gives us a lot of power to make sure we get it right. You can also look at radiation coming off of Earth by satellite. What matters is the way the temperature is changing--the trend. These trends agree quite well and confirm each other independently. We know CO2 is a greenhouse gas and that greenhouse gasses warm the planet. The spatial, latitudinal and altitude dependence look exactly like what we expect from greenhouse warming. Well, for one thing CO2 is increasing--up about 40% over preindustrial levels. The new CO2 has exactly the composition of carbon from fossil fuels, and we've produced about 2 times as much CO2 as has gone into the atmosphere. The rest has gone into the oceans where it is acidifying the water and killing coral reefs. It tells is that when it rains, it will be a bigger storm. I look forward to your thoughtful reply--hopefully after you peruse the IPCC summary for policy makers.
|
http://csua.com/feed/