McKechnie reported in 2013 on a study conducted by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert J. Brulle, PhD, exposes the organizational underpinnings and funding behind the powerful climate change counter movement. This study marks the first peer-reviewed, comprehensive analysis ever conducted of the sources of funding that maintain the denial effort. Through an analysis of the financial structure of the organizations that constitute the core of the counter movement and their sources of monetary support, Brulle found that, while the largest and most consistent funders behind the counter movement are a number of well-known conservative foundations, the majority of donations are “dark money,” or concealed funding.
The data also indicates that Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, two of the largest supporters of climate science denial, have recently pulled back from publicly funding counter movement organizations. Coinciding with the decline in traceable funding, the amount of funding given to counter movement organizations through third party pass-through foundations like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, whose funders cannot be traced, has risen dramatically.
The key findings of that report include:
- Conservative foundations have bank-rolled denial. The largest and most consistent funders of organizations orchestrating climate change denial are a number of well-known conservative foundations, such as the Searle Freedom Trust, the John William Pope Foundation, the Howard Charitable Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation. These foundations promote ultra-free-market ideas in many realms.
- Koch and ExxonMobil have recently pulled back from publicly visible funding. From 2003 to 2007, the Koch Affiliated Foundations and the ExxonMobil Foundation were heavily involved in funding climate-change denial organizations. But since 2008, they are no longer making publicly traceable contributions.
- Funding has shifted to pass through untraceable sources. Coinciding with the decline in traceable funding, the amount of funding given to denial organizations by the Donors Trust has risen dramatically. Donors Trust is a donor-directed foundation whose funders cannot be traced. This one foundation now provides about 25% of all traceable foundation funding used by organizations engaged in promoting systematic denial of climate change.
- Most funding for denial efforts is untraceable. Despite extensive data compilation and analyses, only a fraction of the hundreds of millions in contributions to climate change denying organizations can be specifically accounted for from public records. Approximately 75% of the income of these organizations comes from unidentifiable sources.
“The real issue here is one of democracy. Without a free flow of accurate information, democratic politics and government accountability become impossible,” said Brulle. “Money amplifies certain voices above others and, in effect, gives them a megaphone in the public square. Powerful funders are supporting the campaign to deny scientific findings about global warming and raise public doubts about the roots and remedies of this massive global threat. At the very least, American voters deserve to know who is behind these efforts.” At the very least, American voters deserve to know who is behind these efforts [to deny widespread scientific findings about global change/warming].
This study is part one of a three-part project by Brulle to examine the climate movement in the U.S. at the national level. The next step in the project is to examine the environmental movement or the climate change movement. Brulle will then compare the whole funding flow to the entire range of organizations on both sides of the debate.
Dr. Bulle's first report is here: http://www.i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/InstitutionalizingDelay-ClimaticChange.pdf
Original working URL: https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2013/December/Climate-Change/?fbclid=IwAR0dQhCW9M9WmFG5YUe5EriNadnheGlljp9P6RVTExUKoluGU8iVgIoKly8
After Note: The above article stirred the climate deniers into action with this article on criticizing Brulle. Note that there is no real debate that the climate is changing. Half-baked reporters express opinions based on nothing but rhetoric, likely paid rhetoric. Read carefully the following article. It was the beginning of the full opposition published by those people who deny climate change ...all Republicans and those being paid by Republicans:
https://www.climatedollars.org/full-study/counting-climate-dollars-who-controls-the-debate/ and a summary: http://www.climatedollars.org/app/uploads/2017/04/170427_CRC_WSJ_ClimateHystericFakeEnemiesListv2.pdf
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