Business-Managed Democracy

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The Heartland Institute is a corporate funded think tank based in Chicago that denies global warming. It particularly targets elected officials and politicians hoping to short circuit the democratic process of full public debate. Its monthly publication Environment & Climate News "is sent to every state and federal elected official, more than 40,000 environmental professionals, and thousands of grassroots environment activists".

The Heartland Institute runs a website entitled Global Warming Facts which states that global warming "is a prime example of the alarmism that characterizes much of the modern environmental movement". The experts it lists on this website include Fred Singer, Sallie Baliunas, Willie Soon, David Legates, Richard Lindzen and Robert Balling.

Heartland Institute video

The Heartland Institute has received funds from several corporations that have something to fear from democratic regulation of business activity, such as Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and Philip Morris, and from foundations that have emerged from corporate empires such the Olin Foundation (chemical company money) and the Scaife foundations (oil company money). Its annual funding is about $5 million.

The Heartland Institute also runs international conferences on climate change that bring together global warming deniers from around the world. Its 2009 conference held in Washington claimed to be "An international conference calling attention to widespread dissent to the asserted “consensus” on the causes, consequences, and proper responses to climate change." Speakers included the usual denial scientists including Patrick Michaels, Bob Carter, Richard Lindzen, Fred Singer and Willie Soon.

Although the Institute claims its conferences are not funded by corporations the groups the conference co-sponsors are. Conference co-sponsors have included a variety of far right organizations, such as the Ayn Rand Institute and the Australian Libertarian Institute;  a number of corporate-funded think tanks including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the George Marshall Institute, Science and Environmental Policy Project and the Heritage Foundation; and corporate front groups such as The Carbon Sense Coalition. Kevin Grandia, from DeSmogBlog says:

We've researched the funding history of all the organizations that the Heartland Institute has listed as co-sponsors for their 2009 International Conference on Climate Change and have found that over the years these groups have received in excess of $47 million from oil companies and right-wing foundations.

Links

• 'Heartland Institute', SourceWatch
• 'Heartland Institute', DeSmogBlog
• 'Heartland Institute', PowerBase
• 'The Heartland Institute', Wikipedia
• 'FACTSHEET: Heartland Institute, Heartland', ExxonSecrets

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See also: Mainstream US Tanks | Competitive Enterprise Institute |
SEPP and Fred Singer | Institute of Public Affairs | George Marshall Institute

References

 

© 2010 Sharon Beder
http://www.herinst.org/BusinessManagedDemocracy/environment/warming/Heartland.html