Documents leaked online purport to reveal the inner workings of the Heartland Institute, showing the libertarian group taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors like the Charles G. Koch Foundation while planning to sow doubts in classrooms and the news media about global warming science.
The group?s efforts included plans to develop school curricula labeling climate research as ?controversial and uncertain? and attempts to cultivate alliances with influential figures such as New York Times environmental blogger Andrew Revkin, based on internal memos and fundraising documents published Tuesday by the left-leaning DeSmogBlog.
Continue ReadingThe Chicago-based Heartland Institute has so far declined to comment on the authenticity of the materials, but Revkin told POLITICO on Wednesday that he?s been able to confirm that the documents are legitimate. The DeSmogBlog?s editors said they had received the documents from an anonymous tipster who dubbed himself a "Heartland insider.?
The documents included a "confidential memo" from last month proposing to spend $100,000 to hire David Wojick, a senior consultant to the Energy Department?s Office of Scientific and Technical Information, to work on alternative classroom materials on climate science for kindergartners through 12th graders.
"Principals and teachers are heavily biased toward the alarmist perspective," the memo said, adding that "his effort will focus on providing curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain ? two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science."
Also among the materials is the group's budget and fundraising plan for this year, including its reliance on an anonymous donor who gave $979,000 in 2011, about 20 percent of its overall revenue. The nonprofit group is also trying to increase its fundraising totals for 2012 by 70 percent, to $7.7 million.
The climate strategy lists nearly 90 past donors who are again being targeted for contributions of $10,000 or more, including R.J. Reynolds's parent company Reynolds American, Microsoft, Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Contran Corp., the General Motors Foundation and the Charles G. Koch Foundation, which gave $200,000 in 2011.
"We expect to push up their level of support in 2012 and gain access to their network of philanthropists, if our focus continues to align with their interests," the memo said of the Koch foundation. "Other contributions will be pursued for this work, especially from corporations whose interests are threatened by climate policies."
Atop the Heartland Institute?s 2012 campaign is a plan to spend about $388,000 on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, a team of writers paid "to undermine" the latest scientific reports from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The group also plans to continue payments for several "high-profile individuals who regularly and publicly counter the alarmist [anthropogenic global warming] message" including $11,600 per month to Craig Idso, $5,000 per month plus expenses to Fred Singer and $1,667 per month to Robert Carter. All three are prominent climate skeptics.
Other media campaigns include an effort to beef up the Heartland Institute?s presence on Forbes?s blog to counter high-profile climate scientists like Peter Gleick, who also has been using the site. The group also proposes "cultivating more neutral voices with big audiences," including Georgia Tech climate scientist Judith Curry and the Times?s Revkin.
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