http://members.greenpeace.org//blog/rp This is a Greenpeace member blog en-US http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 rp http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/rp/2008/07/10/hot_air Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:57:05 +0000 Main 7552@http://members.greenpeace.org/gpblog Greenpeace's global warming campaign, Project Hot Seat, has enjoyed great success through the last few years. We've been building champions on global warming in Congress, flipping key swing votes in the House of Representatives, and getting heaps of media hits around the country. We've done this entirely through the use of grassroots organizing and independent contributions from supporters around the country. The success we've had is turning heads in Congress and also in Big Energy, which could be why corporate-funded Americans for Prosperity recently launched something called the Hot Air Tour (http://hotairtour.org/). The tour, which is going through the Midwest and Southern States, wants to share “about climate alarmism” as well as promote the industry viewpoint that legislation that aims to limit global warming pollution will damage the economy and steal freedoms from everyday Americans (the freedom from wildfire and drought, perhaps?). In short, they aim to undercut advances in public education and legislative support on global warming. Unfortunately for the tour, they have a major lack of legitimacy, because it is funded by the dirty energy industry. Americans for Prosperity (formally called Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation) is largely funded by Koch Industries, which is the largest privately owned energy conglomeration in the United States, with annual revenues of over $25 billion. In 2000, internal documents leaked to the Washington Post showed that 85% of CSF's funding came from other corporate gems like ExxonMobil and Phillip Morris. Clearly, Koch Industries and ExxonMobil will stop at nothing to ensure that the government will not regulate pollution from Big Energy as our country aims to tackle global warming. In fact, they have a long history of funding global warming skeptics, check out http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/exxon-secrets to see other contributions by Koch Industries and ExxonMobile to global warming deniers. It all goes to show how effective our grassroots campaign to stop global warming has been. When poorly veiled events like the Hot Air Tour take place, it's a frustrating signal that we are slowly winning the fight to stop global warming. But they also serve as a reminder that nasty energy conglomerates will do anything to debunk science, even if it means taking the moral low-road, yet again.
The success we've had is turning heads in Congress and also in Big Energy, which could be why corporate-funded Americans for Prosperity recently launched something called the Hot Air Tour (http://hotairtour.org/). The tour, which is going through the Midwest and Southern States, wants to share “about climate alarmism” as well as promote the industry viewpoint that legislation that aims to limit global warming pollution will damage the economy and steal freedoms from everyday Americans (the freedom from wildfire and drought, perhaps?). In short, they aim to undercut advances in public education and legislative support on global warming.

Unfortunately for the tour, they have a major lack of legitimacy, because it is funded by the dirty energy industry. Americans for Prosperity (formally called Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation) is largely funded by Koch Industries, which is the largest privately owned energy conglomeration in the United States, with annual revenues of over $25 billion. In 2000, internal documents leaked to the Washington Post showed that 85% of CSF's funding came from other corporate gems like ExxonMobil and Phillip Morris.

Clearly, Koch Industries and ExxonMobil will stop at nothing to ensure that the government will not regulate pollution from Big Energy as our country aims to tackle global warming. In fact, they have a long history of funding global warming skeptics, check out http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/exxon-secrets
to see other contributions by Koch Industries and ExxonMobile to global warming deniers.

It all goes to show how effective our grassroots campaign to stop global warming has been. When poorly veiled events like the Hot Air Tour take place, it's a frustrating signal that we are slowly winning the fight to stop global warming. But they also serve as a reminder that nasty energy conglomerates will do anything to debunk science, even if it means taking the moral low-road, yet again.]]> http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/rp?p=7552&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments