When 1 was 16 in 1964, a schoolmate told me the US, not the Viet Cong, was the power preventing a democratic outcome in Vietnam. I could not dispute his facts and felt frustrated at my own ignorance. I determined to study Vietnam and learn the truth, so the next time some damn commie lied about my country, I’d know how to answer and put him in his place! I studied, and what I learned turned me against the war. It appears that a scientist, formerly a climate change denier, experienced similar paradigm shift, while studying to disprove climate change. And the beauty of this is that the Koch Brothers funded the study!
A prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly.
The study of the world’s surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of "Climategate," a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists.
Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.
He said he went even further back, studying readings from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. His ultimate finding of a warming world, to be presented at a conference Monday, is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have been saying for decades.
What’s different, and why everyone from opinion columnists to "The Daily Show" is paying attention is who is behind the study.
One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the tea party. The Koch brothers, Charles and David, run a large privately held company involved in oil and other industries, producing sizable greenhouse gas emissions… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Huffington Post>
Now, I know that Charles and David Koch have so much money that $600,000 is chump change to them, but its still poetic justice that they helped pay for this.
I have been boycotting a long list of Koch Brothers products for some time now. I encourage you to do so too.
14 Responses to “Climate Change Deniers Get Cold-Koched”
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Truth is one of those things that money just can’t buy, or alter. While I’m sure that the Koch’s and their minions in the Tea Party will continue to deny climate change in the name of profit, this has got to sting just a little. 🙂
They already have other members of the team saying the study found the opposite. It probably did, because the other opinions were for hire.
When this story broke, “The Christian Science Monitor” had an honest headline about it:
“Koch Brothers Accidentally Fund Study That Proves Global Warming”
For some reason when you click on that above linked headline now, you’ll note that the CSM has changed it. But someone got a screen capture of the original truth-be-told headline:
Thanks Nameless!
Oh, those poor misinformed and misunderstood Kochs. When will they learn that money can’t buy everything?
It can’t but facts, but it sure can buy “experts” to lie about the facts.
Gosh– money does buy a lot doesnt it ?
Yep!
Oh my, how the mighty have fallen, if only temporarily! Too bad they didn’t have a sword in front of them! There’s an old lawyers axiom — never ask a question of a witness unless you are sure of the answer. I guess they won’t be helping to fund any more studies in the future. I wonder what kind of twisted spin they’ll put on this?
Have to say that I was asked to participate in a short survey this past week for Georgia Pacific and almost said ‘no’ but then thought better of it. Of course they ask a bunch questions about products and environmental attitudes. Very near the end it asks if you know who owns Georgia Pacific. I answered ‘yes’ and the last question comes up. ‘Who’ it asks and I said the Koch Devils — no more questions but a polite thank you for your time. I must admit that I answered all questions in the most negative light I could. They asked, I said. If you get the chance, enjoy yourself with this short survey.
I so wish they had called me!
It was an online survey that just poped up. Might have been when I was toottling around Raw Story the other day.
I see. I thought it was a phone one. Never give an online survey your email address. 🙂
Is that because of the never ending spam you’re likely to get? or something more nefarious?
It’s the SPAM! MAJOR Spam!!