Oil funded Heartland pleads innocence

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The Heartland Institute, a notorious US climate change skeptic group, responded to a letter the DeSmogBlog team recently penned for the Philadelphia Daily News. Creating a perception of impartiality is their theme on the issue of tobacco and climate change science. Is it then just a coincidence that the same groups funded by oil money, such as Heartland, are the same groups โ€œskepticalโ€ about climate change?

Here are the facts on Heartlandโ€™s funding. You be the judge as to their objectivity on the issue of climate change:
ย ย ย  ย ย ย 
ย ย ย  ย ย ย  โ€ข $561,500 from Exxon Mobil
ย ย ย  ย ย ย  โ€ข Over $400,000 from oil money-backed foundations

True to form, Heartland tries to bring into question the DeSmogBlogโ€™s motivations and credibility by attacking our funding source, the Lefebvre Foundation, whose money is derived from the former President of the secure online transaction service NeTeller, John Lefebvre. Sorry Heartland, nice try. I know it is hard to understand that some people do what they do for reasons other than economicย gain.

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a โ€œGreen Heroโ€ by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the โ€œTop 50 Tweetersโ€ on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevinโ€™s research into the โ€œclimate denial industryโ€ and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Kochโ€™s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea partyย networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a โ€œCertified Expertโ€ on theย political and community organizing platformย NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the worldโ€™s best e-Content and innovative ICTย applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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