A snapshot in time: Part 3 of "Ew, I just stepped in a Heartland study!"

onAug 22, 2007 @ 14:37 PDT

This is part 3 in a series on the Heartland Institute’s supposedly rigorous study (pdf) on the state of global warming science. This flawed paper has been distributed to 10,000 Utahns by the Utah-based Sutherland Institute, a “sister” of the Heartland Institute.

Paul T. Mero, the president of the Sutherland Institute claims that, “for skeptics, we went out of our way to include a special analysis of the methodology used to create this study. This report is an honest reflection of the international scientific community…”

Let’s see how that holds up.

Flaw #2: Heartland’s study is based on opinions from 4 years ago

An opinion poll is a snapshot of a moment in time, and because opinions are sensitive and lend themselves to change due to new events and new knowledge, an opinion poll can quickly go out of date. For example, since 2003 when the Heartland Institute collected its responses, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a new round of reports showing even higher levels of confidence in the role humans play in effecting the climate. It is most likely that the opinions of many scientists have changed since 2003.

If the Heartland Institute’s data was sound, which it is not as I’ve shown in a previous post, the most that could be concluded is that in 2003 the scientific community was not in agreeance about the causes and effects of climate change.

For the Sutherland Institute to portray the Heartland Institute study as a reflection of the current situation in the international scientific community is incorrect and misleading.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmogBlog.

He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” 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, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” 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 Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks.

Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder.

Prior to DeSmogBlog, 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 world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT 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.