New Yorker Slams U.S. CAP Members for "Donating to the Deniers"

onMar 19, 2009 @ 12:44 PDT

Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the 2006 global warming book “Field Notes from a Catastrophe,” has a piece in the New Yorker today titled “Donating to the Deniers,” taking to task the corporate membership of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership for actively undermining the very goals the coalition claims to support.

Kolbert’s piece looks at the recent analysis by Clean Air Watch detailing how many of the companies belonging to the U.S. CAP are working feverishly behind the scenes to fight against the very principles the coalition supposedly stands for.

Kolbert notes that these companies received a lot of media praise for joining the partnership – a sweet public relations coup for some of the worst polluters in the world to be suddenly perceived as best buddies with the national environmental groups who invited them into the coalition to call for cap-and-trade legislation in Washington.

But as Clean Air Watch found by digging around a bit, the truth is that many of the corporate members of U.S. CAP – including Caterpillar, Duke Energy, and Dow Chemical – have contributed far more to the campaigns of legislators who oppose global warming legislation than they have to Congressional leaders fighting for action on the climate crisis.

Surprise, surprise!

Read the Kolbert’s entire article here: Donating to the Deniers

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. 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 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 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.

us/US Oil Executives Flock to COP30

ByPhoebe Cooke

onNov 14, 2025 @ 07:04 PST

Their access to the summit is proof that Big Oil still holds "a dangerous sway" over the climate process, campaigners say.

Series: 2025 COP30 Climate Summit

Series: COP30 Coverage

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ByTaylor Noakes

onNov 13, 2025 @ 21:01 PST

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