During his closing remarks at the Heartland Institute’s Seventh โInternational Conference on Climate Change,โ Heartland President Joseph Bast revealed that the group has no plans to hold another conference and is struggling to pay its staff following the defections of corporate sponsors in the wake of the disastrous Unabomber billboard campaign and Deniergate document dump.
โI’m not a good fundraiser,โ Bast admitted to the crowd today in Chicago as the gathering woundย down.
Bast appealed directly to the crowd for donations, saying thatย โif you’ve got a rich uncleโ [ask him to donate toย Heartland].ย
โAt this point we have no plans to do another ICCC,โ Bast said, referring to the somewhat-annual gatherings which DeSmogBlog dubbed Denial-a-Palooza years ago.ย
Watch Bast’s closing remarks here (fast forward to 01:31:20).ย
See below the fold for excerpted quotes from Bast’s finalย remarks.
Bast announcesย atย 1:38:05:
โI hope to see you at a future conference, but at this point we have no plans to do another ICCC.โ
Bast appeals for funding from attendees at 1:36:50:ย
โPlease consider supporting the Heartland Institute. These conferences are expensive, and Iโm not a good fundraiser so as a result I donโt raise enough money to cover them, we really scramble to make payroll as a result to cover these expenses. If you can afford to make a contribution, please do. If you know someone, if youโve got a rich uncle or somebody in the family or somebody that you work with, please give them a call and ask them if they would consider making a tax-deductable contribution to the Heartlandย Institute.โ
Bast specifically thanked sponsors the Heritage Foundation and the Illinois Coal Association.
At 01:34:40, Bast notes the low attendance compared to pastย conferences:
โThe fact that attendance was a grand total under 300 doesnโt mean this was a waste of time if tens of thousands end up seeing the videos on ourย websites.โ
Stay tuned for updates.
See DeSmogBlog’s profiles of the Heartland Institute ICCC7 Speakers and Sponsors.
