Big Tobacco then, Global Warming Now

onNov 14, 2007 @ 21:42 PST

Here’s an October 1995 internal memo I came across written by someone at tobacco giant Philip Morris outlining all the “public policy grants” and the totals received by US think tanks and associations.

More than a few of the familiar names involved in the industry-funded war on climate science appear on this list, including:

Competitive Enterprise Institute – $200,000

Frontiers of Freedom – $10,000

Heartland Institute – $65,000

Heritage Foundation – $50,000

Hudson Institute – $25,000

National Center for Policy Analysis – $60,000

National Center for Public Policy Research – $50,000

National Association of Manufacturers – $130,000

Reason Foundation – $25,000

Who wants to bet this money wasn’t for anti-smoking campaigns?

Udpate: and here’s a list of the $3.9 million provided to think tanks and associations from Philip Morris in 1998 for “public policy” work.

Udpate 2: And here’s a great tobacco industry memo outlining how to go about “building a successful ~~front group~~ coalition around a specific issue.”

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.