Heartland Institute 58 Experts Poster Remixed by DeSmog

The climate denial think tank Heartland Institute created a poster of 58 “experts” who reject the 97% consensus on climate change science. To set the record straight, DeSmogBlog has remixed the poster with more accurate bios of the 58 “experts” so the public can judge whether to believe the fossil-fuel-funded Heartland Institute or the overwhelming scientific consensus.

Global Warming Scientific Consensus

In the last few decades, the climate science community has pieced together an ever clearer picture of the effect of the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere. A scientific consensus emerged that Earth’s atmosphere and oceans are warming up, that it is predominantly due to human activities, and that continued warming will lead to severe consequences to humans and large parts of the biosphere.


The warming of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans.(Source: Skeptical Science 2012)

Work done by James Powell in 2012 illustrates this point. He reviewed the literature of peer-reviewed climate articles from 1991 to 2012, identifying 13,950 articles concerned with global warming. Of these, only 24 papers were found to reject global warming. Furthermore, these papers were authored by a small group of people, and had very low impact on other authors. If noticed, they were found to be flawed in one way or the other. In 2013, Powell added two more articles to this short list. One is by Russian physicist S.V. Avakyan, who, writing for the “Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences”, also noted in his article that “The switch of world powers […] to carbon-free energy […] may lead to economic collapse for Russia as a consequence of the reduction […] to sell oil and natural gas on the world market.” The other, by German chemist Heinz Hug, which appeared in the journal “Nachrichten aus der Chemie”, might not even be peer-reviewed, and attributes global warming to cosmic radiation, a claim that has long been debunked.

Additionally, a Skeptical Science survey led by Cook et al. (2013) came to the conclusion that there is a 97% consensus among climate science experts that humans are causing global warming.

Teach the Controversy

Efforts to undermine climate action have been going on for decades, too. For example, the Western Fuels Association conducted a half-million dollar campaign in 1991 designed to ‘reposition global warming as theory (not fact).’

Two interests (often combined) have been dominant: industries that feel threatened by the switch to renewable energy, and free-trade fundamentalists, fearing a slippery slope into total governmental control of the economy. ExxonMobil was for a while the dominant spender on disinformation campaigns. In recent years they have been replaced and topped by other entities. One is Koch Industries, which funded groups denying climate change with more than US$67,000,000 since 1997. Another very important one is DonorsTrust, also named “the dark-money ATM of the Conservative Movement”. It collects funds from donors, and redistributes those funds to organizations promoting a right-wing agenda. DonorsTrust ensures that these donations cannot be traced back to their origins. Between 2002 and 2010, they provided over $90,000,000 in funding to 84 groups that deny the scientific realities of climate change.

The science of climate change has been robust for a while now. Thus, the most effective way to fool the public has been to parade fake experts in front of them, reasonably assuming that a layperson will not be able to see the difference. This has been greatly aided by the willingness of parts of the media to provide a false balance in talk shows, reports and print.

Heartland Institute

During the last decade, the Heartland Institute has established itself at the forefront of climate denial. They already worked with tobacco company Philip Morris in the 1990s, “questioning” the science linking second-hand smoke to health risks. Since 2012, they do not disclose their sources of funding, but received at least US$10,815,644 from DonorsTrust and its partner organization Donors Capital Fund.

Since 2008, the Heartland Institute has been hosting nine “International Climate Change Conferences” (aka “Denial-a-Palooza”), where like-minded visitors can “collect the rhetorical baseball bats with which they will club environmentalists and climate scientists in the weeks and months to come”.

In 2012, Heartland Institute received backlash and withdrawal of funds resulting from a billboard campaign using Unabomber Ted Kaczynski to equate those not believing in a vast climate conspiracy with “murderers, tyrants, and madmen.”

 

During the run-up to the 2014 COP20 conference in Lima, the Heartland Institute published a poster (left) presenting “58 experts [that] don’t believe global warming is a crisis.” This was used by Republican Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee (…) James Inhofe in his most recent “Man-Made Global Warming is a Hoax!” speech on the Senate floor. DeSmogBlog took up the effort to check their credentials, to let you decide for yourself if you would choose to believe them, instead of the climate science community. Click on the right picture to see the new, improved version.

Below is a list of all 58 Heartland “experts”, listing their affiliations, and providing links to sources and rebuttals.

Disclaimer

Peer-reviewed data are mostly estimates from 2011. If you find any inaccuracies, please report them, and we will correct them as soon as possible. 

The Heartland 58 “Experts”
Habibullo Abdussamatov (to top)
Space researcher, thinks because “Mars is also warming”, global warming on Earth is exclusively due to solar irradiance. Colleagues stated that his idea “doesn’t make physical sense”.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0
J. Scott Armstrong (to top)
Industrial Engineer, Ph.D. in Management. Does work on forecasting, and holds the opinion that experts are no better at forecasting than unaided college students.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 1
Background and Sources:

Jerry Arnett (to top)
A lung specialist from West Virginia. Before anti-climate, he was anti-anti-tobacco: “influential anti-tobacco activists, including prominent academics […] have unethically attacked the research of eminent scientists in order to further their ideological and political agendas.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Ron Arnold (to top)
Free-enterprise anti-environmentalist. Author of “Freezing in the Dark: Money, Power, Politics and The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy”.
Affiliations:

  • Executive Vice-President of “Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise”. Among the advisors are Paul Driessen and Marita Noon.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Dennis Avery (to top)
Studied agricultural economics. Supporter of biotechnology, pesticides, irradiation, factory farming and free trade. Thinks Earth is cooling.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Tim Ball (to top)
Former geography professor, former chairman of physics-denying fringe group “Principia Scientific International”, which is even shunned by some other “experts” on this list (such as Spencer, Monckton and Watts). Has been caught ballooning his credentials.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 2

Robert Balling (to top)
Professor of Geography, did some climatology. Received ExxonMobil & OPEC funding. Says that “elevated atmospheric CO2 will produce biological miracles all over the world.” In 2012 received US$1,000 per month from the Heartland Institute.
Affiliations:

  • Former director of Office of Climatology at Arizona State University.
  • Received c. US$400,000 in research funding from fossil fuel industry during one decade.
  • Writes for Cato Institute and Competitive Enterprise Institute.
  • Paid US$1,000 per month in 2012 from Heartland Institute.
  • CFACT.
  • Former Allied Expert of defunct “Natural Resources Stewardship Project”, a Canadian anti-climate group. Former chairman Tim Ball.
  • Former advisor to “Greening Earth Society”, a defunct public relations organization promoting doubt about effects of climate change.
  • Editor of Heartland Institute publication “Environment & Climate News”.
  • Former adviser to defunct fossil fuel company funded “Information Council on the Environment”, which did a US$500,000 public relations campaign to “reposition global warming as theory” (not fact) in 1991.
  • Senior Fellow at big-business lobbying group “Goldwater Institute”.
  • Former member of the defunct pro-tobacco front group “European Science and Environment Forum”.
  • Formerly involved with “Competitive Enterprise Institute”, which is involved in tobacco disinformation and climate change denial.
  • Member of anti-climate website ICECAP.
  • Roundtable Speaker, George C. Marshall Institute, which received funding from ExxonMobil.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 9

Fact checks:

Joe Bastardi (to top)
Weather forecaster. Said that CO2 cannot cause global warming because it’s heavier than air. Throws around thermodynamics memes he does not understand. According to Bastardi, human-induced climate change “contradicts what we call the 1st law of thermodynamics. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. So to look for input of energy into the atmosphere, you have to come from a foreign source.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

E. Calvin Beisner (to top)
Ph.D. in Scottish History, Evangelical fundamentalist. Thinks God will not allow for catastrophic global warming to happen.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Larry Bell (to top)
Professor of architecture. Doesn’t understand the basics of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Doubts that CO2 concentration actually rose from pre-industrial times, based on late biology teacher Ernst-Georg Beck’s fact-shredding works.
Affiliations:

  • Speaker at 2011 Tea Party event.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Christopher Booker (to top)
English journalist. Also doubts link between second-hand smoke and cancer. Think asbestos is not a health issue.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Robert L. Bradley, Jr. (to top)
Ph.D. in political economy, worked for Enron. Says the world will never run out of fossil fuels, and that global warming will be beneficial.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Barry Brill (to top)
Barrister and solicitor, former NZ Minister (Science, Technology, Energy). His group NZCSC accused NIWA of manipulating climate data to exaggerate the global warming trend in New Zealand. But NZCSC lost its High Court challenge and was lambasted by the judge.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Fact checks:

Robert M. Carter (to top)
Former geology professor at James Cook University in Queensland. In 2012 received US$1,667 per month from Heartland Institute, without voluntary public disclosure. Active in many other lobby groups.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 1

Fact checks:

George Christensen (to top)
National Party Federal MP. Thinks Heartland Institute reports come from “real climate scientists”, as opposed to, well, real climate scientists. Close ties to Robert Carter.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Fact checks:

John Coleman (to top)
Weather forecaster, degree in journalism. Gives antics such as “Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas. How could that be? Isn’t CO2 the natural gas that we breath out? Isn’t it the gas that plants need to grow? Hasn’t CO2 always been in the atmosphere? Isn’t it just a trace gas that is only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere? Yes to all of those questions.”
Affiliations:

  • Member of anti-climate website ICECAP.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Walter Cunningham (to top)
Former astronaut. Doesn’t understand the very basics of how water vapor feedback works. Cites the Oregon Petition as evidence that there is no global warming. Said “The reality is that atmospheric CO2 has a minimal impact on greenhouse gases and world temperature. Water vapor is responsible for 95 percent of the greenhouse effect. CO2 contributes just 3.6 percent, with human activity responsible for only 3.2 percent of that. That is why some studies claim CO2 levels are largely irrelevant to global warming.”
Affiliations:

  • Policy Advisor to Heartland Institute.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

James Delingpole (to top)
Journalist, degree in English Literature. Author of “Watermelons: How the Environmentalists are Killing the Planet, Destroying the Economy and Stealing Your Children’s Future”. Said “It is not my job to sit down and read peer-reviewed papers because I simply haven’t got the time […] I am an interpreter of interpretations.” and “I feel a bit of an imposter talking about the science. I’m not a scientist, you may be aware. I read English Literature.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Paul Driessen (to top)
BA in geology. Author of “Eco-Imperialism: Green Power Black Death”. Says closing coal plants would not give any benefits, at huge costs to society.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

Don Easterbrook (to top)
Former geology professor. Predicts global cooling. Unfazed by repeated pointing out that his data contains gross errors.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 1

Myron Ebell (to top)
M.Sc. in Political Theory. Long-time recipient of Exxon money, in 2004 earned US$82,000 as Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Director of Global Warming.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Indur Goklany (to top)
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Involved in various pro-market think tanks. In 2012, received US$1,000 per month from Heartland Institute. Promotes DDT.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fred Goldberg (to top)
Ph.D. in welding technology. Thinks there is not enough CO2 in the atmosphere, because 100 ppm more would make plants thrive.
Affiliations:

  • “Climate Analyst” for Heartland Institute.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

Stanley Goldenberg (to top)
Meteorologist, working on hurricanes. Thinks Arctic sea ice is increasing.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

Steve Goreham (to top)
M.Sc. Electrical Engineering. Believes “global warming is natural and cars are innocent”. Author of “The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism”, distributed by the Heartland Institute. Contributes to conservative websites such as “Big Government”.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Tom Harris (to top)
B.Eng. (thermofluids). Former lobbyist. Has been shown to cherry-pick his data in order to gain results he likes. Nevertheless, Carlton University let him deliver a climate change course, which was ripped to pieces by the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS).
Affiliations:

  • Former Executive Director of defunct “Natural Resources Stewardship Project”, a Canadian anti-climate group. Former chairman Tim Ball.
  • Former Director of High Park Group, a Canadian lobbying organization for the energy industry. Tries to remove this fact from websites.
  • Former Associate of public relations firm APCO Worldwide, which has been receiving funding from Philip Morris, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and others. APCO held a key role in the pro-tobacco propaganda of the 1990s.
  • Policy Advisor, Heartland Institute.
  • Executive Director of anti-climate group “International Climate Science Coalition”, which received funding from the Heartland Institute.
  • Affiliated with the anonymously funded, anti-climate publishing outlet Science and Public Policy Institute.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Howard Hayden (to top)
Ph.D. in Physics (ionic & atomic collisions). Has predicted cooling. Assumes the recent warming is nothing out of the ordinary.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Roger Helmer (to top)
M.A. in Mathematics. Doesn’t understand how CO2 can drive warming, with warming at the same time driving CO2 release.
Affiliations:

  • CFACT.
  • Has been speaking at ALEC events. ALEC has been described as a “corporate bill mill”.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Craig Idso (to top)
Ph.D. in Geography. In 2012, received US$11,600 per month from Heartland Institute. Worked for Peabody Energy, “the world’s largest private-sector coal company”. States that elevated CO2-levels are “a boon for the biosphere”.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 3

Fact checks:

Richard A. Keen (to top)
Ph.D. Geography / Climatology. Meteorology instructor. Says he did “some climate modeling when I was young and less wise”. Cherry-picks cooling out of global temperature data.
Affiliations:

  • Wrote for “Cato Institute”, which receives funds from tobacco and fossil fuel companies.
  • Conference speaker at Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, which is in the business of promoting doubt about “Ozone hole, Global warming, and other Environmental Scares”.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

Madhav Khandekar (to top)
Ph.D. in Meteorology, retired Environment Canada scientist. In 2012 received US$1,000 per month from Heartland Institute. Says “There is no correlation between CO2 and temperature at all.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

William Kininmonth (to top)
Retired meteorologist. Now runs the “Climate Research Institute” from his home.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 1

David W. Kreutzer (to top)
Ph.D. in Economics. Senior Policy Analyst for the conservative / free-trade think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Affiliations:

  • Senior Fellow, Policy Analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative, free-trade think tank that receives funding from oil giants.
  • Former economist at Washington-based public affairs firm, Berman and Company.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Vaclav Klaus (to top)
Former President of the Czech Republic. Economist and free-trade fundamentalist. Said “the climate change debate is basically not about science; it is about ideology.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

David Legates (to top)
Ph.D. in Climatology. Has done a study funded by Koch Industries, was asked to step down as State Climatologist, presumably because of ties to Willie Soon.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 3

Jay Lehr (to top)
Economist, may have expertise in groundwater hydrology. Science director of the Heartland Institute, which received almost US$800,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. Also big on “smoker’s rights”, thanks to US$190,000 from Philip Morris.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Marlo Lewis (to top)
Ph.D. in Government. Senior Fellow at Competitive Enterprise Institute, which also defends mountaintop removal mining.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Fact checks:

Richard Lindzen (to top)
MIT professor emeritus of Meteorology. Committed to low 2xCO2 climate sensitivity with neglible impacts 25 years ago and never changed his mind, likewise on secondhand smoke. Charged US$2,500 per day for consulting for fossil energy companies.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 8

Fact checks:

Craig Loehle (to top)
Ph.D. in Mathematical Ecology. Attributes about 40% of recent warming to human activity. Only received US$125 per month from the Heartland Institute in 2012.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Anthony Lupo (to top)
Professor of Atmospheric Science. In 2012 received US$750 per month from the Heartland Institute. Says “anyone who denies [that temperature has risen over the past 30 years] isn’t a very good scientist.” Says there is no way to attribute this to human activities.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

Jennifer Marohasy (to top)
Biologist, formerly member of corporate-funded, right-wing free-trade think tank Institute of Public Affairs. Adjunct Research Fellow at Central Queensland University funded by climate sceptic Bryant Macfie‘s family foundation.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Patrick Michaels (to top)
Former professor of Environmental Science. Says “40 percent” of his funding comes from the oil industry. Also former member scientist of defunct pro-tobacco organization “The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition”, funded by Philip Morris.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 9

Fact checks:

Christopher Monckton (to top)
Degree in Classics and diploma in journalism. The peacock of climate science denial. Gifted speaker and debater with shoddy “facts”. Likes to threaten lawsuits when cornered. Birther conspirationist and (former?) claimant of a cure for AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, and the flu.
Affiliations:

  • CFACT.
  • Policy Advisor of anti-climate group “International Climate Science Coalition”.
  • “Independent Advisor” to Australian anti-climate group “Galileo Movement”, which organized a Monckton Tour at a cost of AU$115,000, and suggests the global warming “movement” has parallels with Hitler and Stalin.
  • Affiliated with the anonymously funded, anti-climate publishing outlet Science and Public Policy Institute.
  • Speaker at anti-climate science, anti-evolution and islamophobic group American Freedom Alliance 2011 conference “Big Footprint: Is Green the New Tyranny”, where he paired a swastika with a quote recommending acceptance of mainstream climate science.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 1
Background and Sources:

Patrick Moore (to top)
Ph.D. in Ecology. Not a founding member of Greenpeace, but often claims so, to make his move from environmental activist to nuclear power / mining / logging shill more dramatic.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Marita Noon (to top)
Heartland Institute Policy Advisor. Wrote “On the contrary, the data don’t support the claims made by climate scientists &emdash; but they just keep making them. Apparently they believe the “big lie” propaganda technique used so effectively by Adolf Hitler.”
Affiliations:

  • Together with Paul Driessen advisor to “Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise”. Ron Arnold is Executive Vice-President.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Joanne Nova (to top)
B.Sc. in Microbiology. Published the often-debunked “Skeptics Handbook”. Cooperates with “rocket scientist” climate denier David Evans (her husband), of “Force X” fame.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Ian Plimer (to top)
Ph.D. in Geology. Former professor of Mining Geology. Director of Queensland Coal Investments and other mining and energy related companies. Published the “anti-warmist manual” “How to Get Expelled From School”, which numerous sources found to be scientifically inaccurate, containing flawed diagrams, and sloppily edited.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

Harrison Schmitt (to top)
Ph.D. in Geology. Another former astronaut! Also associated with doubting the link between air pollution and asthma, and the impacts of mercury pollution. Called climate change “a stalking horse for National Socialism” as a speaker at a Heartland climate denial conference.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

S. Fred Singer (to top)
Former space scientist. The doyen of science denial. He has been on the wrong side of science for decades: formerly tobacco and ozone, acid rain, DDT and asbestos, now climate. Has been receiving US$5,000 per month from the Heartland Institute in 2012. Lied to IRS by claiming Fred Seitz as SEPP chairman after his death. Has done consulting work for major fossil fuel companies including Texaco, Arco, Shell, Sun, Inocal, the Electric Power Institute, Florida Power and the American Gas Association.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0
Fact checks:

Willie Soon (to top)
Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. Astronomer since 1992. Every grant he received at least between 2002 and 2013 has been from oil or coal interests. Published a deeply flawed paper on climate in 2003, leading to the resignation of several editors.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 10

Roy Spencer (to top)
One of the few real climate scientists on this list. Also Christian / free-trade fundamentalist and creationist. Said “I view my job a little like a legislator, supported by the taxpayer, to protect the interests of the taxpayer and to minimize the role of government.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 1

Fact checks:

Brian Sussman (to top)
TV weatherman. Birther conspirationist. Said “For many decades, communists, socialists and the global elite have tossed a dizzying array of predicaments into American culture; that carbon dioxide emissions generated by mankind are ruining the planet, is their greatest assertion yet.”
Affiliations:

  • Speaker at anti-climate science, anti-evolution and islamophobic group American Freedom Alliance 2011 conference “Big Footprint: Is Green the New Tyranny”.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

George H. Taylor (to top)
M.S. in Meteorology. Claimed to be Oregon State Climatologist, but wasn’t. Supplemented government salary with oil money.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Fact checks:

James M. Taylor (to top)
Lawyer (but “successfully completed Ivy League atmospheric science courses”). Senior Fellow of Heartland Institute, edits their “Environment and Climate News”. Writes a climate science denial column in Forbes. Thinks that more snow means global cooling.
Affiliations:

  • Senior Fellow for Environmental Policy, Heartland Institute.
Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

David Tuerck (to top)
Ph.D. in Economics. Says “Scientific questions are above my pay grade […] I’m not in the business of asking whether the earth is warming.”
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks:

Paul E. Waggoner (to top)
Former director of The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Did some work on plant adaptation to climate change in the 1980s.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Former weatherman, now runs the famously popular climate science denial blog WUWT. Did a huge study to prove temperature measurements are wrong. When the results actually indicated increased warming, he disregarded this. In 2011, Watts received US$88,000 for a project through the Heartland Institute.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: 0

Thomas Wysmuller (to top)
Majored in Sociology and Political Science, worked as a weather forecaster for the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Published no peer-reviewed science papers on climate science or related topics.
Affiliations:

Peer reviewed studies that cast doubt on global warming: none
Background and Sources:

Fact checks: