Heartland Institute: Hey Kids, Have a Smoke and Denial

As has been widely reported in mainstream media and the blogosphere, a person calling himself “Heartland Insider” leaked internal documents that apparently show that Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank, has engaged in an anti-climate science campaign targeted at the adult general public but also toward undermining the science education being provided to our K-12 school children.  Although many of us have known for a long time what Heartland has been up to, these documents are still quite a smoking gun.

This blog post will present you with a way to voice your concern about Denialgate.

First and foremost, please read super-sleuth John Mashey’s expose on Heartland Institute that was posted at DeSmog Blog yesterday.

In this document John Mashey shows how Heartland Institute’s Joseph Bast staunchly defended “Joe Camel,” the infamous campaign to addict younger children.  Heartland got tobacco funding for many years, along with a Philip Morris Board member.

Heartland's President Supported Joe Camel

As described in the Joe Camel Wiki page, [emphasis mine]

Internal documents produced to the court in Mangini v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, San Francisco Superior Court No. 959516, demonstrated the industry’s interest in targeting children as future smokers.[5] The importance of the youth market was illustrated in a 1974 presentation by RJR’s Vice-President of Marketing who explained that the “young adult market . . . represent[s] tomorrow’s cigarette business. As this 14-24 age group matures, they will account for a key share of the total cigarette volume – for at least the next 25 years.”[6] A 1974 memo by the R. J. Reynolds Research Department points out that capturing the young adult market is vital because “virtually all [smokers] start by the age of 25” and “most smokers begin smoking regularly and select a usual brand at or before the age of 18.”[7]

Now we find out that Heartland Institute is engaged in subverting our children’s education.  As reported in The New York Times today (and by many others – see links at end of post): [emphasis mine]

Leaked documents suggest that an organization known for attacking climate science is planning a new push to undermine the teaching of global warming in public schools, the latest indication that climate change is becoming a part of the nation’s culture wars.

The documents, from a nonprofit organization in Chicago called the Heartland Institute, outline plans to promote a curriculum that would cast doubt on the scientific finding that fossil fuel emissions endanger the long-term welfare of the planet. “Principals and teachers are heavily biased toward the alarmist perspective,” one document said.

 

Heartland did declare one two-page document to be a forgery, although its tone and content closely matched that of other documents that the group did not dispute.In an apparent confirmation that much of the material, more than 100 pages, was authentic, the group apologized to donors whose names became public as a result of the leak.

Do You Want Heartland Institute to Do This to Your Child?

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Heartland has tried to sabotage our children’s education. See this DeSmog Blog post about The Skeptic’s Handbook.  Heartland Institute printed 150,000 copies for distribution across the US including 850 journalists, 26,000 schools, “19,000 leaders and politicians”.  In fact, one of my colleagues here received the mailer. (A better handbook that promotes accurate science is John Cook’s The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism.

 

 

You should also see this brilliant post at ClimateSight which shows how Heartland Institute has used the same tobacco industry playbook to undermine climate science education.

 

 

I could go on with examples of how Heartland Institute is playing fast and loose with the truth but now it is time to send a message.

 

 

1. Contact the IRS and ask them to investigate Heartland Institute and The Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) run by S. Fred Singer, who is also on Heartland’s payroll. According to John Mashey’s detailed report, these two organizations may have violated their tax-free status. You can send it online and John Mashey’s PDF document has information that can be easily pasted into your letter. Be sure to include the link to his report. It took me five minutes to complete the online fillable pdf form. Print and snail mail it to IRS in Fresno, CA.
2. Contact your elected officials and tell them that Heartland Institute is undermining our children’s health and education and an investigation is warranted.
3. Download Heartland’s 2012 Fundraising document and refer to Table 8 which shows major funders. Consider sending a letter to these groups questioning them on why they send funds to an organization like Heartland Institute. Remind these companies that there is no guarantee that their donations will not be used to confuse our children.  I have listed contacts for a few of these companies below:
   • AT&T
   • Bayer
   • Comcast
   • Eli Lilly & Co.
   • General Motors
   • GlaxoSmithKline
   • Microsoft
   • Nationwide Insurance
   • Pfizer
   • State Farm Insurance
   • Time Warner Cable
   • Verizon

Update (02/24): Video targeted at Heartland Institute:

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Discussions of the Heartless Documents

• Brendan DeMelle, Heartland Institute Exposed: Internal Documents Unmask Heart of Climate Denial Machine, DeSmogBlog (links to all of the leaked documents)
• Kate Sheppard, Internal Heartland Institute Email Blasts “Lamestream Media” for Climate Leak, Mother Jones
• Chris Mooney, “Dissuading Teachers From Teaching Science”: The Leak of Alleged Heartland Institute Documents, The Intersection
• Joe Romm, Heartland Documents Reveal Fringe Denial Group Plans to Pursue Koch Money, Dupe Children and Cultivate Revkin, Climate Progress
• James Hrynyshyn, The Heart(land) of the Denial Campaign, Class M
• Leo Hickman, Leaked Heartland Institute documents pull back curtain on climate scepticism, The Guardian
• Suzanne Goldenberg, Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science, The Guardian
• Suzanne Goldenberg, Suzanne Goldenberg, Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science, The Guardian, The Guardian
• Heartland Institute budget and strategy revealed, DeepClimate
• Greg Laden, HeartlandGate: Anti-Science Institute’s Insider Reveals Secrets, Culture as Science — Science as Culture
• Greg Laden, The Meaning of Heartland Gate, Culture as Science — Science as Culture
• Brad Johnson, INTERNAL DOCUMENTS: The Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax, Think Progress: Green
• Brad Johnson, CONFIRMED: Anti-Science Blogger Admits Heartland Institute’s ‘Special Project’ To Distort Temperature Data, Think Progress: Green
• Peter Sinclair, How is Joe Bast Like Joe Camel? Looks Like We’re Going to Find Out….., Climate Denial Crock of the The Week
• Michael Tobis, Is Turnabout Fair Play?, Planet 3.0 — Beyond Sustainability
• Shawn Lawrence Otto, Climate Denial Bombshell, NeoRenaissance
• Jonathan Eisen, Leaked insider docs from Heartland Institute goal: “dissuading teachers from teaching science” (ps hey Scholarly Kitchen do you support this?), The Tree of Life
• Zachary Shanan, Fossil-Fuel-Funded Think Tank, Heartland Institute, Exposed (Deniergate? Heartlandgate? Pick a Name), Clean Technica
• Phil Plait, Breaking news: A look behind the curtain of the Heartland Institute’s climate change spin, Bad Astronomy
• Christian Hunt, Undermining the IPCC, keeping opposing voices out, dissuading the teaching of science – Heartland in its own words?, The Carbon Brief
• William Connelly, Heartland, Stoat
• Keith Kloor, Climate Skeptic Organization Feels the Heat, Collide-a-Scape
• Steve Zwick, Blog reveals Climate Change Denier Group’s Corporate Backers, Forbes
• Will Nichols, Will Heartland Institute scandal force transparency on corporate donors?, BusinessGreen
• J.A., Trouble in the Heartland?, The Economist
• Richard Littlemore, Mashey Report Confirms Heartland’s Manipulation; Exposes Singer’s Deception, DeSmogBlog
• Canucks On Heartland Institute Payroll, Big City Lib Strikes Back
• Katherine Stewart, The new anti-science assault on US schools, The Guardian
• Miles Grant, While It Complained of Being Silenced, Heartland Institute Worked to Silence Climate Scientists, The Green Miles
• Gareth, The real Climategate: Heartland’s hypocrisy on display, The Hot Topic
• Amber Jamieson, Who’s the Anonymous Donor keeping a climate sceptic think tank afloat?, Crikey
• Graham Readfern, Leaked docs from climate-denying think tank reveal strategy, Crikey
• Jess Zimmerman, How the Heartland Institute plans to wreck education, Grist
• A Siegel, Breaking: Heartless news for Valentine’s Day: “Dissuading Scientists from Teaching Science”, Get Energy Smart! NOW!
• Phil Plait, Hip, hip, hypocrisy!, Bad Astronomy
• Union of Concerned Scientists, Documents Show Direct Link Between Corporate Money, Anti-Science Campaigns
• Shawn Lawrence Otto, They’re Coming for Your Kids, NeoRenaissance, Huffington Post
• Neela Banerjee, Climate change doubter Heartland Institute documents leaked, Los Angeles Times
• Dana Nucitelli, DenialGate Highlights Heartland’s Selective NIPCC Science, Skeptical Science
• Jan Dash, Revealing leaked documents from the Heartland Institute, UU-UNO Climate Portal
• Heartlandgate: Update, Big City Lib Strikes Back
• Global warming’s deniers, dead enders, The Virginia Pilot
• Brad Plumer, Leaked docs offer insight into how climate-skeptic groups operate, Washington Post
• INFLUENCE GAME: Leaked think-tank documents show effort to combat climate science in schools, Associated Press
• Nina Burleigh, Secret papers turn up heat on global-warming deniers, Salon.com
• Kevin Knobloch, Living in a Glass House in the Heartland, Union of Concerned Scientists
• Suzanne Goldenberg, Heartland Institute faces fresh scrutiny over tax status, The Guardian
• Adam Siegel, Climate Scientist Empathy for Climate-Denier Heartland Institute’s travails …, Get Energy Smart! NOW!
• Ben Cubby, Web leak shows trail of climate sceptic funding, The Sunday Morning Herald
• And in other news, Eli Rabett translating Süddeutsche Zeitung
• Republicans for Environmental Protection vs. Heartland Institute climate disinformation campaign, Republicans for Environmental Protection
• Gary Wamsley, Heartland Institute threatens 71-year-old veteran, Recorder Online
• Richard Littlemore, Heartland Demands DeSmogBlog Remove Climate Strategy Document, DeSmog Blog
• Christine, Heartland Institute Threatens Legal Action Against Mom Working For A Better World, 350 or Bust
• Gareth, What becomes of the broken Heartland?, Hot Topic
• Brian Angliss, Heartland uses PR director’s email for delivering threats of legal action, Scholars and Rogues
• Amber Jamieson, Heartland launches legal action against climate change bloggers, journos, Crikey
• Daniel Cressey, ‘Climate-gate’ researchers enter Heartland debate, Nature
• BigCityLib, Heartland Institute Starts Threatening Bloggers (Including Canadians), BigCityLib Strikes Back
• Josh Rosenau, Deniers leak secret plan to miseducate US schoolchildren, Thoughts from Kansas
• George Monbiot, We need to know who funds these thinktank lobbyists, The Guardian
• Climate denial in the classroom, Los Angeles Times editorial
• Mark Boslough, Heartland Institute sends a valentine, Santa Fe New Mexican
• Kevin Knobloch, Gleick’s Actions Don’t Excuse Heartland’s Anti-Science Campaign, Union of Concerned Scientists
• PZ Meyers, No sympathy for the devil, Pharyngula
• Zachary Shahan, Teaching Your Kids What the Science Doesn’t Say (Thanks, Heartland Institute), Planetsave
• Deniergate: Grijalva Calls For Investigation Of Department Of Interior Scientist On Heartland Payroll, Thinkprogress Green
• Brad Johnson, Heartland’s Classroom Climate Science Polluter: ‘CO2 Is The Global Food Supply’, Thinkprogress Green
• Brian Angliss, A Heartland Institute statement raises questions about “climate strategy” memo’s origin, Scholars & Rogues
• Brendan Demille & Richard Littlemore, Evaluation shows “Faked” Heartland Climate Strategy Memo is Authentic, DeSmog Blog
• Zachary Shahan, Teaching Your Kids What the Science Doesn’t Say (Thanks, Heartland Institute), Planetsave
• Ezra Klein, Will your kid be taught that climate change is a hoax?, Washington Post
• Kate, Recent Developments at the Heartland Institute, ClimateSight
• Rick Piltz, Climate science in the schools: Heartland Institute vs. Gavin Schmidt, Climate Science Watch
• Andrew Restuccia, Markey wants Heartland climate documents, The Hill
• David Suzuki, Documents strike at heart of denial machine, David Suzuki Foundation
• Staff, Trouble in Heartland, Daily Kos
• Richard Littlemore, Heartland Funding Disinformation Echo Chamber, DeSmog Blog
• Peter Sinclair, Heartland’s Bast – “Joe Camel is Innocent!”, Climate Denial Crock of the Week
• Mark Boslough, St. Valentine’s Day for Chicago Fake Tank, puckerlust
• Sebastion Blanco, GM’s Akerson says he will review GM Foundation’s funding for Heartland Institute, autobloggreen.com
• Brian Angliss, The Heartland Institute: updates on the documents, memo authorship, and another example of hypocrisy, Scholars & Rogues