Tar sands company funding climate change denier research
Talisman Energy kick-started U of C climate skeptic fund
Postmedia News is reporting today that a major Alberta-based oil and gas company helped to kickstart an elaborate public relations project designed to cast doubt on scientific evidence linking human activity to global warming with a $175,000 donation in 2004 channelled through the University of Calgary.
While hardly surprising, these kind of reports should confirm suspicions that, despite their claims to the contrary, oil companies (particularly those operating in Alberta’s tar sands) have no interest in seeing any meaningful action taken to address climate change. The lesson is clear. Don’t believe anything you hear from oil companies when it comes to their commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing the climate crisis in any significant way.
Interestingly, Postmedia News is also reporting that Canada is sitting on a massive store of clean, renewable geothermal energy that could generate more electricity than the entire country now consumes while generating few greenhouse gas emissions.
Of course, tapping into all this geothermal potential would require political leadership and targeted investments in research and development. Will Canada seize the opportunity? Presumably not if oil companies have anything to say about it.
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This sort of shit really makes me angry. The bad guys go on fighting dirty and they get away with it. They keep pretending there’s still a debate to which they’re entitled to contribute. But the debate is all over, guys! These lies go against the public interest.
But what did they get for it? If I’ve understood correctly, (i) the university blocked the funds, and (ii) they were named. Big deal! What ought to be right up there with first degree murder is not even a misdemeanor.
FFS! Given the scale of the issues involved and the 100s of millions (if not billions) of lives at stake, this surely counts as a crime against humanity.
(BTW I read the other article too. Thanks.)
Roger,
I agree. It is one thing for an oil company to say, without evidence, that climate change science is still unsettled but when they then go ahead and try to fund research that supports their (false) point of view, they can truly make fiction seem like reality. It is any wonder the public is so confused about the issue despite the fact that the vast majority of climate scientists have no doubts whatsoever about the reality of human-caused climate change? It is really a deplorable state of affairs and the fact that a university would be involved in this mess is disgraceful.
best,
Mark