"The conference was organised by the leading climate denial think tank, Heartland Institute." (Photo: Screenshot/The Heartland Institute)
As America Burns From Climate Change, Trump Officials Attend Denial Conference to Discuss Why Climate Change is Fake
Trump represents the last chance for the fossil fuel industry to wreck this planet
The disconnect could not be greater. As wild-fires raged across the US last week, inflamed by climate change, Trump officials attended the America First Energy Conference, where delegates heard age-old fossil fuel arguments that, amongst others, carbon dioxide makes the planet greener and could not be creating a climate crisis.
The conference comes after an unprecedented heat wave in the Northern hemisphere. Scientists are warning that this summer's heatwave is caused by climate change, which is turn has caused unprecedented temperatures and wild-fires from Canada, to Greece, Sweden and the US. Indeed this summer's heatwave was made more than twice as likely by climate change, according to a rapid assessment by scientists.
Some scientists are even warning that we are descending into "hothouse earth", where a series of positive feedback mechanisms could trigger even more extreme warming.
A record number of Americans now believe that humans are causing climate change, too.
A record number of Americans now believe that humans are causing climate change, too. The latest survey by the University of Michigan Muhlenberg College revealed that "a record 60% of Americans now think that global warming is happening and that humans are at least partially responsible for the rising temperatures."
These high temperatures continue to cause massive wildfires with over 100 major active blazes in the US right now. Some 30,000 personnel are battling wildfires that have devastated over 1.6m acres (648,000 hectares) of land.
Meanwhile the climate dinosaurs continue as if nothing is happening. They deny the science and evidence as the flames get ever closer.
The conference was organised by the leading climate denial think tank, Heartland Institute (picture is a screengrab of its website) which has been regurgitating the same climate denial old rubbish - what we now would now call "fake news" - for the last two decades. It has received significant funding from Exxon and the Koch Brothers to do so.
But all their climate denial friends were there too, according to Reuters, including speakers from JunkScience, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and the Center For Industrial Progress and officials from the U.S. Department of Interior and the White House.
The panels included sessions on "Carbon Taxes, Cap & Trade, and Other Bad Ideas," "Fiduciary Malpractice: The Sustainable Investment Movement," and "Why CO2 Emissions Are Not Creating A Climate Crisis."
Another one of the ludicrous conspiracy theories peddled at the conference was "that the United Nations puts out fake science about climate change to control the global energy market". Oh and they hate renewable energy too, calling wind and solar energy "dumb".
According to Reuters, the U.S. officials who attended included White House Special Assistant Brooke Rollins, Interior Department Assistant Secretary Joe Balash, and Jason Funes, an assistant in the office of external affairs at Interior. All "praised the administration's moves to clear the way for oil industry activity".
Tim Huelskamp, president and CEO of the Heartland Institute, closed the seminar by stating the person who had made the difference to the climate deniers was Donald Trump. "We have a President who has kept his promises. It proves that one man can make a difference". He called Trump "our last political chance at freedom."
What they call freedom, we call wildfires. When they see freedom, we see sea-level rise.
And in many ways he is right. Trump represents the last chance for the fossil fuel industry to wreck this planet. What they call freedom, we call wildfires. When they see freedom, we see sea-level rise.
Huelskamp told Reuters that "The leftist claims about sea level rise are overblown, overstated or frankly just wrong."
Ironically the conference was held in New Orleans, which was once ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. As Reuters - not normally seen as left-wing conspiracy theorists - noted: "Evidence of sea level rise, however, is strewn across the state that hosted the conference."
The panel speakers are so blinkered in their climate denial they do not notice what is happening right now. They may look, but they cannot see. On the speaker's lectern was the strapline "freedom rising". Maybe someone should have just written "sea-level rising" instead.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The disconnect could not be greater. As wild-fires raged across the US last week, inflamed by climate change, Trump officials attended the America First Energy Conference, where delegates heard age-old fossil fuel arguments that, amongst others, carbon dioxide makes the planet greener and could not be creating a climate crisis.
The conference comes after an unprecedented heat wave in the Northern hemisphere. Scientists are warning that this summer's heatwave is caused by climate change, which is turn has caused unprecedented temperatures and wild-fires from Canada, to Greece, Sweden and the US. Indeed this summer's heatwave was made more than twice as likely by climate change, according to a rapid assessment by scientists.
Some scientists are even warning that we are descending into "hothouse earth", where a series of positive feedback mechanisms could trigger even more extreme warming.
A record number of Americans now believe that humans are causing climate change, too.
A record number of Americans now believe that humans are causing climate change, too. The latest survey by the University of Michigan Muhlenberg College revealed that "a record 60% of Americans now think that global warming is happening and that humans are at least partially responsible for the rising temperatures."
These high temperatures continue to cause massive wildfires with over 100 major active blazes in the US right now. Some 30,000 personnel are battling wildfires that have devastated over 1.6m acres (648,000 hectares) of land.
Meanwhile the climate dinosaurs continue as if nothing is happening. They deny the science and evidence as the flames get ever closer.
The conference was organised by the leading climate denial think tank, Heartland Institute (picture is a screengrab of its website) which has been regurgitating the same climate denial old rubbish - what we now would now call "fake news" - for the last two decades. It has received significant funding from Exxon and the Koch Brothers to do so.
But all their climate denial friends were there too, according to Reuters, including speakers from JunkScience, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and the Center For Industrial Progress and officials from the U.S. Department of Interior and the White House.
The panels included sessions on "Carbon Taxes, Cap & Trade, and Other Bad Ideas," "Fiduciary Malpractice: The Sustainable Investment Movement," and "Why CO2 Emissions Are Not Creating A Climate Crisis."
Another one of the ludicrous conspiracy theories peddled at the conference was "that the United Nations puts out fake science about climate change to control the global energy market". Oh and they hate renewable energy too, calling wind and solar energy "dumb".
According to Reuters, the U.S. officials who attended included White House Special Assistant Brooke Rollins, Interior Department Assistant Secretary Joe Balash, and Jason Funes, an assistant in the office of external affairs at Interior. All "praised the administration's moves to clear the way for oil industry activity".
Tim Huelskamp, president and CEO of the Heartland Institute, closed the seminar by stating the person who had made the difference to the climate deniers was Donald Trump. "We have a President who has kept his promises. It proves that one man can make a difference". He called Trump "our last political chance at freedom."
What they call freedom, we call wildfires. When they see freedom, we see sea-level rise.
And in many ways he is right. Trump represents the last chance for the fossil fuel industry to wreck this planet. What they call freedom, we call wildfires. When they see freedom, we see sea-level rise.
Huelskamp told Reuters that "The leftist claims about sea level rise are overblown, overstated or frankly just wrong."
Ironically the conference was held in New Orleans, which was once ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. As Reuters - not normally seen as left-wing conspiracy theorists - noted: "Evidence of sea level rise, however, is strewn across the state that hosted the conference."
The panel speakers are so blinkered in their climate denial they do not notice what is happening right now. They may look, but they cannot see. On the speaker's lectern was the strapline "freedom rising". Maybe someone should have just written "sea-level rising" instead.
The disconnect could not be greater. As wild-fires raged across the US last week, inflamed by climate change, Trump officials attended the America First Energy Conference, where delegates heard age-old fossil fuel arguments that, amongst others, carbon dioxide makes the planet greener and could not be creating a climate crisis.
The conference comes after an unprecedented heat wave in the Northern hemisphere. Scientists are warning that this summer's heatwave is caused by climate change, which is turn has caused unprecedented temperatures and wild-fires from Canada, to Greece, Sweden and the US. Indeed this summer's heatwave was made more than twice as likely by climate change, according to a rapid assessment by scientists.
Some scientists are even warning that we are descending into "hothouse earth", where a series of positive feedback mechanisms could trigger even more extreme warming.
A record number of Americans now believe that humans are causing climate change, too.
A record number of Americans now believe that humans are causing climate change, too. The latest survey by the University of Michigan Muhlenberg College revealed that "a record 60% of Americans now think that global warming is happening and that humans are at least partially responsible for the rising temperatures."
These high temperatures continue to cause massive wildfires with over 100 major active blazes in the US right now. Some 30,000 personnel are battling wildfires that have devastated over 1.6m acres (648,000 hectares) of land.
Meanwhile the climate dinosaurs continue as if nothing is happening. They deny the science and evidence as the flames get ever closer.
The conference was organised by the leading climate denial think tank, Heartland Institute (picture is a screengrab of its website) which has been regurgitating the same climate denial old rubbish - what we now would now call "fake news" - for the last two decades. It has received significant funding from Exxon and the Koch Brothers to do so.
But all their climate denial friends were there too, according to Reuters, including speakers from JunkScience, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and the Center For Industrial Progress and officials from the U.S. Department of Interior and the White House.
The panels included sessions on "Carbon Taxes, Cap & Trade, and Other Bad Ideas," "Fiduciary Malpractice: The Sustainable Investment Movement," and "Why CO2 Emissions Are Not Creating A Climate Crisis."
Another one of the ludicrous conspiracy theories peddled at the conference was "that the United Nations puts out fake science about climate change to control the global energy market". Oh and they hate renewable energy too, calling wind and solar energy "dumb".
According to Reuters, the U.S. officials who attended included White House Special Assistant Brooke Rollins, Interior Department Assistant Secretary Joe Balash, and Jason Funes, an assistant in the office of external affairs at Interior. All "praised the administration's moves to clear the way for oil industry activity".
Tim Huelskamp, president and CEO of the Heartland Institute, closed the seminar by stating the person who had made the difference to the climate deniers was Donald Trump. "We have a President who has kept his promises. It proves that one man can make a difference". He called Trump "our last political chance at freedom."
What they call freedom, we call wildfires. When they see freedom, we see sea-level rise.
And in many ways he is right. Trump represents the last chance for the fossil fuel industry to wreck this planet. What they call freedom, we call wildfires. When they see freedom, we see sea-level rise.
Huelskamp told Reuters that "The leftist claims about sea level rise are overblown, overstated or frankly just wrong."
Ironically the conference was held in New Orleans, which was once ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. As Reuters - not normally seen as left-wing conspiracy theorists - noted: "Evidence of sea level rise, however, is strewn across the state that hosted the conference."
The panel speakers are so blinkered in their climate denial they do not notice what is happening right now. They may look, but they cannot see. On the speaker's lectern was the strapline "freedom rising". Maybe someone should have just written "sea-level rising" instead.