Pacific Institute Reinstates Peter Gleick After Outside Review Confirms His Heartland Affair Statements

ThinkProgress:

While the Heartland Institute has melted down because of its overreaction to climate scientist Peter Gleick’s release of their funding documents, Gleick himself has now been reinstated as president of the Pacific Institute following an independent investigation.

Flickr image courtesy of World Economic Forum

Read the whole story at ThinkProgress

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Comments

[maxwells]

08:46 PM on 06/26/2012

Meanwhile, Heartland Institute's Director, Joe Bast, the guy who Gleick outed also seems to have CONCEDED the following recently:

"Bast says Heartland does not reject all of mainstream climate science. “Virtually everybody agrees,” he tells me, that “there has been warming in the second half of the 20th century [and] that there is probably a human role in that warming, that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and that the increase in atmospheric concentrations can be attributed to human activity.”

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-06/battle-over-climate-change?page=4

Then again, Bast was also the chief promoter of the following billboard campagin:

From the NY Times:

' In opening the (billboard) campaign, Heartland had said that Mr. (Ted, the Unabomber) Kaczynski would not be the only persona gazing down on Chicago’s commuters. Among his brethren would be Charles Manson, Fidel Castro, Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee, the institute said. '

' "what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the ‘mainstream’ media and liberal politicians say about global warming,” '

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/a-new-tactic-for-climate-skeptics/

So, who is Joe Bast really disagreeing with - Joe Bast or Joe Bast?

[Publicola]

09:15 AM on 06/16/2012

U.S. National Academy of Sciences
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Human activities are influencing climate. As discussed in the following chapters, scientific evidence that the Earth is warming is now overwhelming. There is also a multitude of evidence that this warming results primarily from human activities, especially burning fossil fuels and other activities that release heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. Projections of future climate change indicate that Earth will continue to warm unless significant and sustained actions are taken to limit emissions of GHGs. 

Increasing temperatures and GHG concentrations are driving a multitude of related and interacting changes in the Earth system, including decreases in the amounts of ice stored in mountain glaciers and polar regions, increases in sea level, changes in ocean chemistry, and changes in the frequency and intensity of heat waves, precipitation events, and droughts. These changes in turn pose significant risks to both human and ecological systems. Although the details of how the future impacts of climate change will unfold are not as well understood as the basic causes and mechanisms of climate change, we can reasonably expect that the consequences of climate change will be more severe if actions are not taken to limit its magnitude and adapt to its impacts.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782

[John Owens florida]

01:14 PM on 06/29/2012

I am a retired engineer and when I look at the details of what the scientists are saying about the climate, I cannot believe them. The earth has not warmed as predicted 27 years ago in the presentations made to congress. They continue to yell "WOLF" and there are serious concerns that they are changing data in an attempt to make themselves look good. They seem to not understand why anyone would not agree with them; but, when people outside the field with good techical knowledge look at what they are doing, they are amazed that they are so far from good scientific practice.

[jimboy71]

02:08 PM on 06/15/2012

The (self annointed) "master" polemicist DavidCHUK has presented not one iota of data or even a link to a study reflecting his wild claims about climate science and climate scientists, all while spinning falsehoods about both.

1) Anthropogenic CO2 is a minor contributor to the total. FALSE. 29-30% is not a minor percentage, by any measure.

2) CO2 is not the dominant GHG. FALSE. This meme gets repeated ad nauseam, because H2O vapour is also a GHG, and more abundant. However, what the deniers FAIL to mention is that without CO2, there is no H2O vapour, and that CO2 is the primary driver of warming because it retains more heat (through absorbing IR energy) in the atmospheric system than it re-radiates into space.

There is not one shred of science to support his claims, and most of his claims are politically motivated to make Heartland Institute look good. He claims to be a scientist. How is it that a scientists doesn't know these two basic facts about the world, and is simultaneously incapable of presenting proof?

How is it that a scientists spends more time talking about why he doesn't like the posters here, their credentials, and how great Heartland is? How is it that he offers no proof? How is it that he only offers polemics?

It's not hard to figure out.

Are you being paid by Heartland directly or indirectly to be posting here, David?

[maxwells]

03:33 PM on 06/16/2012

DavidCHUK?

Do you mean James Dey?

[jimboy71]

04:27 PM on 06/16/2012

Have we identified it positively?

[John Owens florida]

03:12 PM on 06/29/2012

Huffpost Super User, please check your facts. You can find the ppm change in carbon dioxide by searching the webb. Also your no2 comment is in error. Please do some research before posting.

[jimboy71]

11:32 PM on 06/30/2012

Hi, let me explain to you how to calculate an average increase. You take the smaller ppm number and divide it by the larger one and multiply by 100. I have no idea what the second bit of drivel is about, because nowhere do I mention nitrous oxide.

[Publicola]

11:48 AM on 06/15/2012

U.S. National Academy of Sciences
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Human activities are influencing climate. As discussed in the following chapters, scientific evidence that the Earth is warming is now overwhelming. There is also a multitude of evidence that this warming results primarily from human activities, especially burning fossil fuels and other activities that release heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. Projections of future climate change indicate that Earth will continue to warm unless significant and sustained actions are taken to limit emissions of GHGs.

Increasing temperatures and GHG concentrations are driving a multitude of related and interacting changes in the Earth system, including decreases in the amounts of ice stored in mountain glaciers and polar regions, increases in sea level, changes in ocean chemistry, and changes in the frequency and intensity of heat waves, precipitation events, and droughts. These changes in turn pose significant risks to both human and ecological systems. Although the details of how the future impacts of climate change will unfold are not as well understood as the basic causes and mechanisms of climate change, we can reasonably expect that the consequences of climate change will be more severe if actions are not taken to limit its magnitude and adapt to its impacts.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782

[Jim Milks]

04:59 PM on 06/13/2012

I look forward to Gleick resuming his blog here at HuffPost.

[Publicola]

02:44 PM on 06/14/2012

The alleged "violation" happened in February.

It is now mid-June.

If the case is as open-and-shut as you seem to think it is why do you think the Heartland Institute hasn't sued? Heartland has bloviated a lot about doing so, of course, but they have yet to actually do so.

For that matter if the case is as open-and-shut as you seem to think it is why do you think the police haven't even filed charges?

[Publicola]

02:56 PM on 06/14/2012

Heartland Institute Threatens To Sue 71-Year-Old Veteran

Speaking of Heartland threatening to sue back in February but not following up on it:

---------------------------------------------
Gary Wamsley
Colonel, USAF, Retired

"When I read the original articles on the release of confidential documents from the Heartland Institute [released by Gleick]  I was infuriated.

"I reacted by sending a strongly worded email to the president and all the board members of the Heartland Institute...

"[Heartland] institute president Joseph Bast responded to my email.

"Bast’s response is one that I would consider threatening. He said he was turning the email over to their legal department, the forensic staff and the FBI. He also warned me not to delete any emails.

"Apparently, I was supposed to be frightened by the specter of this multimillion dollar non-profit (?) spending resources on an old veteran. The whole idea seems ludicrous and they know it. Still, I am not afraid of the battle if it comes. This is a tactic that big money often used to suppress free speech...

"During my career I have been in position for many sensitive positions and have had top secret clearances... I feel secure that the government knows who I am.

"I decided to publish these emails so that you can judge the exchange for yourself."

http://climatecrocks.com/2012/02/20/heartland-panics-over-leak-71-year-old-vet-young-mom-fire-back-at-threats/

[Publicola]

03:16 PM on 06/13/2012

Heartland Institute Global Warming "Expert" Bob Carter Hides the Incline

DavidCHUK: "You appear to have religion on our side"

You appear to have no understanding of what you are talking about.

DavidCHUK: "i think the 1+1=3 analogy is exactly what is wrong with the 'science', climbit scientists take an apple and a pear and conclude a banana."

All mud-slinging, zero substance.

Evidently I have to walk you through what you act as if you do not understand - ok, I'll bite.

Bob Carter would have you believe that there are flat temperature trends for a specific global temperature dataset - the UAH satellite dataset - for two specific time periods: 1979 to 1995 and 1999 and through April 2011.

http://www.sydneyminingclub.org/presentations/2011/april/bob-carter/index.htm

That happens to be an objectively testable assertion. 

And what does one find when one tests that assertion? One finds that Bob Carter's claim is a falsehood, as is demonstrated for example here:

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/07/bob_carters_trend_lines.php

Again what Bob Carter would have you believe is no more valid than asserting that 1 + 1 = 3.

Hope this helps.

[Publicola]

04:09 PM on 06/13/2012

DavidCHUK: "By the way fitting linear trend lines to autoregressive time series is plain silly."

lol..

Are you seriously trying to suggest that fitting linear trends to temperature data over a given time period for the purpose of determining if per the data the temperature has risen, lowered, or remained flat over that time period is "plain silly"?

If 'Yes': On what grounds, exactly? Do tell, and feel free to be as technical and detailed as you believe is necessary to 'prove' your unsupported claim.

Also if 'Yes': Why do you think doing so is standard practice in the scientific community, including by Heartland Institute global warming "Expert" Dr. Bob Carter?

[Publicola]

11:40 AM on 06/15/2012

DavidCHUK: {{{... crickets ... }}

[Publicola]

04:12 PM on 06/13/2012

AGW "Skeptics": God Protects Us From Global Warming

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the leading climate science denier in Congress, believes that per the Bible God protects us from global warming.

http://tinyurl.com/7fr6z36

Other prominent global warming "skeptics" including Roy Spencer (a climate scientist favored by "skeptics"), Ross McKitrick (economist / purported "hockey stick" slayer), and Joseph D'Aleo (weatherman / Icecap blogger) and other signatories of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation's "Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming" also preach that per the Bible God protects from global warming:

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/blog/item/prominent-signers-of-an-evangelical-declaration-on-global-warming/

Roy Spencer is also on the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation's Board:

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/about/board-of-advisors/

More from the Cornwall Alliance on their belief that per Biblical prophesy God protects us from global warming:

-----------------------
The world is in the grip of an idea: that burning fossil fuels... is causing global warming that will be so dangerous that we must stop it by reducing our use...

We believe that idea... fails the tests of theology... with a worldview of the Earth and its climate system contrary to that taught in the Bible...
 
God’s wisdom, power, and faithfulness justify confidence that Earth’s ecosystems are robust and will, by God’s providence, accomplish the purposes He set for them.
------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/27murl6

DavidCHUK: "This is not science, this is religion."

Science denier irony is eternal.

[jimboy71]

08:45 PM on 06/12/2012

Well look at that. Now cue the deniers who will ask for 30 more and still claim he was in the wrong and that it is a "whitewash".

[maxwells]

11:38 AM on 06/12/2012

Following the money:

"Heartland barely misses being classed more restrictively as a private foundation - according to its 2009 Form 990, "public support" made up just 33% of contributions for 2009 and 36% for 2008. (The bulk of support would have come from large donors.) (If public support falls below 33 1/3% for 2 years, it becomes a private foundation.)"

Now Illinois Coal Association's picked up their tab; guess why.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute

http://theweek.com/article/index/224475/the-secret-corporate-funded-plan-to-make-americans-doubt-climate-change

On Heartland's donor list: Altria, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, GM, Comcast, AT&T.
Microsoft claims they only donated software
http://tinyurl.com/7clwxu6

"The Koch foundation gave $25,000 in 2011 and was projected to donate $200,000 this year.

The institute's single biggest funder is mysteriously referred to as just "the Anonymous Donor." He gave $972,000 last year, and in 2008, he donated $4.6 million, or 58 percent of the nonprofit's entire budget. All in all, he's forked over $13 million over the past five years, almost all of it earmarked for global warming skepticism. In other words, says Richard Black at BBC News, "when the Heartland Institute speaks on climate change, it is speaking with the money, fundamentally, of one major donor. And we have no idea who he is."

WHO'S MR. BIG?

[maxwells]

05:13 PM on 06/12/2012

Meanwhile, here's a FEDERAL EMPLOYEE who's been on Heartland's payroll, perhaps illegally:

http://www.desmogblog.com/congressman-calls-hearing-heartland-institute-payments-federal-employee-indur-goklany

Then again, we've had several other notable candidates on the Huffington Post, but for example, you can view chronic climate change commenter, Richard2's lengthy comment history.

Among his 2,380 near-daily comments over a 3 year span, you'll be hard pressed to find ANY comments that aren't denials of man-made global warming, a/o any negative impacts therefrom. How many of us post exclusively on just one topic (upon which he displays no particular expertise at all)?

Yes, if you suspect that that kind of comment profile seems quite rare, you'd be right.

But most interesting now is that in late February 2012, Richard2 suddenly disappeared from these climate threads, quite shortly after Heartland ran into the Peter Gleick initiated negative PR and ensuing"financial difficulties".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Richard2?action=comments&display=all&sort=newest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Richard2?action=comments&display=all&sort=oldest

And hasn't been back yet.

Perhaps if/when Heartland gets back on firmer footing, Richard2 will also magically reappear, pressing on as if nothing has happened.

[Publicola]

12:58 AM on 06/12/2012

Heartland Institute Global Warming "Expert" Hides the Incline

Orkneygal: "Dr Bob Carter-One of Gaia's most hard working Truth Seekers!"

Dear Orkneygal,

Isn't Heartland Institute "Expert" Dr. Bob Carter committing facto global warming fraud by misrepresenting increasing global temperature trend lines as flat?* 

Isn't that like a climate science scam, a global warming hoax?

If you disagree please provide a scientifically-valid explanation for Bob Carter's gross misrepresentation of scientific data.

Bob Carter is a leader of and/or major contributo­r to several of the most prominent organizati­ons that are "skeptical­­" of man-made global warming, including:

* The Heartland Institute
* The Global Warming Policy Foundation
* The Science & Public Policy Institute
* The Science & Environmen­tal Policy Project
* The Nongovernm­ental Internatio­nal Panel on Climate Change
* The Internatio­nal Climate Science Coalition

Also:

You Orkneygal have indicated that you live in New Zealand - what relationship do you have with Bob Carter's global warming "skeptic" organization the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition (NZCSC)?

Please finally answer these questions instead of continuing to run away from them - thank you.

------------------
* http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/07/bob_carters_trend_lines.php

[CBasilJr]

01:49 AM on 06/15/2012

I am not convinced that Orkneygal is either a female or has anything but a passing familiarity with the Orkney Islands.

Only Orkenygal and those close to her can verify her sex. I'm not interested, although her persistance makes me believe that she either lives in Southern England or here in the US.

Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the Orkney Islands know that anyone who lives there lives on an island which is best described as being cold and damp in the winter and cool and foggy in the summer.

I travelled to Scotland while I served in Germany back in the 70s, so I can speak from experience.

Given that she hasn't been already kicked off of HP for her propaganda, I believe that she may be a moderator.

If you have a better explanation, I'd like to read it.

[Publicola]

12:39 PM on 06/15/2012

CBasilJr: "I am not convinced that Orkneygal is either a female or has anything but a passing familiarity with the Orkney Islands. Only Orkenygal and those close to her can verify her sex. I'm not interested, although her persistance makes me believe that she either lives in Southern England or here in the US."

Orkneygal has claimed to be a student living in New Zealand.

CBasilJr: "Given that she hasn't been already kicked off of HP for her propaganda, I believe that she may be a moderator. If you have a better explanation, I'd like to read it."

I was surprised at how much slander etc. Orkneygal was able to get away with; my guess that HuffPo's monitoring team is understaffed. In any event Orkneygal's account has now been removed.

[CBasilJr]

02:15 AM on 06/15/2012

I did a search and found out that the Orkney Islands have only newspaper and radio, so Orkneygal definitely does not live there.

There is, however, an Orkney Springs located in Virginia's Shennandoah Valley, so Orkneygal could live there.

It's an expensive area to live in, which could explain Orkneygal's volume of work.

[chrisd3]

10:12 PM on 06/10/2012

Orkney loves to refer to the person or persons who released the UEA emails as "the courageous whistleblower."

So, let's review what "the courageous whistleblower" has done after obtaining the emails:

1. Attempted to hack into the RealClimate servers.

2. Posted the emails to an anonymous Russian server.

3. Refused to release 95% of the documents in his possession.

Sound like a "courageous whistleblower" to you?

Me neither. Sounds like an outside hacker. In fact, it sounds like a contract hacker.

[gallon]

11:36 PM on 06/10/2012

Well, there is also FOX. FOX has been caught hacking emails right around the same time period, all in the interest of a juicy story.

[chrisd3]

11:51 PM on 06/10/2012

Sure, but I was thinking of the hackers themselves. If Fox is involved, it would probably be as the guys who paid the hackers.

A pretty fine distinction, I will admit.

[BluePhantom2]

09:24 PM on 06/10/2012

Nice to know that those little things like honesty and ethics are not part of the AGW religious mantra! As it appears only "The ends justify the means".

[DocSkull]

08:44 AM on 06/11/2012

Gleick freely admits that he shouldn't have falsely requested the documents, but Heartland had targeted him and he did find proof that Heartland are completely phony. Why is your moral outrage only one-sided?

[Publicola]

01:03 AM on 06/12/2012

AGW "Skeptics": God Protects Us From Global Warming

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the leading climate science denier in Congress, believes that per the Bible God protects us from global warming.

http://tinyurl.com/7fr6z36

Other prominent global warming "skeptics" including Roy Spencer (a climate scientist favored by "skeptics"), Ross McKitrick (economist / purported "hockey stick" slayer), and Joseph D'Aleo (weatherman / Icecap blogger) and other signatories of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation's "Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming" also preach that per the Bible God protects from global warming:

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/blog/item/prominent-signers-of-an-evangelical-declaration-on-global-warming/

Roy Spencer is also on the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation's Board:

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/about/board-of-advisors/

More from the Cornwall Alliance on their belief that per Biblical prophesy God protects us from global warming:

-----------------------
The world is in the grip of an idea: that burning fossil fuels... is causing global warming that will be so dangerous that we must stop it by reducing our use...

We believe that idea... fails the tests of theology... with a worldview of the Earth and its climate system contrary to that taught in the Bible...
 
God’s wisdom, power, and faithfulness justify confidence that Earth’s ecosystems are robust and will, by God’s providence, accomplish the purposes He set for them.
------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/27murl6

BluePhantom2: "the AGW religious mantra!"

Science denier irony is eternal.

[hogtown]

08:12 PM on 06/12/2012

test

[maslin]

05:12 PM on 06/10/2012

From the linked article:

'I immediately called up the media contact at the Institute provided with the statement, Nancy Ross. She said that that statement represents the full extent of everything the Institute plans to release on this matter. As of now, the Institute is not going to release the independent review.'

I hope that they are taking the time to embed a particularly fiendish piece of malware into the 'results' documents, so that when the inevitable Sino-Russo-Petro-Authoritarian computer hack targeted on these documents occurs, the hackers will get their hands good and stuck in the cookie jar.

[Publicola]

05:07 PM on 06/10/2012

Heartland Institute Global Warming "Expert" Hides the Incline

Orkneygal: "Dr Bob Carter-One of Gaia's most hard working Truth Seekers!"

Dear Orkneygal,

Isn't Heartland Institute "Expert" Dr. Bob Carter committing facto global warming fraud by misrepresenting increasing global temperature trend lines as flat?* 

Isn't that like a climate science scam, a global warming hoax?

If you disagree please provide a scientifically-valid explanation for Bob Carter's gross misrepresentation of scientific data.

Bob Carter is a leader of and/or major contributo­r to several of the most prominent organizati­ons that are "skeptical­­" of man-made global warming, including:

* The Heartland Institute
* The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF)
* The Science & Public Policy Institute (SPPI)
* The Science & Environmen­tal Policy Project (SEPP)
* The Nongovernm­ental Internatio­nal Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC)
* The Internatio­nal Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)

Also:

You Orkneygal have indicated that you live in New Zealand - what relationship do you have with Bob Carter's global warming "skeptic" organization the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition (NZCSC)?

Please finally answer these questions instead of continuing to run away from them - thank you.

------------------
* http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/07/bob_carters_trend_lines.php

[ILoveFiction]

10:28 AM on 06/09/2012

On behalf of all of her supporters here on HUFFPO, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Orkneygal.

Orkneygal, please step forward and take a deep bow!

[ILoveFiction]

11:50 AM on 06/09/2012

Sorry, forgot a step in the middle.

Hang ten!

It'll make a great shot for the 6 o'clock news.

[noroomfortheleft]

04:54 PM on 06/08/2012

the left will have to come up with a new term for AGW. LIke calling illegals undocumented workers or something

[jimboy71]

09:46 PM on 06/12/2012

What in the world are you talking about?

Do you really think your tired little perception of the world maps onto science and reality in the way you think it does.