Earth:Cooler Heads Coalition
The Cooler Heads Coalition is a politically conservative[1] "informal and ad-hoc group" in the United States, financed and operated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.[2] The group, which rejects climate science, is known to promote falsehoods about climate change and has been characterized as a leader in efforts to stop the government from addressing climate change.[3][4]
Operation
The Coalition operates a website and blog, and publishes the e-newsletter Cooler Heads Digest (last issued in 2012). It was founded by Consumer Alert.[5]
The Washington Post described the group as "in the vanguard of efforts to cast doubt on the gravity of climate change and thwart government efforts to address it."[3] The New Yorker has described the Cooler Heads Coalition as "an umbrella organization operated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit that prides itself on its opposition to environmentalists."[4] In the 2011 Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, the Cooler Heads Coalition was listed as one of the "front groups" that form “key components of the climate change denial machine”.[6] According to the Intercept, Myron Ebell, the head of the Cooler Heads Coalition "has spent most of his career tossing out industry-funded nonsense bombs about climate change."[7]
The Cooler Heads Coalition describes itself as "focused on dispelling the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific, and risk analysis".[2]
Reception
According to the Washington Post, the group was for "long dismissed as cranks by mainstream scientists and politicians in both parties" until the group was embraced by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.[3]
The Cooler Heads Coalition has been criticized for ties to energy industries that would be affected if the United States enacted any legislation targeted at reducing CO2 emissions.[8] The Coalition has been accused by Mother Jones of astroturfing.[9] Writing in October 2004 for The American Prospect, Nicholas Confessore described the Coalition as "an Astroturf group funded by industries opposed to regulation of CO2 emissions".[10]
Membership
Notable members of the Coalition have included:[11][12]
- 60 Plus Association
- Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
- Americans for Prosperity
- Americans for Tax Reform
- American Legislative Exchange Council
- Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
- Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Fraser Institute
- FreedomWorks
- George C. Marshall Institute
- The Heartland Institute
- Independent Institute
- Istituto Bruno Leoni
- JunkScience.com
- Lavoisier Group
- Liberty Institute
- National Center for Policy Analysis
- National Center for Public Policy Research
See also
- Climate change in the United States
- Climate change denial
References
- ↑ Quirk, Trevor (2012-02-16). "Explainer: What is the Heartland Institute?". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0216/Explainer-What-is-the-Heartland-Institute.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "About". http://www.globalwarming.org/about/. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "A two-decade crusade by conservative charities fueled Trump’s exit from Paris climate accord". https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/a-two-decade-crusade-by-conservative-charities-fueled-trumps-exit-from-paris-climate-accord/2017/09/05/fcb8d9fe-6726-11e7-9928-22d00a47778f_story.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Playing Climate-Change Telephone". 2014-04-29. http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/playing-climate-change-telephone. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
- ↑ http://www.desmogblog.com/cooler-heads-coalition
- ↑ Revkin, Andrew C. (2011-10-02). "A Map of Organized Climate Change Denial". The New York Times. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/a-map-of-organized-climate-change-denial/. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
- ↑ Lerner, Sharon (2016-11-14). "Slashed Budgets and Toxic Chemicals: Planning for Environmental Carnage Under Donald Trump’s EPA" (in en-US). https://theintercept.com/2016/11/14/slashed-budgets-and-toxic-chemicals-planning-for-environmental-carnage-under-donald-trumps-epa/.
- ↑ David Adam, "Oil industry targets EU climate policy" The Guardian, December 2005.
- ↑ "Wingnuts in Sheep's Clothing" , Mother Jones, December 1997
- ↑ "Tapped", American Prospect Online, October 19, 2004, at archive.org
- ↑ "About". http://www.globalwarming.org/about.
- ↑ Note: the list of members as of June 2004, as recorded at archive.org
External links
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