Post by coolplanet on Jul 5, 2013 13:35:47 GMT -5
Is Google Funding Climate Science Denial? Jim Inhofe Fundraiser Planned For July 11
By Brad Johnson, Guest Blogger on Jul 5, 2013 at 12:14 pm
thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/05/2257691/is-google-funding-climate-science-denial-jim-inhofe-fundraiser-planned-for-july-11/
Google’s motto is “Don’t Be Evil,” but it is supporting one of the worst deniers of climate science in the world: Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). On July 11, Google is hosting a lunchtime $250-$2500 a plate fundraiser for Inhofe with the National Republican Senatorial Committee at its Washington, DC headquarters at 1101 New York Ave NW.
The Washington Post also recently revealed that Google was the biggest single donor to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual dinner on Thursday, June 20, dropping $50,000 in support of this anti-science group. The dinner was headlined by radical global warming denier Sen. Rand Paul. CEI’s other donors include a who’s who of polluters: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Altria (Phillip Morris), Koch Companies, and Koch’s Americans For Prosperity. CEI is famed for its ad promoting carbon dioxide emissions: “They call it pollution. We call it life.”
“CO2 does not cause catastrophic disasters,” Sen. Inhofe claimed in 2003, the first time of many he call global warming a “hoax” on the Senate floor. “Actually, it would be beneficial to our environment and the economy.”
This May, Inhofe claimed that “activists are relentless in their attempts to drum up global warming hysteria blaming our state’s successful energy sector for extreme heat temperatures.”
(Inhofe even opposes net neutrality, the one issue Google explicitly claims influences their contribution decisions.)
“You can lie about the effects of climate change, but eventually you’ll be seen as a liar,” Google chairman Eric Schmidt said on June 6. It is unclear why Google is intentionally funding politicians the company has deemed liars. Google’s lobbying efforts are led by former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari of New York.
Google has been a corporate leader in fighting climate change pollution, and its support for liars like Inhofe is a glaring mistake. The climate accountability group Forecast the Facts has launched a petition calling on Google CEO Larry Page to cancel the planned fundraiser.
(H/T Adam Smith)