Calgary oil company Talisman Energy has been outed as the major funder behind a Friends of Science video series that falsely tried to claim legitimacy by tacking a University of Calgary logo on its opening credits.

Postmedia reporter Mike De Souza has an excellent article in the Calgary Herald, exposing Talisman as the largest donor in a complicated campaign to sluice cash through the Calgary Foundation and the University of Calgary to finance phony "education" projects. The University has long since distanced itself from the Friends of Science, although it never disciplined Prof. Barry Cooper, the political scientist, climate change skeptic and Calgary Herald columnist who set up the fake U of C Education Fund to launder oil money that was being used to finance climate denial films, radio ads, political advocacy and public campaigns.

But even after exposing all of its own dirty laundry in an audit, the University continued to protect the funders, keeping donors such as Talisman out of their reports. De Souza, to his credit, finally wedged the name loose in a Freedom of Information request.

It’s only early January, and already we’re witnessing what could be the most devastating climate change story of the year.  A new study in Nature Geoscience this week shows that even if we go to zero emissions and completely halt our wholesale burning of fossil fuels, climate change will continue for the next 1,000 years. 

If only we could take solace in saying, “I told you so” to climate change deniers and the fossil fuel lobby fighting to confuse the public about climate change.  Such proclamations seem trite and trivial, however, when we’re faced with the burning reality that our dirty oil addiction is cooking the planet in an irreversible way. 

The study, conducted by University of Calgary and Environment Canada’s climate centre at the University of Victoria is the first full climate model simulation to make predictions 1,000 years into the future.  Dr. Shawn Marshall and his team explore the question: “What if we completely stopped using fossil fuels and put no more CO2 in the atmosphere?  How long would it then take to reverse current climate change trends and will things first become worse?”  Using simulations with the Canadian Earth System Model, the research team exploredzero-emissions scenarios if humans completely stop burning fossil fuels in 2010 and 2100.  

The article shows, devastatingly, that climate change will continue even if we stop our use of fossil fuels immediately.  We’ve had that much of an impact.  With this news, Canada’s head-in-sand approach to climate issues just won’t cut it. 

The organizer of a Calgary fundraising event for Republican Senator Sam Brownback has told the Globe and Mail that he also plans to divert some of the income to Friends of Science, a Canadian "not-for-profit" group that is already facing accusations of interfering illegally in the Canadian electoral process.

It is against U.S. law for Canadian citizens to financially support U.S. political campaigns, so Canadians cannot donate directly to Senator Brownback. It is, as yet, unreported how Friends of Science intends spend any income generated from this new source, but the organization has a history of financing highly political advertising campaigns during the course of an election.

Updating the story about the University of Calgary's damning audit of its relationship with the Friends of Science, U of C general counsel Charlene Anderson told the Calgary Herald yesterday that no disciplinary action is planned "at this time," but "that might change at any time so the university is looking into that."

A University of Calgary audit into its relationship with the climate lobby group, Friends of Science (FOS), suggests that in setting up two trust funds on behalf of FOS, U of C Professor Barry Cooper likely contravened Revenue Canada and Elections Canada laws - and, in diverting money to his wife and daughter, most certainly broke rules at the University itself.

“An issue as important as global warming should not descend into a shouting match between the faithful and the heretical.”

That was the subhead in the print version of Jack Mintz’s March 17 column in Canadian Business and, up to that point, he was making pretty good sense. But then Mintz took to shouting about the heretical Dr. David Suzuki, a man who continues to infuriate certain segments of Canadian society and, especially, Canadian media by honouring science over the theology of unlimited Alberta oil exploitation.