Heartland Institute Ensures Bad Book Has Great "Sales" [2]
In a sustained campaign to stamp out responsible policymaking, the Heartland Institute [7] has been distributing the denier text Unstoppable Global Warming - Every 1,500 Years [7]to state politicians who are grappling with decisions about how to address global warming.
Late last week, the Hays Daily News reported [8] that Heartland was behind the gift of an autographed copy of the book to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius. DeSmogBlog regulars will recognize Sibelius as the woman behind a decision to block approvals for new coal-fired electricity plants in Kansas, a move that has inspired all manner [9] of c [10]orporate underhandedness [10] in response.
Now, the Des Moines Globe Gazette is reporting [11] that Heartland also handed out copies of S. Fred Singer [12] and [13] Dennis Avery [13] 's [13] risible book [14] to Iowa legislators who are considering new measures intended to combat climate change.
You can imagine the outrage that would filled the netwaves if some deep-pocketed soul offered state politicians copies of a decent, accurate climate change book, like Betsy Kolbert's Field Notes from a Catastrophe [15] or Tim Flannery's The Weathermaker [16]s. There would be cries of outrage from industry-backed flaks at places like Heartland demanding that legislators also be forced to read something that would provide "balance" to the views held by an overwhelming majority of climate scientists [17] (and reasonably well-informed people [18]) the world over.
We can only hope that the legislators in question truly make an effort to inform themselves and are not taken in by what passes as the "best science" that oil money can buy.
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