Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) calls for investigation of Goklany
Brad Johnson of Think Progress reveals that our tax dollars are funding a climate denialist. By his
own admission, David E. Wojick is not a climate scientist, but he has received a grant from the Department of Education to develop "a model of the concept structure of K-16 science education." He also has been an advisor to the
coal and electricity industries and a
contributing editor to the scandalous climate denialist Heartland Institute's Orwellian titled "Environment & Climate News." He also has been implicated in Heartland's attempt to
disinform students about climate change. Also according to his own admission, Wojick is a climate denialist:
My expertise in the climate science debate comes from 20 years of study. My Ph.D. is in the philosophy of science, especially the logic of complex issues. My funding comes from free lance writing and policy analysis. While climate scientists study climate, I study their reasoning.
These two research thrusts came together when I noticed that almost all of the Web-based educational resources on climate change merely parrot the company line about dangerous human induced warming. There is very little on the scientific debate, which I see as one of the great scientific debates in history. So I have set out to fill this void. The debate is now so widespread that any science teacher who cannot demonstrate knowledge of it will quickly lose credibility. But the grand challenge is that scientific controversy is not typically taught in K-12, even though it is the heart of the scientific frontier. This is the fun part.
The fun part apparently is disinforming children. Because there is no scientific debate on climate change. As I
documented on Sunday, the scientific consensus confirming climate change is overwhelming. It has been
for years. But as Johnson explains:
Previous comments on Huffington Post expose Wojick as an ideological conspiracy theorist, who seems to earnestly believe that the global scientific consensus on climate change is the “global warming scare,” a “catastrophe theory with an agenda,” a “political and ideological struggle,” and perhaps even “Eco-Marxism.” He makes the baseless claim that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an “advocacy organization,” rather than the neutral scientific body it actually is.
Wojick repeats some of the most absurd canards of climate deniers, claiming that “CO2 is not pollution, it is the global food supply,” that increased CO2 “might even be beneficial,” that there has only been warming “for one 20 year period,” and that the role of CO2 in global warming is “unknown.”
Meanwhile, the
Department of the Interior is reviewing whether one of its senior advisors was receiving payments from Heartland:
The Interior Department is “reviewing” whether a government climate change expert held over from the Bush administration received improper payments from an institution known for its opposition to environmental regulation, a spokesman tells TPM.
Indur M. Goklany, a senior advisor in the program coordination section of the Interior Department’s Office of Policy, was supposed to receive a payment of $1,000 per month according to a budget for the Heartland Institute that leaked online. The budget was obtained by climate scientist Peter Gleick, who apologized for using a false name to obtain the documents from the Heartland Institute and anonymously emailing the documents to writers who cover environmental policy.
Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) is
calling for Congress (pdf) to investigate.
A letter that arrived this morning from Greenpeace, addressed to you both and copied to the members of the Natural Resources Committee, raises serious questions about the conduct of Indur Goklany, the Assistant Director of Programs, Science and Technology Policy at the Department of the Interior. I write to urge you both to organize a hearing as soon as possible.
As the letter explains, a recently publicized budget for the Heartland Institute - a conservative organization that exists to influence government climate and environmental policies - lists Dr. Goklany as receiving $1,000 per month to write a chapter on "Economics and Policy" for a Heartland-funded book on climate science. As the Greenpeace letter points out, employees of federal agencies are specifically warned not to take payment from outside organizations, particularly for "teaching, speaking and writing that relates to [their] official duties."
Needless to say, Grijalva's request will go nowhere in the Republican controlled House. But that our tax dollars are enabling climate deniers to promote viewpoints that are
dangerously scientifically false must not be allowed to continue.