Berkeley Earth Funding
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By Paul Homewood
Whenever sceptical scientists receive funding from fossil fuel interests, cries of foul play quickly arise.
But for some reason, when the boot is on the other foot, it is a case of “move along, nothing to see here”.
Take Berkeley Earth for instance. It was of course set up by Richard Muller under false pretences. Muller had claimed that he was originally a climate sceptic, even telling the NY Times in 2012:
CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
My total turnaround, in such a short time, is the result of careful and objective analysis by the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, which I founded with my daughter Elizabeth.
This was a lie. Way back in 2003. he had stated:
Let me be clear. My own reading of the literature and study of paleoclimate suggests strongly that carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels will prove to be the greatest pollutant of human history. It is likely to have severe and detrimental effects on global climate. I would love to believe that the results of Mann et al. are correct, and that the last few years have been the warmest in a millennium.
And later in 2011:
“It is ironic if some people treat me as a traitor, since I was never a skeptic”
This sad little charade from Muller hardly inspires much confidence in the integrity of BEST.
A look at their funders instills even less.
Their website lists 2013 and 2014 as the last two years. Whether this is up to date, only they can say.
While some, such as the William Bowles Foundation, have historically supported a variety of research, the motives of others are questionable.
None more so than the Energy Foundation. Significantly the Berkeley Earth website states:
All donations, except for the Energy Foundation grant, were provided as unrestricted educational grants, which means the donor organizations have no say over our activities or what we publish.
Why they are prepared to take money from the Energy Foundation on a restricted basis, and what such restrictions are, are questions that need to be answered.
Particularly when you check out the Energy Foundation’s background. This is what their website says:
Our mission is to promote the transition to a sustainable energy future by advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Their funders include well known liberal foundations, such as the ClimateWorks Foundation, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Grantham Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewitt Foundation.
All of these are part of the Green Blob, which has done so much to skew debate and mislead the public in recent years.
Quite why Berkeley Earth is prepared to accept money from such a dodgy source is a mystery.
Then we have the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation.
Although many of their donations have been philanthropic, Getty is a major fundraiser for local and national Democratic Party candidates, and has contributed to the campaigns of Nancy Pelosi, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsome and John Kerry.
But most suspicious of all have been the payments from “Anonymous Foundations”, totalling $550K since 2012.
It is evident that nothing coming out of Berkeley Earth can be trusted while they are prepared to accept money from such tainted sources.
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July 18, 2017 at 08:21AM
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