As many WUWT readers know, my dog, Kenji Watts, is an actual member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He’s got papers to prove it.
This of course is proof that all you need is a valid credit card to join this “front group” (as they describe others) in this science free money quest. Below is the email Kenji received today. – Anthony
Dear friend,
A generous supporter has pledged to match all donations dollar-for-dollar—up to $250,000—but only if you act by the end of the week!
Your support of UCS makes a vital difference in building a healthier environment and a safer world. If you’re still looking for a reason to support UCS, how about this one:
Picture a four-lane highway packed bumper to bumper with idling cars stretching all the way around the earth at the equator. Now picture the tailpipe emissions from all those cars and think about how much that would speed up global warming.
UCS supporters like you helped push through tough emissions standards for new cars and trucks that will require automakers to produce vehicles that emit roughly half of the global warming emissions of a new automobile today. By the year 2030, this effort alone will keep more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into our atmosphere. That’s like taking 41 million cars off the road.
Time is running out to take advantage of this special opportunity. Please act now. Join more than 85,000 other members of UCS—become a member of UCS today.
With your help, we will:
- expose corporations, front groups, and policy makers who mislead the public and undermine understanding of climate science;
- fight to shut down old and dirty coal plants and increase investment in wind, solar, and other clean, renewable sources of energy; and
- actively protect scientists in the government and academia from politically motivated personal attacks.
You are a key partner in all this work. Please act now and take advantage of this special, short-term opportunity.
With your help, I’m confident we can win more important victories in the year ahead and the years to come.
Sincerely,
Kevin Knobloch
President
P.S. Remember: this special opportunity only lasts through the end of the week. Your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar—but only if you act now!
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.
Union of Concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02138-3780
phone: 800-666-8276 | Fax: 617-864-9405 | ucsaction@ucsusa.org | www.ucsusa.org
UCS is a 501(c)(3) organization. All gifts are tax deductible. You can be confident your donations to UCS are spent wisely.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
So it’s bad for scientists to use tax dollars, and bad for them to raise funds too? I assume we’re to think that the only good science is done for private companies, in order to raise profits? In which case would it not be best for scientists to receive their training in degree programmes funded directly by private companies, and ditch this whole thing about, you know, trying to find out about stuff? Doesn’t sound enlightening, educational or even very interesting to me. If you really think scientists are in it for the money, look again, a bit more carefully. None of the academic scientists I know is comparatively well remunerated for the amount of work they do: all of them work hard, and all of them would have done far better if they had pursued careers in other sectors.
Which of course makes Kenji the most influential dog in the world. I wonder what he would do to Briffa’s World’s most influential Yamal larch?
I think he looks more bemused than concerned. (: Thinks: “Even more of this stuff? Got to think. Wonder if my beloved humans have refilled my food bowl yet?” 🙂
Kim Moore says:
May 24, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Hmm…I see I misspelled “photosynthesize”.
*
Don’t worry, Kenji won’t notice… probably.
I asked old Zeke for a bone . Not Zeke Howsyerfather.
Knobloch !! More like knobhead
Doug UK says:
May 24, 2012 at 10:32 pm
What a knob(loch) ;0)
You beat me to it, Doug! I just wonder how many $$$$ it takes to get a President of the UCS out of bed each morning? Any body know? I bet it is a nice tidy little sum & of course he earns every penny through his dilligence & hard work!
Wow, it seems everybody in UCS lives in a kind of bubble as they still haven’t realised that Kenji is a dog!
..”Kevin Knobloch
President”..
Adequate name.. 😉
My cat wants to know how Kenji got a credit card. She is jealous! Is there anti-feline discrimination going on?
Knoblock? a rather unfortunate name which evokes inappropriate thoughts. But enough of that, how about action to remove 41million environmentalists from the planet? That’s a thought.
Kevin Knobloch looks like a standard corporate fat-cat. Whether anyone agreed with them, or not, UCS founders were guys in jeans and T-shirts who got involved in their time away from lab, e.g., Henry Kendall.
Here‘s the Huff Post blurb about Knobloch: “Kevin Knobloch brings 32 years of experience in public policy, government, advocacy and media to his job as leader of Union of Concerned Scientists.”
From scientists to media-savvy self-promoting money-grubbing spin-merchants. Is there a better example of ethical perversion than Kevin Knobloch?
Great photo! (Much better looking than ‘Homer’ Hansen, don’t you think?)
Kenji looks skeptical to me. My guess is he won’t be sending in any of his Milkbone biscuits no matter what the matching contribution might be.
It seems pretty hard to believe that no UCS member ever reads WUWT (I’m assuming that Kenji can’t read) so why do they continue to accept this ridicule? Are the membership rules such that they cannot do anything about canine members?
Kenji:
Don’t pay. It’s a scam.
Richard
Take any semi-sentient, semi-sane mammal (Hi Kenji! ), show them a picture of
Trenberth’s energy budget diagram, and hey presto, you get that zact same lip-curling, iris-stretching, ear-twitching, nose-flaring, say-that-aint-real-dog-food, look of
watts up with that?
Knobloch makes $230,000 for pushing this agenda. And, I wonder what corporations the $13.5MM in contributions comes from.
http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/environment/union-of-concerned-scientists-in-cambridge-ma-1123
Oh, and he’s not even a scientist.
“Kevin holds a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, with a focus on natural resource economics and environmental management, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he concentrated in English and journalism.”
From: http://www.ucsusa.org/news/experts/kevin-knobloch.html
Perhaps one day we will read the headline “Dog bites Mann”
Virtually every dog I know is an expert at Anusology. That makes them scientists in this day and age.
Kenji appears to be angry, and I don’t blame him, with the entirely emotion-based, fact-free letter attempting to bilk even more money out of him. Even he knows that an idling car is running inefficiently, and creating even more real pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons, benzene, and formaldehyde than normal. Even he knows that nowhere among that list of actual air pollutants is carbon dioxide and water vapor. Even he knows that their blatant and pathetic attempt to conflate real air pollutants with the imaginary one of C02 insults his intelligence. No wonder he’s angry.
I thought Kenji was in the “a fireplug at every home” crowd? Hmmm. But that whole 41 million cars thing must be depressing. If they are gone, what would there be to chase or bark at? Tough being a dog these days.
Mean, scary and cute.
Kenji subdues his enemies with indecision.
You sure Kevin Knobloch signed that plea and not Prince Nigel of the Nigerian Royal Family?
Kenji, the Union of Vindictive Scientists think the keeping of domestic animals in the home is evil. By the year 2030, an effort to forbid the keeping of the 200 million or so domestic animals from being born and decimating the food chain that feeds them will yield great benefit to the planet. That’s like taking 14 million cars off the road.
Given the tremendous concern warmistas have about the funding of their opponents, why is UCS so coy about the identity of its benefactor?
Is there an audit trail for members about this ‘matching’?
I have found Kenji’s contributions to the debate so far to be among the best, fairest and most insightful that we have heard from UCS members.