Opinion by Kip Hansen – 22 May 2021
Covering Climate Now (CCNow) is an advocacy organization operating out of the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) at Columbia University in New York, USA. Their purpose is to spread fear and alarm about – or as they say “raise public awareness of” — what they claim is a “Climate Emergency” or “Climate Crisis”. They are overtly political, liberal-progressive and in the U.S.’s two-party political system, not only actively support and promote the Democratic party and its policy platforms, but overtly urge blaming the opposing Republican party for failing to support climate alarmism – to the extreme that they call for “political leaders who deny the well-established science of climate change ‘should be tried for crimes against humanity.’” [ source ]
CCNow claims to feed stories to 460 media outlets around the world, with a daily penetration of 2 billion readers or listeners. [ source ]
Their approach is to feed pre-written stories, editorial narratives and shared resources to magnify the voices of alarm to convince the world’s people that there is a Climate Crisis that demands everyone giving up fossil fuels, access to inexpensive electrical power, air travel, natural gas heating and cooking and the myriad other benefits of modern life that are a normal part of our developed societies. In addition, they provide story-sharing opportunities where stories in one media outlet can be feely re-posted/re-pubished to another, or used as the basis for “original” re-writing at another media outlet.
Don’t be fooled though. While many of the journalists and reporters that participate in this propaganda campaign are “True Believers” and honestly think that they are doing the right thing, even as they knowingly write biased, one-sided, exaggerated versions of the potential downsides of a warming world, they don’t seem to have any intention to give up anything in their own lives – only other people will be required to do so. They are no different than the now-rich politicians banging on about how bad climate change will be while buying up waterfront mansions in the most expensive enclaves-of-the-rich in the world. These journalists will still happily fly around the world to write of the sorrows of the poor and attend any and every climate conference with jet-setting Hollywood stars.
So, you may well ask, “Who is paying for all of this?”
That question is both easy and difficult. It is easy to find the sources of funding at that are publicly acknowledged by CCNow, those who allow their support to be promoted. It is not known if The Guardian, The Nation, Columbia Journalism Review or the major news agencies and television news networks actually fund salaries at CCNow. It is difficult to discover who is really paying all the expenses for staff salaries, web site hosting, story writing, outreach and all the other expenses inherent in a large, far-reaching advocacy organization – because CCNow is not incorporated and not itself a 501(3)c, it does not have traceable reporting of donations.
Here is CCNow’s official statement:
Covering Climate Now has been made possible by generous grants from Actions@EBMF, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Michaux Family Foundation, Park Foundation, Rockefeller Family & Associates, Schumann Media Center and Wayne Crookes. The fiscal sponsor for Covering Climate Now is the DC-based 501c3, The Fund for Constitutional Government. We are looking for additional funding to sustain the collaborative. Please contact Judy Doctoroff at judy@coveringclimatenow.org for more information.
And this:
Co-founded by the Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation in association with The Guardian and WNYC in 2019, CCNow’s 460-plus partners include some of the biggest names in news, and some of the smallest, because this story needs everyone. In addition to three of the world’s biggest news agencies — Reuters, Bloomberg, and Agence France Presse — each of which provides content to thousands of other newsrooms, our partners include CBS News, NBC and MSNBC News, Noticias Telemundo, PBS NewsHour, Univision, Al Jazeera; most of the biggest public radio stations in the US; many flagship newspapers and TV networks in the Americas, Europe, and Asia; and dozens of leading magazines and journals, including Nature, Scientific American, Rolling Stone, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, and Mother Jones.
The big reveal is that CCNow operates under cover of The Fund for Constitutional Government (FCG). That means that the FCG lets CCNow slip under the covers of its 501(c)3 status, even though CCNow is not an incorporated entity – it is considered a separate project.
And who is FCG when they get up each morning?
“The Fund for Constitutional Government (FCG) is a publicly funded foundation dedicated to exposing and correcting corruption in the United States federal government. FCG accomplishes this work by funding organizations and journalists working to advance and sustain an open and accountable government. FCG is a Section 501(c)(3) organization and may also serve as a fiscal sponsor for new projects.”
What federal government corruption has to do with the current propaganda efforts of CCNow is a mystery – the only connection would be journalism, if only that was what CCNow was really doing, which it isn’t. CCNow is an advocacy group corrupting journalism for what they see as a White Hat Cause – doing good – by any means.
And while Stephen H. Schneider repeatedly tried to walk back his published 1989 statement, CCNow has taken his original statement very much to heart – so much so that it seems to be their guiding principle:
“On the one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but — which means that we must include all the doubts, the caveats, the ifs, ands, and buts. On the other hand, we are not just scientists but human beings as well. And like most people we’d like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that we need to get some broad based support, to capture the public’s imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. This ‘double ethical bind’ we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both.”
Unfortunately, Mark Hertsgaard & Kyle Pope, the founders of CCNow, seem dedicated to only the bolded portion of Schneider’s statement, and exclude all of his ethical caveats. A review of stories pushed by CCNow reveals that there is no effort whatever to see that the stories they ghost-write and share with news outlets are scientifically honest or even factually correct.
Following the Money
It is nearly impossible to “follow the money” with an unincorporated group that hides behind the fiscal sponsorship of a larger charitable organization. Thus, after a great deal of effort, I must report a “null finding” or “negative result”. I did not find any great mysterious malevolent group funding CCNow.
So, who is Paying for CCNow? Where is the money coming from?
For those with little patience and an equal amount of curiosity, the simple answer is:
The Usual Suspects
And who would that be?
Fund for Constitutional Government
The Stewart R. Mott Foundation
Rockefeller Family Fund [and several other Rockefeller family-related trusts and foundations]
Center for Climate Integrity (CCI)
Schumann Media Center Inc [Bill Moyers is President]
and also, to a lesser degree:
Actions@EBMF [a grantmaking branch of Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust]
Wayne Crookes [Canadians will recognize this name]
The Motts, Parks, and Rockefellers fund lots of leftish and progressive organizations. I would need to be funded by FCG or the Rockefellers to have the resources to discover where the money is really coming from. I can’t even find a way to discover how much money is involved.
The Board of CCNow consists of:
Michael Cavallo — Writer and Former Director of Renewable Energy for C40 Cities
Mark Hertsgaard — Editor at Large at The Nation
Conrad Martin — Executive Director of Fund for Constitutional Government and on the Board of the Stewart R. Mott Foundation
Kyle Pope — Editor and Publisher of Columbia Journalism Review
Jane Spencer — Deputy Editor and Head of Strategy at Guardian US
Katrina vanden Heuvel — Publisher and Editorial Director of The Nation
The Team (I am guessing that this means paid staff):
Mark Hertsgaard — co-founder & executive director
Judy Doctoroff — managing director
Karin Kamp — digital editor
Mekdela Maskal — engagement editor
Andrew McCormick — deputy director
Symone Moore — project coordinator
Lili Zay — research & engagement coordinator
There is more information about each of the above at CCNow’s About page – clicking on names results in a pop-up info window.
The Bottom Line:
Covering Climate Now seems to be funded by the usual gaggle of left-ish and progressive charitable-funding foundations and news organizations already engaged in their own climate-related propaganda campaigns.
While the efforts of CCNow are a reprehensible corruption of journalism, there does not seem to be any discoverable unusual funding source.
# # # # #
Author’s Comment:
I didn’t expect to find much to report on the funding of CCNow, but felt I should share what I did find. Rather disappointing . . . but reality often is.
Funding in the world of non-profits is based on a good idea, a good “pitch” and a “popular cause”. I have raised thousands for my small 501(c)3 that helps poor families with just a web site and registering with foundations that “forward” donations — allowing donors to be one-step separated from the donation recipients. My “good idea” is micro-enterprise loans to profoundly poor families to allow them to lift themselves out of poverty through family-based businesses. The pitch is this effort is from one family (the donor) to another family, the recipient. And helping the poor help themselves has always been a popular cause.
CCNow has perverted this pattern to raise funds to scare people into going along with society-destroying solutions to a non-existent problem. Do me a favor, expose CCNow whenever and wherever you can. Thanks.
Start comments with “Kip…” if speaking to me.
Thanks for reading.
# # # # #
Interesting. Perhaps we should treat them as Organized Crime/Terrorist Organization and find out precisely who and what they are. RICO is a powerful tool. And yes, the left in America is already doing exactly this to American citizens who speak out against their Anti-American crap.
Yes, and it would be appropriate to rename it ConConNow. Here a con, there and con, everywhere a con con.
It would be a real coup to be able to utilize RICO statutes against and Freeze the Assets of “The Usual Suspects” for the next couple of years.
Bryan ==>It is not actually illegal to operate propaganda campaigns in support of one’s advocacy positions.
In this case, the fact that what they are pushing is exaggeration, biased, pretending to be fact and news, pernicious, will inevitably cause societal harm — there is nothing that is illegal.
The hysterical Climate Alarmist crowd calls for the same treatment — jailing and prosecution — of climate skeptics.
and I believe that certain American politicians should be treated as traitors, attempting to sabotage the US economy….
Gregory ==> Rather, I would suggest that those who disagree with our political views should be held to full public exposure and full public exposure of the probably outcomes of their policies.
Kip: Will not the implementation of The Green New Deal lead to the destruction of the economy? Energy is the lifeblood of the economy and it should be affordable, readily available and always reliable. To advocate for anything else, on the part of politicians who have the power, is treachery to me. Do we try to jawbone known mass murderers – bad boys, bad boys…?
Gregory ==> If every political-party-out-of-power was allowed to incarcerate the members of the party-in-power for carrying out their campaign promise policies, we would have even worse results….
Well, in fact, we are going through that scenario, right now, with the in-power Democrats doing all in their power to trash the previous admin and ALL of it’s followers! If they could have their way, ALL Republicans and ESPECIALLY all Trump supporters would be thrown in prison for something, anything! This is why they are fighting so hard to stop the election audits where everyone knows there was election fraud! The trick is to blame the other party for what THEY are doing! The Democrats are experts at this form of Marxist power accumulation!
IAMPCBOB ==> There are certainly some radical (read- CRAZY) voices calling for such – trying to out-do even those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. The are the exception.
2hotel9 ==> RICO is a sledge-hammer. What this situation needs is a spotlight.
RICO would require honest courts and prosecutors, though, so I won’t hold my breath.
Last time I “held” my breath I was stepping off the drop ramp of a sh*thook in central North Carolina. I now have zero confidence in any Federal level court in America.
Kip, congratulations on your personal enterprise outlined in the author’s comment. As to the rest, it can probably be simplified to read Some One Residing Over Seas or one of his many offshoots.
Peter ==> If you are familiar with the Columbia Journalism Review, it used to be the “conscience” of real journalism, watching and catching journalists who failed to adhere to the highest journalistic standards. Its penultimate president was Liz Spayd — who left to become the Public Editor of the NY Times — famously dismissed for doing her job. [The far left, of course, called it justified and necessary . . .].
One used to be able to write to the Pubic Editor at he Times and complain that a NY Times journalist had failed to check their sources or mis-stated the larger truth. If egregious, Spayd would call out the journalist in her column and speak it her/his editors and force them to issue a correction.
Alas, no more.
This is but part of the reason that the NYT is no longer a news organization! They now only report on LIES and stories that they, or someone else, have made up! That is not journalism!
Peter ==> The Guardian is (for the US) an overseas news organization.
Kip
Interestingly though, the US News section of Yahoo News usually has a majority of the ‘news’ articles written by The Guardian and a couple other British news outlets. In reality, these are usually political screeds advocating leftist ideology and (when he was president) denigrating Trump. The MSM regularly complains about foreign influences in our politics and elections. Yet, nothing is said about British outlets attempting to influence our elections, or US sources using British sources.
Clyde ==> That is a curious point that I have long noticed — why the British press involve themselves in US politics to such an extent.
What gets me is the amount of coverage of British “Royal” doings in the US media. Unhealthy? A longing to be ‘subjects’ again, with no real personal responsibilities, instead of ‘citizens’ of a Republic?
I don’t think it’s even that complicated – US citizens seem to love the idea of exotic titles like ‘duke’, ‘earl’ or ‘princess’ as an outward sign of success or status and seem to have an overly romanticised view of working royalty – presumably fuelled by Disney and suchlike. It tends to lead to severe disappointment and catastrophe in those unprepared for the reality.
It mirrors the involvement of the US in internal British politics for quite some time now. Obama’s ‘lecturing’ UK citizens on how to vote against Brexit launched a massive backlash that had the opposite effect as most UK citizens are irritated by it – I’m guessing US citizens would be equally annoyed.
The fable of independence has been imprinted since birth, so the real power structure becomes obscured. America, like all the Commonwealth countries, are still very much colonies of the British Empire. Just like England, also a colony of the Empire, we are all beholden unto our masters, The Crown, whose headquarters used to be in the City of London, also called “the square Mile”. I believe they have moved to somewhere in or near America, during or shortly after the Great Gold Crash around the turn of this century, a fabricated financial upset that moved the assets of entire countries into a new account.
Shortly after, climate calamity rose from fringe ‘science’ to ‘hot topic’, and the speed at which assets are flowing out of public hands accelerated tremendously, and quasi-religious organs of evangelism, like CCNow suddenly became charitable beneficiaries of government funding.
Soon, the streets of America will look like the streets of the UK three hundred years ago; filled with criminally unemployed youth in dire need of salvation from their idleness.
The question is; how will forty acres and a mule translate to the coming rounding up of indentured slaves on their way to mine asteroids and moon craters?
Kip – thanks for continuing to post re: CCNow. This is an important topic that needs to be covered and revealed. China and Russia could not ask for a better partner in helping to bring down the West than organizations like CCNow. A quote from another WUWT article, or maybe EDMHDOTME that is applicable to virtually all leftists climate activists: “An excellent way to undermine Western economies is to render their power generation unreliable and expensive. That objective of Green thinking is progressively being achieved by Government policies throughout the Western world, but without popular mandate”.
CCNow is working overtime to aid and abet our enemies and much of the MSM is helping.
complete nonsense. Actual leftists aren’t interested in climate change.
Pull the other one mate, it’s got bell’s on! It’s only the bloody leftists that are interested in climate change, no-one else.
“Pull the other one mate, it’s got bell’s on!”
Are you a Morris man ?
Umm. My actual name is up there above my post. My actual name. Nothing to do with anyone called Morris – I don’t even know anyone by that name. Why would you even say something like that?
Richard ==> You’re not from the UK then? Maybe some Brit will explain. . . .
Hiunt: It has to do with bells.
Kip – shush now, don’t spoil the wind-up! Yeah, I am from the UK, I did realise what he was hinting at and, yes, I was trying to play dumb for comedic effect!
You mis-typed your comment griff. I think you meant to say:
“Actual leftists are completely interested in climate change nonsense”
cmon griff, so we’re supposed to believe that you’re not an actual leftist?
Well, like you, those sure wail enough about it…
But what you say IS TRUE
Leftists AREN’T interested in Climate Change at all, they’re interested in Global Dominance through Political Transformation and Wealth Redistribution (from those who have it and know how to produce it to Themselves)
Perhaps you are correct, Griff, but climate change AIDS and ABETS the goals of the Left and the MSM jumps in and does it’s best to PROMOTE it, too! NONE of them are friends of freedom-seeking people!
“Actual leftists aren’t interested in climate change.”
I agree with you Griff. The hard-core Left is only interested in using the Climate Scam for power. Once they seize control, just as we see in China and Russia today, environmental protections are quickly ditched wherever they get in the way of economic progress. It is the nature of topdown totalitarian power structures. Seizing and holding power are all that matters.
Notice:
It would be fun to visit the “Troll” cage, at a zoo.
Barnes ==> CCNow is an enemy of all humanity — as the “climate solutions” they are pushing will harm far more people than they help.
Anytime a journalist publishes a news story [ one that readers will assume to be true because “that’s the rule in journalism”] that is slanted, biased, untrue because the journalist failed to do a thorough job of research, or outright exaggerates or intentionally writes falsehoods — hey are acting in direct violation of the ethical standards of their profession. Such journalists should turn in their laptops and become tour guides in Venice.
Whilst it is true that China is pouring billions into news organisations and journalists, and into government lobby groups around the world in an effort to “Tell China’s story well” – state propaganda in all but name, they may have forgotten the Grauniad’s cheques! Judging by the tone and content of many of the stories about China, the Grauniad isn’t being funded by them.
Now Russia, on the other hand……
Richard ==> The CCNow crowd only sometimes calls China out on new coal electrical generation plants being built –sometimes they just tout the Us Government line — “China and US co-operating on Climate”.
So: will we get balance with an article showing who pays for the GWPF? Or where all the skeptic ‘thinktanks’ get funded from?
Well they don’t get funded by leftist think tanks that for sure, nor do they get funded by the same governments that fund the ipcc ,and who do they fund, thats right scientists for thier reports ,they don’t get funded by the likes of shell who have gone woke practically and symbolically, but they do get funded by people who allow folks like you to comment ,unlike the left funding institutions who ban all forms of counter narrative.
For over 10 years, the GWPF and other think tanks have been subjected to repeated articles far more hostile than the one above, vilifying it’s anonymous donor’s as ‘deniers’, smearing them as some sort of criminals, and worse.
Where was your bloody special balance then? Well? Everything must revolve around your twisted view of the world, mustn’t it?
Enough – if this article serves to balance even a tiny bit against 10 years of hate then let it stand just as it is.
PLEASE DON’T FEED THE TROLL ! Pretty please….
sorry
Sorry Kip. I’ll try to do better in future.
Richard == Thank you — they fade away if no one talks to them. Feed hem attention and they take over a thread — which is their purpose.
Yeah, but it’s fun watching the little bitch getting slapped around!
Griff, mate
There’s a button named “Submit Story”
How can we skeptics regain a foothold in the public eye ?
savenergy ==> That’s a good question! The solution is harder and requires actual effort on the part of al of us who are not “going along to get along” with the Climate Emergency Meme.
Authors — those who know and are skilled at sharing their knowledge –professional authors, some researchers, some scientists, some people like me — just need to keep writing. I have been quite surprised to find that my essays here at WUWT and Climate Etc. have been re-posted over and over again on the web. Even translated and re-posted. Your reach is far greater than you think. Obviously, people like Happer, John Christy, Roy Spencer, Jennifer Marohasy, Jo Nova, this list is very long — have a greater reach and public impact that people like myself. BUT no matter what your level of journalistic skill or scientific standing — Keep Writing.
Regular Folks — you know something — you know where people can go to get a more realistic view of climate science and our shared climate future. You can share links to sensible stories that give the basic “truer” facts. You can share your understanding — you can share your clam certainty that we are not “all going to die in ten years” because of climate change. You don’t need to rant or even get excited. A calm recitation of facts is much more effective than an over-the-top screed. So — Keep Sharing
Ridicule and scientific rigour. Make fun of the stupid bastards wherever you hear one spreading their religion. Have the real science (which is never consensual) at your fingertips as well as you can manage, then build yourself a character-specific set of jokes and jibes and sarcastic social commentary. You don’t have to be an expert, but you must have a set list of go-to experts to refer to, like this site.
Mostly, just take the climastrologists’ statements, and ridicule the heck out of it using common sense and the adult human’s innate ability to mentally follow a stupid idea to its calamitous conclusion. Or at least demand proof for their nonsensical nonsense. At school, in the office, in the supermarket check-out queue, in the pub, at the fuel pump…wherever people gather, you can make fun of the climastrologists in a way that makes people think twice. Your embarassment or shyness is pitched against a satanic cabal hell bent on eradicating 96% of humanity, to hell with worrying about the opinions of people too indoctrinated to listen to the crap coming out their own mouths.
I have it on good authority that the devil hates being laughed at…
If you want to operate at the level of a Kip Hanson, why don’t you start writing down the cost and energy involved in manufacturing a solar panel. By the time you get to the point where that panel is loaded onto a truck, you will have enough shocking revelations to start your own web site!
Why “follow”? We all know where it is going. Just go to the appropriate capital and wait. Will save you some walking.
I didn’t expect to find much to report on the funding of CCNow, but felt I should share what I did find. Rather disappointing . . . but reality often is..
Kip not at all , you have shown some funding ,exposed some funders, and brought to light a organisation who many, (my self included) knew nothing about.
B Clarke ==> It is shocking that “all the Climate Emergency stories” have the same source. Of course, not literally, but almost — 460 news outlets with a daily penetration of 2 billion people.
It is easy to see how all this COVID-19 nonsense spread all over the world. First, it was don’t wear masks they don’t work. And then suddenly, almost all on the same day, the narrative changed all over the world.
The media is in cahoots all over the world. The only time I believe them is when they tell you something that goes against their chosen narrative.
Very dangerous attitude that, my friend. It is one of Their stock-in-trade protocols; pretending to be against what you are against, or for what you are for, all the while “leading the narrative” down the Bolshevik groove.
The paragraph preceding that quote reads like a CNN producer’s to-do list, or a Penn State report on “fake news” and What To DO About It.
Never trust a Bolshevik, NEVER! Especially when it offers “help”.
By the same token, them being subsumed under, whatsit again?
So, we’re ALL paying their salaries?
So, in the end, it’s all my fault again…what’s new?
Kip – I think most of the big money will be traced to Soros and Tides Foundation, and ultimately to the Chinese Communist Party. Leftist groups have received one billion dollars in bribes to sabotage the Alberta economy, much of it laundered through Tides. The Deloitte report naming the recipients of this funding is now due to be released on May 31, 2021 – we’ll see if our incompetent/corrupt Alberta government delays it yet again.
DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR ALBERTA INQUIRY INTO FUNDING FOR OIL AND GAS CRITICS
January 30, 2021 6:06 pm
https://globalnews.ca/…/alberta-inquiry-oil-and-gas…/
The commissioner of Alberta’s inquiry into the funding of oil and gas industry critics said a deadline extension will allow more time for the inquiry to get responses from the people it names.
The inquiry headed by Steve Allan was to have completed its report by Sunday, but the United Conservative government released an order-in-council on Friday night amending the inquiry’s deadline to May 31.
Allan said in a written statement that it was always the inquiry’s intention to give an opportunity for response to people “who may be subject to a finding of misconduct or the subject of a materially adverse factual finding.”
…
Premier Jason Kenney and his government contend that foreign interests have long been bankrolling campaigns against Canadian fossil fuel development, and note that the original deadline for the report was July 2020.
My comment: The Steve Allan / Deloitte report release has taken far too long, and the delay has damaged the Kenney government’s credibility. It should have been released in July 2020 as originally scheduled – the leftist groups who received the one billion dollars in bribes to sabotage the Alberta economy could have responded after the report was released – accommodating their slow responses merely allows them to dupe and delay the government and Albertans one more time.
Allan ==> Please be sure to post a link to the report when it is published or send a copy to me. Thanks.
Will do Kip.
You can contact me through my website to send me your email address.
https://energy-experts-international.com/
Or I can email you via Anthony.
Allan ==> You can email me at my first name at the domain i4 dot net.
Kip – sent you 3 emails re the Alberta Inquiry etc. – pls confirm receipt via return email..
Allan ==> Will do . . busy on Sundays.
Kip – background information on the Steve Allan / Deloitte inquiry,
https://albertainquiry.ca/
Allan ==> Thanks for that.
“There is nothing that is more frightful than ignorance in action.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
John ==> This is a case of “Ignorance as a Guiding Principle — we dont know and don’t want you to know — we’re sticking with our narrative, right or wrong!”
“So, who is Paying for CCNow? Where is the money coming from?”
The first person who came to my mind was George Soros. This type of conniving is right up that sneaky bastard’s alley. I think he and his demon spawn deserve to be on that list.
David ==> Soros’ money seeps into every left/progressive/anti-capitalist movement around the world,
Thanks for the CCNow effort. Unsurprising result.
I am rather sanguine about CCNow. The reason is that their silly stuff enables much future ridicule, and ridicule, not reason, is what will finally stop the madness. AOC, Biden, Newsom, Kerry… don’t like being ridiculed because they are (in their minds at least) serious people.
Renewables are expensive, unreliable, and when applied in large doses (technically grid penetration) can crash the grid—like this past February in Texas. California just mandated all EV by 2035. That only guarantees that either a lot of Californians won’t have cars at all, or they will have to revoke the foolish mandate. Not enough lithium and cobalt, not enough grid, not enough renewables. Germany mandated no coal generation after mid 2030’s (IIRC 2038). IF SO, That only means CCGT because renewables can’t cut it alone without backup, thereby placing Germany utterly at the mercy of Russia via Nordstream 2. Trump warned them, Merkel ignored the warning, and Biden just facilitated Merkel by removing sanctions.
Rud ==> You are not wrong, of course. I am an ex-journalist (in the raging 60’s) — radio journalism at University. What CCNow is doing is “just plain wrong” for any Real Journalist. Like asking general practitioner doctors to make people sick instead of treating them so they get better — all for some claimed public good, naturally.
Kip,
As I have repeatedly complained and pointed out to NPR and the Associated Press, both NPR and AP’s climate reporting and CCNow are plain, bald-faced, direct and incontrovertible violations of every tenet of journalistic practice and ethics.
John ==> In that you are absolutely right.
Someone had blundered
Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die
Tennyson, Charge of the light brigade
How I yearn for the olden days when doomsday shills just walked about the streets wearing their sandwich boards proclaiming-
THE END IS NIGH!
REPENT!
The Fund for Constitutional Government could perform a public service by auditing the Government agencies responsible for altering the climate records concerning such as drought, wildfires, temperature and others. Biden’s agents are now rapidly altering the records to show alarm where there is none. Is this Constitutional? Is the President not required to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed?”
DHR ==> Many a well-meaning effort has been hijacked by Popular Manias and Mass Hysterias. Washington D.C. started as a swamp and remains so — changing the arty in power does not change that basic fact.
Fun story about the DC swamp. Originally DC was created from gifted land from both Virginia and Maryland. The Virginia ‘DC’ land north of Alexandria was decent; the Maryland land basically sandwiched between the Potomac and Anacostia rivers was ‘bad’ because swampy. So Virginia took back their part, some of which is now Arlington National Cemetary on what was formerly General Lee’s family plantation. DC was supposed to be ‘square’; as a result it isn’t.
And the nickname for the State Department HQ is ‘foggy bottom’ because that is what the location literally originally was.
There is an “ETrade” advertisement that is continuously roiling this webpage and making it very difficult (if not downright impossible) to read Kip’s fine article. It is also making it extremely difficult to write comments.
Those ads are interfering with lots of web pages. If you’re on a desk top PC [F11] will provide some relief.
I use adblocker on my iPhone and my laptop
Problem gone
Kip,
Thank you for unearthing the fabulous Stephen Schneider-authored (non)apologia and rationalization for his infamous confession of intentionally exaggerating climate news and predictions.
For those of you who have not seen it, Schneider’s waffle commences on page 2 of: https://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/DetroitNews.pdf
Because I’ve seen Schneider’s quote so many times, I almost stopped reading once I’d seen page 1 wherein Scheider quotes the original Detroit News article containing the quotation. Readers should be sure to continue on to page 2 where Schneider begins his comment.
John ==> Thanks for inviting readers to “dig deeper”.
Kip,
Excellent work. Yours is what once was called investigative journalism. I was struck by how many of the same funding sources appear funding PBS and NPR (formerly known as) News hour programming, as well as much of the (once quite good) Nature, Nova and similar programming.
dk_ ==> One has to realize that family foundations, like the Parks and Rockefellers and the Motts, pass from generation to generation. The Rockefeller money is now under the control of what are know as “The Cousins”. These are the Rockefeller grandkids . . . and they are each other’s cousins , thus the name. see https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/rockefeller-family-fund/
The same is generally true of the other great philanthropic fortunes — the grant making and gifting is now controlled by persons educated in the best schools in the 60s and 70s — none of them had to work for a living (though many did anyway) and they tend to be liberal/progressive (often in reaction and opposition to their parents and grandparents who made the money in the first place.)
I knew a Rockefeller “cousin” back in the late 1970s when I was a counsellor — she was a mess resulting from too much money and too many demands that she “be the right kind of person” and “not make a scandal”.
So, when I was young-ish, and NPR and PBS were new, the grandparents and parents supported good programming and honest news coverage — and we needed those things. But as the grands and parents died off and retired, the kids took over and through “funding bias” have pushed NPR and PBS to the left — as has the populating those organizations with young leftists fresh out of our higher mis-education system.
Good observation. I’ve seen IMO less biased coverage when sponsors include the Greens’ evil oil exploiting competition for PBS programming (e.g. Koch Brothers’ charities). More likely, this is my own creeping bias confirmation. As I’ve come to find coverage from them more disgustingly groveling to multiple ideologies not my own, I’ve also watched less programming, and none of the News. I don’t listen to radio or podcasts from NPR at all anymore – sad, because I once (a decade ago?) could get some entertainment value from that source.
Kip
Typo: “It is easy to find the sources of funding at are publicly …”
Kip
More typos:
“and myriad the other benefits …”
“It is not know if The Guardian, …”
“That means that the FCG let’s CCNow slip …”
Clyde ==> There are well-paying work-from-home jobs copy editing for publishers . . . . just saying, you are good at it.
Thank out for that idea, Kip. I’m very good at it too, I must see what I can find. Right now I’m an unpaid editor for kindle authors, submitting several corrections per book, reading about 20 books a month!
Zig ==> I used to write programs for friends and helped people put up web sites — loved it. Then I went to work for IBM for the big bucks….retired at 54.
Getting paid for something you’d happily do for free is the bomb!
Kip
I assume your ‘well-paid’ editor was out of town. 🙂
Thank you for the compliment. I do have an eye for detail. However, I don’t need the money and I would rather have the time to address bigger problems that pique my interest.
Clyde ==> Ah, but to be paid to read the books you want to read anyway…..
Clyde ==> Always at least one . . . thanks!
Kip,
Thanks for doing the work that we ignore at our peril! Exposing these Bozos to criticism and ridicule is a very long game; I wish someone like James O’Keefe of Project Veritas would go after them, but I guess he’s got bigger fish to fry at the moment!
Maybe an intrepid, aspiring citizen journalist can do a deep dive into CCNow; they’re Progressives, so you KNOW that there are likely skeletons buried in the dirt they try to hide! By the way, please do not sully the word ‘journalist’ by associating it with these clowns! They are mere propagandists, or, as I like to call them, urinalists! Knowingly or not, they spread ideological talking points and don’t do ANY real fact checking or verification.
You’re right, RICO statutes are a sledgehammer that should be reserved for mass murder by denial of medical treatment, or large scale voter fraud to steal elections!
AB => My opinion is that they all want to be Bernstein and Woodward — saving the world — they don;t care if it is true — they just want a good story that makes them seem important and really really cool.
Unfortunately, zealots of all stripes tend to rationalize their behavior with the unstated belief that the end justifies any means. The classic contradiction is a policeman planting evidence or lying under oath to convict someone he is convinced is a criminal. That is, the policeman rationalizes breaking the law (i.e. becoming a criminal) to punish someone who breaks the law. The irony escapes such a person because of the White Hat syndrome.
The same applies to those alarmists who turn a blind eye to contradictory evidence, or purposely omit such evidence in a research paper (Sins of Omission), or are dishonest in reporting their research, (Sins of Commission). They fail to realize that if they are not observing the Scientific Method rigorously, they run a greater risk of coming to the wrong conclusion, and doing harm. However, they rationalize their behavior as being for the ‘greater good,’ despite being less certain about the correctness of their policy proscriptions.
Clyde ==> Yes, the worst case is the dedicated climate scientist that knows that there may be, in his/her opinion, that there is some cause for concern, but out of self-protection and group pressures, pretends and supports climate alarmism’s false memes.
It is intended that JOURNALISTS discover this and report it to the public — that the public receives an honest and even-handed recounting of the science and the implications of policies being promoted.
CCNow expressly calls for the suppression of any source that does not actively promote Climate Emergency and expressly calls for all non-consensus voices to be silenced.
Kip,
The classic example of that has to be Li’l Jimmy Hansen. His 2008 study shows nearly continuous decline in the temp anomaly for the last 50Mya, yet he continues to screech about catastrophic warming! He needs to smacked over the head with copies of his study like a poorly trained puppy whenever he opens his mouth to promote the CAGW myth!
Columbia University has long been the nidus of Marxist thought in US academia. NASA/GISS embedded being with Columbia U has led that organization to become nothing more than a political propaganda outlet that spews pseudoscience and alters the climate records they curate to support the propaganda climate models they produce. This is all part of the development of class warfare, a splitting of people into tribes using identity politics and divisive rhetoric claiming Resistant to Climate Change scam is based in vestiges of “white power” structures. It is total hogwash brainwashing an entire generation now, and going into a second generation of newer students with this destructive , garbage can ideology taking on ever more divisive language.
This is all part of the the overall Cultural War, a revolution not unlike Mao’s except currently “cold” that is grounded in Marxist ideology and enabling power hungry Democrats, being waged on the US people and all the Western institutions in general. Central to this Leftist war’s strategic objectives is the attack and subversion of the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western values and morality that created the Enlightenment a and the Industrial Revolution and capitalism, destruction of a moral purpose for individual responsibility, most importantly an attempt at rejection of objective truth.
The destruction of “objective truth” is the entire point of where Kip writes, “there is no effort whatever to see that the stories they ghost-write and share with news outlets are scientifically honest or even factually correct.”
As for “I would need to be funded by FCG or the Rockefellers to have the resources to discover where the money is really coming from. I can’t even find a way to discover how much money is involved. ”
No , you would need financial resources of a tax-funded prosecutor with subpoena powers and court orders for search warrants to dig into this. That’s not gonna happen, the Marxists understand and use our Western values of Due Process and privacy to shield their dark revolution from scrutiny. Democracy does indeed die in the darkness, knifed by the Communists using our values to hide their intent.
That is why the Left and their big tech media enablers have done everything they can to shut down investigative jounalists like Project Veritas. Project Veritas andwidely viewed YouTubers like Louder with Crowder have been targeted for active removal from social media postings to block public knowledge of what the Left is really up to and how they are gas-lighting the public. One unfortunate human weakness they exploit is that too many people are willing to give up personal liberties and objective truths in exchange for a comforting welfare check and a soothing Big Lie that someone else is to blame for whatever happens to them.
Joel ==> Send me money and I’ll be your friend.
My suggestion would be to study the Climate Press releases coming out of CCN for names associated with NASA/GISS that may be coordinating info with them to push narratives. Then FOIA the hell out of those names for their email records, including Schmidt.
Agreed, in particular the courts, who have gone woke, every institution is corupt and oboard with cc and the great reset, even if they don’t realise the full implications.
Joel ==> Ah, yes, the Cultural Wars . . .
It’s not Soros’ money. He’s the conduit.
OK, sure, you see he’s moved 16 Billion to sway the last election, but he’ll not finish the financial year with a 16 billion deficit.
I think the word ‘advocacy’ is pronounced as ‘propaganda’ in this instance.
To paraphrase Cheech and Chong, “If it looks like propaganda, smells like propaganda, and tastes like propaganda, then it must be propaganda.”
Looking through the bios of Covering Climate Now’s Team almost all have journalism backgrounds. Only one has degrees in environmental science and policy and environmental management. So the emphasis is NOT on science but on storytelling.
“CCNow claims to feed stories to 460 media outlets around the world, with a daily penetration of 2 billion readers or listeners. [ source ] ”
Yeah, but their is another 5.5billion folk and these ones are the ones that are going for fossil fuel based prosperity. Their efforts will unravel the whole meme as CO2 emmissions accelerate. They aren’t going to knuckle down to former colonial masters. They know the score too well.
Gary ==> about 50% of those other 5.5 billion are kids who don;t yet read or vote, Many other, a billion or so, are he profoundly poor living in places that are lucky (or not) to have even radio news — they are mostly just trying to feed themselves and their kids.
2 billion adults who read newspapers, watch TV news, or lookat Internet news sites is a HUGE media penetration.
Kip,
You state that “it is difficult to discover who is really paying all the expenses for staff salaries, web site hosting, story writing, outreach and all the other expenses “
Did you ever stop to consider that the reason it is difficult is because you ignore all the
stated funding sources and kept on looking for something that does not exist? The covering climate now project has 460 listed partners all of whom will supply some resources in addition to the other listed funding sources would cover the expenses you claim exist.
Izaak ==> I discuss all the acknowledged funders in the essay.
Yes but you imply that there are other funders who are “really paying” for the expenses and that you can’t discover who they are. What evidence do you have that there are such funders other than some vague belief that “Soros’ money seeps into every left/progressive/anti-capitalist movement around the world,”
So perhaps rather than just trying to spread the usual slurs against George Soros you provide evidence that other funders actually exist.
None of which is not to say that dark money is not a corrupting influence on politics in many countries including the UK and the USA. But you can’t just allege that such funders exist without providing evidence for them.
Izaak ==> I am writing Opinion here . . . . as as you seem to already be aware, dark money drives many of the political and social movements of our day. My suspicion that dark money is involved in this nefarious effort if therefore not even a stretch — just a highly possible suspicion.
“Follow the money” is unfortunately not the same thing as “cui bono”. The benefit goes to industries and politicians invested in alternative energy plays.
Also, ethicists need to deconstruct the statement that “[we] scientists . . . are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but . . .”
Is there actually some warrant for the assertion that scientists are more honest and morally superior to the rest of humanity, a sort of priesthood? Are scientists less motivated than the rest of us by the need to secure a living and support their families, by financial pressures, by unconscious bias in the direction of professional security? Are they more likely than most of us to take professionally unpopular stands? In fact, individual scientists are quite free to fudge (or docilely follow) with the faith that the entire institution is somehow methodically self-correcting, so that individual ‘errors’ don’t count much.
For what its worth: Charity Navigator reports that FCG revenue in 2018 of just over $3 million
and < 8% was spent on non-program expenses [which is quite good as charitable organizations go]. But it is 3 yr old data and says nothing about where the program dollars were obtained or spent.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/237391766
For what it’s worth, what does this mean? What is FCG and how are charities relevant to this subject? Charity is aid given to the helpless and needy. Money given to support scientific research and journalism is not charity. Even money in support of research on disease subsidizes the for-profit medical industry before, if ever, it aids the sufferers.
Mark ==> In the United States, charity status is granted to organizations that meet this standard:
“501(c)(3) tax-exemptions apply to entities that are organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, for testing for public safety, to foster national or international amateur sports competition, for the prevention of cruelty to children, women, or animals. ”
My wife and I are officers of, and operate, a small 501(c)3 that gives aid to poor families.
It won’t be too long I suspect before the truth escapes from the whole body of lying hoaxers. For now we await the next IPCC Report (AR6 2021/22 I suppose) to see what they have to say now about the inaccuracies of their modelling and the fact that the global temperature refuses to ply ball with them.
In 2007, the “science section of their AR4, stated unequivocally the models would have to pass a ‘hindcasting’ test in order to be accepted. It was essential they said – and of course it is, – a model MUST be able to reproduce a known climate from the past, starting from another kown climate fro many years before. However, six whole years later, in 2013, they came out with red faces of course, to admit that NONE – NOT ONE – of their by 122 models could pass such a test. They then suggested that they would now just try to “rank”.the models, determining which was the best one. How you do that when not one of them can pass any test is beyond me. I expect that problem will have to be admitted in 2921 — again with red faces!!
In the meantime, I am hoping that someone with clout, will realise thet the problem lies with their most fundamental model which is simply a black, weightless shell with no soil and no air, used to “represent” an earth without greenhouse gases. This leads to the quite meaningless “Effective Emission Temperature” (EET) – not the mean temperature – of 254.9 K (-18.1.K [or C] which thus requires them to ADD 33 C from – of course, from carbon dioxide – in order to achieve (from the EET of course) the actual global MEAN temperature of 15 C (288 Kelvin). What a shambles.
However, had they taken a better model earth, with soil and air, they would have found that without any greenhouse gas, the air is warmed to a mean of about 294 K during the day and cools to an average of about 282 during the night to provide a mean temperature of about 288 K as it is known to be. John Nicol (PhD, Physics) .
I’ve run a couple of non-profits in my life. Not on purpose, though…
Michael ==> me too . . . .
Kip
Thank you for giving the full Schneider paragraph quote. Too many times the last sentence – “I hope that means being both.” – is left off.
But “I hope…”, after the earlier advice – I wonder just how serious he was.
Tombstone ==> Schneider spent the rest of this life trying to walk back that statement, defending himself and urging others to be honest to both the science and their personal sense of duty. Far too many in the CliSci world , I believe, were emboldened by his statement and took only the scary stories bit to heart and into practice.