Help NCSE Nail Down The Heartland Institute's Latest Trick

That nefarious leech of an organization, the Heartland Institute, the one that put up the billboards implying that people who think climate change is important are mad bombers, has done something really offensive, again. They made a fake packet of information with fake stuff about climate change and sent it to teachers and other educators, as well as graduate students, to try to trick them into passing the lies and deceptions on to their students. According to the National Center for Science Education:

Around Halloween, thousands of science teachers, science professors, and graduate students received copies of a slick packet attacking climate science. A prominent climate change denial group sent teachers a booklet which mimics a real scientific report, and a cover letter slyly urging recipients to "use that work to inform your thinking—and your students—on this important issue."NIPCC mailing contents, including envelope, cover letter from Diane Carol Bast, "Climate Change Reconsidered II" booklet, and a postcard offering a chance to "Win $500"

The NCSE is trying to assess how bad the damage is and they would like your help. Please CLICK HERE and visit the NCSE sit and let them know whether or not you receive the package.

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If that postcard offering a "chance" to "win $500" doesn't have a legal disclaimer on it, including the well-known words "void where prohibited by law," it might be an opening for a way to threaten these dorks with legal action.

Frankly I would not be terribly upset if someone hacked the air conditioning system at their office, so the place heats up to a good 85 degrees Fahrenheit while the thermostats all show 72. That or burn a decent quantity of coal upwind of them for a few days, so they get a whiff of what they're selling. "Oh P.U.!, what's that nasty smell? Coal? Really? Eww...."

Realistically the best weapon to use against scum like Heartland is ridicule and sarcasm. For example a billboard showing a background of a photo from the Philippines, with a face-closeup of Pinocchio in the foreground with his nose grown out to a foot in length, the headline "Climate change is a myth," and a URL such as "heartlandlies.com." Or send out postal mail to the same mailing list, with postcards offering a chance to win $500 of storm & flood insurance with a "force majeure" exclusion for "acts of God and climate change."

Don't even engage these people at the level of reasoning. The goal is to make them look like fatuous liars and quacks, to the undecideds. The way to get there isn't by arguing facts and theories, but to just go after them as liars, quacks, charlatans, and frauds, deserving of ridicule and scorn.

G from CA: Your name wouldn't be Gleich would it? Chuckle.

By Sylvester B (not verified) on 06 Jan 2014 #permalink