[Editor Note: It was during the Thanksgiving weekend 11 years ago that the Climategate’s unsettling oeuvre was first being disseminated and analyzed. This post summarizes some remembrances from that period.]

“The conflict between the two ideas about how science should be conducted–a closed system dominated by gatekeepers, or a more chaotic but less hierarchical open system–is the dominant story of the [Climategate] emails over more than a decade.” – Fred Pearce, The Climate Files (2010), p. 13.

“There is no doubt that these emails are embarrassing and a public-relations disaster for science.” – Andrew Dessler, “Climate E-Mails Cloud the Debate,” December 10, 2009.

Climategate lives in infamy. Then, and now, it is a case study of agendas driving science rather than science driving agendas.

A decade ago, climate alarmists and friends (including Dessler above) went into damage control.…

“Featuring leading scientists, politicians and policy experts, and hosted by actor Kevin Sorbo, [Climate Hustle 2] showcases many instances of Hollywood hypocrisy, financial corruption, media bias, classroom indoctrination, political correctness and other troubling matters surrounding the global warming issue.”

“This movie covers virtually everything that has ever been said or discussed about climate change. It gives a true perspective of just how hard the media and climate alarmists are pushing an agenda, and how equally hard climate skeptics are pushing back.”

“If you want rhetoric and doom, watch Al Gore’s movie. If you want a practical and sensible view of what is really happening with climate, watch ClimateHustle 2.”

“We really are being hustled by the left, and it’s depressing to see how much they want iron-fisted climate regulations put on us.”

“Despite the relatively small size of the … Global Warming Policy Foundation, Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), as well as the German Europäisches Institut für Klima und Energie (EIKE), the Austrian Economics Centre (AEC), Institut Économique Molinari (IEM) in France, Instituto Juan de Mariana (IJM) in Spain and the Liberales Institut (LI) in Switzerland…. [they] nevertheless have a ‘remarkable’ level of political influence.”

“The study found that groups on both sides of the Atlantic consistently use the same rhetoric, drawing heavily on libertarian, free-market ideology… and their influence is ‘still growing’.”

Desmog blog has a peculiar methodology of stating a number of facts about disliked individuals and organizations as if this record is prima facie evidence of wrongness and duplicity.

In fact, the same record can be (and is by me) used to make just the opposite point–guilty as charged and proud of it.…

“We are the voice of energy workers pushing back on radical green groups and the ideologues who fund them.”

In February 2018, the 501c4 advocacy group Power the Future joined the energy-policy fray on the side of consumer-chosen, taxpayer-neutral energies. Think oil and gas in particular. Coal too.

By way of introduction, I have copied material from their website for interested readers.

“What We Believe“

Four pillars:

• America is blessed with abundant and reliable energy sources that have been the lifeblood of our national advancement and prosperity.
• We must be generous stewards of our environment for this and future generations.
• Sharing facts (about energy policies, organizations and activists) creates a better-informed population.
• We can have the highest quality of life and the cleanest, most cared for environment.

The Means

We carry out these beliefs by disseminating research, sharing facts and truths, engaging at the local level and interacting with the media.