You know what feels good? Winning. And that’s just what we’re doing.
We’ve just learned that yet another major Heartland Institute contributor, LKQ, has pulled its support. With the loss of LKQ, which Heartland expected to contribute $150,000 this year, the Heartland Institute has lost over a million dollars in expected support -- nearly half of its total expected funding for this year. Thanks to your work, this hateful group of climate change deniers -- the same ones who compared those of us concerned about climate change to serial killers and terrorists -- has been seriously crippled.
Let’s take a moment to celebrate our incredible victory. Can you share the great news with friends and family, to up the pressure on the dwindling list of companies that remain?
Click here to share our graphic on Facebook!
Or forward this email to a friend, and encourage them to go to http://sumofus.org/campaigns/heartland/ to join you in taking action.
For decades, climate change denial has been funded by the corporate world, aiming to confuse the public about the overwhelming scientific consensus around global warming in order to protect its profits. Your efforts represent a massive turning point -- not just for the Heartland Institute, but for the entire climate change denier industry. Together, we are telling these corporations that they can’t simply keep funding this work without people like us holding them accountable.
Before last week’s conference, SumOfUs.org and our allies at Forecast the Facts and 350 tried to get Clear Channel -- the same company that ran Heartland's billboard -- to run our response ads calling on Pfizer and others to quit funding Heartland. When Clear Channel refused, you came to the rescue. You helped fund a rally outside the conference and people-powered bike billboards that circled the conference venue, exposing Comcast, Pfizer and Microsoft, which continue to support Heartland’s extremism. The rally got so much attention that even a couple notorious climate change deniers came out to see what the commotion was about.
All the attention we’ve brought to Heartland’s anti-climate crusade over the past few months culminated in this moment: In his closing remarks, Heartland President Joseph Bast admitted that his group is running out of resources -- because we’ve gotten so many corporations to flee -- and he announced that, due to a lack of funding, this would be Heartland’s last planned climate change denial conference!
Let’s keep the momentum going, and up the pressure on the rest of Heartland’s funders. Click here to share the graphic above on Facebook.
Thanks for all you do,
--Kaytee, Taren, Emma, Claiborne and the rest of us
P.S. There has been some amazing media coverage of the Heartland story, and our campaign has been at the center of the story. Politico dubbed our growing movement to call out corporations who meddle in democracy the “shame lobby,” citing a “string of stunning victories recently that would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago.” Here are a few of the best write-ups that you may want to check out.
Politico, The Shame Lobby, 16 May 2012
Guardian, Heartland Institute facing uncertain future as staff depart and cash dries up, 20 May 2012
