Dr. Peter Gleick is the co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California. His bio states that he is a hydroclimatologist by training, with a B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley from the Energy and Resources Group. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrological impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources. Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognized water expert and was named a MacArthur Fellow in October 2003 for his work. In 2001, Gleick was dubbed a “visionary on the environment” by the British Broadcasting Corporation and in 2006 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
Earlier today, a statement from Dr. Gleick was published in the Huffington Post:
Since the release in mid-February of a series of documents related to the internal strategy of the Heartland Institute to cast doubt on climate science, there has been extensive speculation about the origin of the documents and intense discussion about what they reveal. Given the need for reliance on facts in the public climate debate, I am issuing the following statement.
At the beginning of 2012, I received an anonymous document in the mail describing what appeared to be details of the Heartland Institute’s climate program strategy. It contained information about their funders and the Institute’s apparent efforts to muddy public understanding about climate science and policy. I do not know the source of that original document but assumed it was sent to me because of my past exchanges with Heartland and because I was named in it.
(Read the full statement on the Huffington Post)
This is my response to Dr. Gleick’s revelation, a little late for Valentine’s Day but heartfelt all the same:
Dear Dr. Gleick,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making a difficult decision,
and risking your reputation in order to give our children a better chance at a sustainable future.
Gratefully,
A mom who loves her children
& thinks all our children deserve clean air, clean water, and a stable climate
Claiming Joy & Healing Amidst the Climate Emergency 
13 responses to “More Light Shed On Origin And Veracity Of Heartland Documents”
I’m so gonna steal that banner! Peter is a hero. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to him for exposing the illegalities of the Heartland Institute’s lobbying and other nefarious activities.
You’re welcome to the banner, Tenney.
And the sh*t is hitting the fan re: Gleick’s revelation, so he will need all the support he can get for his difficult stand.
The site in the link below appears to be claiming that it was the Heartland Institute who:
“STOLE emails exchanged between climate scientists and then took them out of context and led the world to believe their research findings were a scam. That derailed the Copenhagen climate change summit – when the world was the closest its been to passing a treaty”.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/23430
They did get their names mixed up along the text but if it is provable that the institute did steal the emails then maybe it would be best if they left Mr Gleick alone least they too find themselves not only in court but also in jail for hacking offenses.
This is getting really big.
Interesting link, Donald, although I don’t think it’s a highly credible site (as you say, they mixed up Heritage and Heartland). But I did check out their statement that “4 out of 5 Americans live in counties affected by federally declared weather-related disasters since 2006.” Wow. There’s only so long the Heartland Institute (and the Republicans) can deny THAT reality.
Here’s the link:
http://www.environmentamerica.org/news/ame/4-5-americans-hit-recent-weather-disasters-new-report-says-global-warming-bring-more
Proof of Global Warming? I hope you all read this.
I live in Australia, 100Km South of Sydney; we are used to floods and cyclones here, lots of killer bushfires as well, which is normal for us; it is all a part of our way of life.
However, what was once a fairly temperate area has now seen THREE WHOLE MONTHS of virtually non-stop rain, this rain has us all worried, it just never seems to end. In February we normally receive 9 days of rain, this February we had 21 days of “very heavy” non-stop downpours, the entire eastern coast is suffering the same effect.
We have gone from 4 normal seasons to just two .. wet season/dry season, in as little as the last two years. In these two years we have had massive hail storms the size of golf balls, killer thunderstorms, the world’s largest ever cyclone, Yazi, the size of a continent hit us last year, horrendous bushfires so big that they actually scare us, areas the size of small countries have been burnt to almost nothing, and thanks to the floods our inland crops (where it normally hardly ever rains) are so drenched that we’ll be lucky to feed ourselves next year let alone send food overseas like we always do.
It has snowed in the snowy mountains .. in summer, Melbourne has been hit by tornadoes and torrential rains as well as powerful wind storms, all this at a time when it should be so hot that you can fry an egg on a tin roof, yet it is incredibly cool, hardly hot at all … the eastern coast normally gets temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees at this time of the year, this year I think we got as high as 26 … the sky is hardly ever clear anymore.
Even the sharks have moved over here because of our warmer waters and spawned a “brand new shark species”, we have actually been privileged to watch evolution in action; and not only that … White Pointer attacks in our waters have tripled as they come to the eastern coast to feed on our marine life which is actually “migrating” South to cooler areas in order to survive.
So for us over here, Global Warning is not something in the not so distant future, it is already here and it is here to stay. It is a reality.
Meanwhile … we are opening more coal mines for the Indians and the Chinese, I think it is to make sure you guys catch up to us as quickly as possible so we can all share in the AGW fun, we believe in sharing! 😦
My thank you to Dr. Peter Gleick, as well. His actions may well add up to human lives in the end, if they do damage climate denialism, as they appear to be doing already.
Yes, it’s just too bad some investigative journalist or two didn’t do some digging earlier, so it didn’t have to come to this. Certainly the light of history will judge the dissemblers at the HI much much more harshly than Dr. Gleick, who is a whistleblower.
When is Heartland et al going to step up and confess to their part in the stolen emails?
As I said in a comment on Revkin’s blog post about this, I’ll waiting for them to come clean, but not holding my breath.
Wow!
Peter Gleick (AKA Mr. Climate Crock of the Week, AKA Mr. Integrity in Science) confesses to stealing the doc’s. Law suits on the way.
See you in jail Pete.
Wow, wow, wow!
It is so great being a climate denier. This is fun!
Don’t worry, Klem, the thrills will keep on coming, faster and more furious (e.g. already, 4 out of 5 Americans live in counties affected by federally declared weather-related disasters since 2006. http://bit.ly/z53nxN )
And then what will you tell your grandchildren that you did when there was still time to turn this Titanic around?
You’re a fossil and a fool.
“what will you tell your grandchildren that you did when there was still time to turn this Titanic around?”
I’ll tell them I fought the climate marxists and I’ll also tell them ‘enjoy the warmth of fossil fuels kiddies and keep driving your big safe beautiful SUV’s.’ (No you won’t – the International Energy Agency says that rising fossil energy use will lead to irreversible & potentially catastrophic climate change in their 2011 World Energy Report http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/)
“You’re a fossil and a fool.”
It’s worse for you, you’re just a girl. (really? you just said this? how old ARE you, 11?)
cheers
Klem, Peter Gleick is a hero who uncovered what may be illegal activity at Heartland. Whether anything he has done is illegal is not clear to me and I have legal training. Heartland, on the other hand, clearly appear to have abused their tax status and may find themselves owing millions of dollars to the taxman as well as answering to the courts because of illegally misrepresenting themselves as a charity.
But Klem, you’ve come on to my site and praised the efforts of liars and frauds like Patrick Michaels and cheerleaded their misrepresentations to Congress. Aren’t you being a little hypocritical here?
I doubt if the issue will end up in the courts, if it did then Peter’s lawyers would be allowed to demand whatever paper work and records they wanted from Heartland in order to conduct Peter’s defense properly. Heartland would never allow this so I think we shan’t hear too much more on this.
Why do I think this? … because much of the denialist media is already going all out to remove all traces of this debacle from print, they are actually trying to kill the story, not keep it in the limelight, it is hurting the Climate Denial movement real bad.
http://www.science20.com/chatter_box/heartland_institute_and_murdoch_media-87115
Even the New York Post which was today going to print the name of the anonymous donor suddenly forgot all about it, not a mention of him, just a little bit on Peter and that’s about all. With a bit of luck Peter might get away with a slap in the wrist and a lot of recognition from is peers.