Environmental Skeptics Are Overwhelmingly Politicized, Study Says

[YankeyMCC]

(snip)
A review of environmental skepticism literature from the past 30 years has found that the vast majority of skeptics, often identified as independent, are directly linked to politically oriented, conservative think tanks.

The study, published in this month's issue of Environmental Politics, analyzed books written between 1972 and 2005 that deny the urgency of environmental protection. The researchers found that more than 92 percent of the skeptical authors were in some way affiliated to conservative think tanks - non-profit research and advocacy organizations that promote core conservative ideals.
(snip)

(snip)
The review analyzed 141 books, which the authors consider the largest compilation of the environmental skepticism genre and the majority of all English-language skepticism books. An author was "affiliated" to a think tank if the organization published the book or if the author ever - before or after the book was published - held a position with the organization, wrote for an organization's publications, or delivered lectures sponsored by the organization.
(snip)

(snip)
Many skeptics say that they form their opinion despite their affiliation to think tanks or industry. For instance, Ronald Bailey, a correspondent for the ExxonMobil-funded Reason Foundation and former fellow for the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, recently reversed his stance as a climate change denier. His original skepticism was the result of inconsistent temperature datasets. He was not "passing along misinformation supplied to me during expensive lunches," he wrote in the article Confessions of an Alleged ExxonMobil Whore.
(snip)

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5782

Link to order study: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a793291693~db=all~order=page

[unpossibles]

1. why am I not surprised? nt

[YankeyMCC]

2. Yeah I know it's a shocker

:) But it's always nice when someone documents the facts nicely.

[unpossibles]

4. oh, I agree 100%

Actually, there are mixed feelings. While it is nice to feel justified finally, it sucks that people just chose to ignore/deny the facts before for those same political reasons, and it also sucks that they will continue to ignore this study as another dose of liberal bias or whatever.

[tom_paine]

3. In other news: The sun rose today.

We need a study to know that?!?

Well, I guess it's nice to have the data, although this article shows that no truth can be so ironclad that it can't be clouded by propagagandists with billions of dollars to throw around.