Billionaire activist Tom Steyer has created a “war room” targeting Republican political candidates who are sceptical of climate change. Aiming to swing the results in 2016, Steyer’s campaign will ‘put candidates in the hot seat for their climate denial’ and attempt to link the GOP to “Big Oil” and the Koch brothers wherever possible. Steyer said he would spend “what it takes” for this campaign rather than committing to a specific figure beforehand.
Steyer’s top strategist, Chris Lehane warns that “the climate change apocalypse will be unleashed” if next year’s slate of politicians do not take the threat of impending thermageddon sufficiently seriously. The fire and brimstone smack-talk appears calculated to woo younger voters primed to believe catastrophist narratives due to the almost complete takeover of college and university education by well-funded ‘sustainability’ groups.
Lehane claims that Steyer’s pockets may not be as deep as those of “the other side”, invoking the shadowy spectre of lavishly funded “Big Oil” disinformation campaigns.
But most real world evidence points in the opposite direction. Funding on pro-global warming propaganda is enormous. Foundations and advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club or the Environmental Defense Fund are consistently able to pour millions of dollars into political activism year on year. Steyer is hardly alone and is most definitely on the monied side.
The National Association of Scholars report published last month calculated “an average of $465 million in federal funding for sustainability and climate change research each year.” Money is no object for climate change fanatics, whether it is on university campuses or in funding political races.
Going on past performance, Steyer’s efforts may come to naught anyway. Candidates Steyer endorsed in the past failed despite him pouring $74 million into their campaigns. And with public concern regarding climate change remaining stubbornly low, Steyer’s bang for his buck may be minimal. Just like the global warming we were all promised.
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