Message From the Editor

This week, we published a brand-new investigation based on never-before-seen documents from researcher Rebecca John with the Climate Investigations Center. These documents reveal the earliest-known instance of the fossil fuel industry funding climate science.

Part 1 focuses on the Air Pollution Foundation, whose funders included oil companies and oil industry groups. John’s research reveals that these fossil fuel interests, via the APF, sponsored climate science all the way back in 1954. Part 2 tackles a 1963 conference — the first of its kind and funded by Big Oil — that put carbon dioxide and climate change in the spotlight. John was able to trace how a publication produced from the conference made it all the way to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C.

In the final part, John reveals that it was 59 years ago this month that a U.S. president was first informed of CO2’s impact on the climate. She unearthed a previously unknown 1965 memo to Lyndon B. Johnson highlighting “the effects of carbon dioxide on climate” as an issue of national concern.

In other news, Jane Fonda joined the protestors outside the Americas Energy Summit. Fossil fuel executives in New Orleans this month were greeted with door hangers on their hotel rooms. Instead of “do not disturb,” the message on the hanger read, “LNGS: Do not destroy our coast.”

“I thought I understood what was going on with the Gulf,” Fonda said in front of the gathered crowd. “I’d read the articles, I’d read the science, I’ve seen the photographs. But when you’re here on the ground, seeing it with your own eyes and talking to the people, and many of you I’ve been talking with over the last weeks, I had no idea. And I am so sorry you have to deal with this stuff. It feels like looking into the devil’s eyes.”

Don’t miss any of the many articles published this week on our website and social media!

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Investigations and on-the-ground reporting like this are made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Keeling Papers, Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

New Evidence Reveals Fossil Fuel Industry Sponsored Climate Science in 1954

— By Rebecca John (15 min. read) —

In 1955 in the wilds of Big Sur, a young Caltech researcher named Charles David Keeling gathered carbon dioxide samples among Northern California’s towering redwoods. Crawling out of his sleeping bag several times a night on research trips conducted over the course of 18 months, from January 1955 to June 1956, Keeling measured background levels of carbon dioxide across the western United States — at Big Sur, but also at desert and high mountain stations, in forests and grassland, above the city of Los Angeles, and over the waters of the Pacific Ocean. 

Keeling’s findings would lead him to conduct a separate series of experiments from the top of the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Loa resulting in the famous Keeling Curve — a visual depiction of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) caused by the burning of fossil fuels. His work underpins our understanding of manmade climate change.

Revealed: A U.S. President Was First Informed of CO2’s Impact 59 Years Ago This Month

— By Rebecca John (8 min. read) —

A “Memorandum for the President” lists “the effects of carbon dioxide on climate” among the most pressing environmental problems of the day. It sounds like a message meant for U.S. President Joe Biden. But the memo is dated January 13, 1965, and the president is the 36th of the United States of America, Lyndon B. Johnson.

This newly discovered document pinpoints the earliest-known moment that carbon-dioxide-induced climate change was brought to the attention of the highest levels of U.S. government — the President. It also adds to a growing body of evidence that decision-makers of the 1960s were concerned about potential climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, much earlier than previously thought.

New Database: Industrial Aquaculture Database

— By DeSmog —

In DeSmog’s Industrial Aquaculture Database, you can find major industry players’ stance on sustainability, information on fish feed supply chains and record of lobbying.

Jane Fonda Joins Land and Water Defenders at Americas Energy Summit

— Sara Sneath and Taylor Noakes (5 min. read) —

Fossil fuel executives attending the Americas Energy Summit at the Ernest Morial Convention Center in New Orleans this month were greeted with door hangers on their hotel rooms January 19. Instead of “do not disturb,” the message on the hanger read, “LNGS: Do not destroy our coast.”

The door hangers were one of several actions taken by protesters throughout the week, which culminated in a gathering of about 200 people — including actress Jane Fonda, musician Maggie Rogers and dozens of Southwest Louisiana fishers — in a park across from the convention center. At one point, six fishing boats were parked in front of the convention center, before police threatened to tow them away. A street theater performance recounted environmental opposition to fossil fuel development in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, and land defenders chanted memorable slogans, including one about natural gas and greenwashing: “so natural, it starts fires in your sink.”

Norway Farmed Salmon Industry Accused of ‘Food Colonialism’ in New Report

— By Michaela Herrmann (5 min. read) —

Producers in Norway, the world’s top supplier of farmed salmon, are pushing up to four million people in West Africa into food insecurity and depriving them of critical nutrients, according to a new report. 

Published by food and farming campaign group Feedback Global, the research states that major farmed fish and aquafeed producers – including European transnational companies Mowi, BioMar, Cargill, and Skretting – are between them extracting nearly two million tonnes of whole, wild fish annually from the world’s oceans, according to 2020 data.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Western States Petroleum Association

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), founded in 1907, describes itself as the oldest petroleum trade association in the United States. WSPA maintains headquarters in Sacramento, California with additional offices across the western states. Membership of WSPA includes large petroleum and energy companies such as Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Shell, and numerous others. While WSPA‘s official climate policy statement supports “market mechanisms” such as a cap-and-trade program, the organization has fought against bills designed to reduce GHG emissions through a cap and trade system. For example, leaked documents revealed the WSPA‘s plan to create a network of “citizen activist” groups combating California’s AB 32 Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) in California, Oregon and Washington State.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.