Straight to the heart

The Heartland Institute—notorious for its denial of global warming—put up billboards on which famous criminals were used as examples of people who believed in global warming. The billboards featured figures such as Ted Kaczynski—the Unabomber—alongside quotes like, “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?” The backlash was immediate, and the billboards were taken down after 24 hours. Other billboards, which would feature Osama bin Laden, Charles Manson and Fidel Castro, among others, were not released.

Heartland president Joseph Bast wrote in a statement, “We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland’s friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment. We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.”

Ironically, he also said that the billboards led to “uncivil name-calling and disparagement” from climate change scientists and advocates.

As a result of the “experiment,” several donors pulled support from Heartland, which at press time equaled a $1 million loss for the institute.