Quantcast
Powered by RebelMouse

Koch Brothers Decline Tom Steyer's Climate Change Debate Invitation

Brandon Baker
May. 05, 2014 10:11AM EST Climate

Remember last week when Tom Steyer challenged billionaire clean energy opposers Charles and David Koch to a climate change debate?

Steyer, a billionaire activist for renewable energy and climate awareness, took things a step further Friday by placing an advertisement requesting a debate in the Koch's hometown newspaper, The Wichita Eagle. A bold move, no doubt, but not enough.

The Kochs have declined the offer.

Graphic credit: NextGen Climate

“We are not experts on climate change,” Koch spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia told the newspaper. “We do believe there should be free and open debate on the climate issue and it should be based on sound science and intellectual honesty."

Steyer extended the invitation after Charles Koch argued in theWall Street Journal that there needed to be more free and open debate on climate change. Apparently, Koch didn't mean that he or his brother should be a part of that.

“We’re glad that Koch Industries has acknowledged that they are not experts on climate change,” said Heather Wong, a spokeswoman for Steyer's NextGen Climate Action. “The scientific community has, in fact, had a free and open debate about climate change and reached an unequivocal conclusion: Our climate is changing and carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels is primarily responsible.”

The actions of Koch Industries show that the brothers don't agree with that, and now their words show that they're unwilling to debate it.

“The Koch Brothers have always been shrouded in secrecy, their labyrinth of shadowy organizations have spent hundreds of millions of dollars benefiting candidates who deny basic science and push legislation that enables climate change,” the advertisement read. “Charles Koch has already mourned the oppression of ‘free and open debate.’

"Here’s his chance to do something about it.”

——–

YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE

Activist Tom Steyer Challenges Koch Brothers to Climate Debate

New Report Reveals Koch Brothers Could Make $100B Profit if Keystone XL Pipeline is Built

Jimmy Carter Slams Koch Brothers and ‘Unpleasantly Successful’ Climate Denial Campaign

——–

climate change featured kansas

EcoWatch Daily Newsletter

oceans

International Coastal Cleanup Gears up for ‘Million-Strong’ Turnout Saturday

Oceans
Volunteers participate in 2018's International Coastal Cleanup in (clockwise from top left) the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Norway and Washington, DC. Ocean Conservancy / Gabriel Ortiz, David Kwaku Sakyi, Kristin Folsland Olsen, Emily Brauner

This coming Saturday, Sept. 21 is the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), the annual Ocean Conservancy event that mobilizes volunteers in more than 100 countries to collect litter from beaches and waterways and record what they find.

Read More Show Less
plastics plastic pollution oceans
climate strike

NYC Public Schools to Excuse Climate Strikers

Climate
Students hold a Youth Strike for Climate Change Protest in London, UK on May 24. Dinendra Haria / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

The New York City public schools will allow their 1.1 million students to skip school for Friday's global climate strike, The New York Times reported Monday.

Read More Show Less
activism climate change climate crisis green new deal renewable energy fossil fuels indigenous rights environmental justice climate strike
Sponsored
covering climate now

A New Beginning for Climate Reporting

Insights + Opinion
The 16-year-old Swede Greta Thunberg speaks during her protest action for more climate protection with a reporter. Steffen Trumpf / picture alliance / Getty Images

By Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope

It's been 30 years since Bill McKibben rang the warning bells about the threat of man-made climate change — first in a piece in The New Yorker, and then in his book, The End of Nature.

Read More Show Less
climate crisis covering climate now activism media journalism positive news
climate action

25K Climate Protestors Disrupt Frankfurt Motor Show

Climate
At the International Motor Show (IAA), climate protestors are calling for a change in transportation politics. © Kevin McElvaney / Greenpeace

Thousands of protestors marched in front of Frankfurt's International Motor Show (IAA) on Saturday to show their disgust with the auto industry's role in the climate crisis. The protestors demanded an end to combustion engines and a shift to more environmentally friendly emissions-free vehicles, as Reuters reported.

Read More Show Less
transportation electric vehicles protest climate crisis climate action
greenhouse gases

Green Energy Has a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Problem, but Solutions Are Near

Energy
Setting and testing the line protections for Siemens SF6 gas insulated switchgear in 2007. Xaf / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0

Electricity from renewable sources is growing exponentially as the technology allows for cheaper and more efficient energy generation, but there is a dark side that has the industry polluting the most powerful greenhouse gas known to humanity, as the BBC reported.

Read More Show Less
sulfur hexafluoride renewable energy renewables pollution greenhouse gases
Sponsored
nutrition

What's the Difference Between Sweet Potatoes and Potatoes?

Food
Ella Olsson / Pexels

By Elizabeth Streit, MS, RDN, LD

Sweet and regular potatoes are both tuberous root vegetables, but they differ in appearance and taste.

They come from separate plant families, offer different nutrients, and affect your blood sugar differently.

Read More Show Less
health food potatoes nutrition
neonicotinoids

Neonics May Be Killing Birds in Addition to Bees, Groundbreaking Study Finds

Animals
Scientists in Saskatchewan found that consuming small amounts of neonicotinoids led white-crowned sparrows to lose significant amounts of weight and delay migration, threatening their ability to reproduce. Jen Goellnitz / Flickr

By Julia Conley

In addition to devastating effects on bee populations and the pollination needed to feed humans and other species, widely-used pesticides chemically related to nicotine may be deadly to birds and linked to some species' declines, according to a new study.

Read More Show Less
pesticides neonicotinoids bees pollinators trump administration birds
climate action

Germany's Ruling Coalition Plans to Spend $44.6 Billion on Climate Protection

Politics

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is set to unveil a package of measures on Friday, Sept. 20, to ensure that the country cuts its greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030, compared with the 1990 levels.

Read More Show Less
climate change germany electric vehicles climate action