Greening Earth Society
This article is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's spotlight on front groups and corporate spin.
The Greening Earth Society (GES) was a group that was funded and controlled by the Western Fuels Association (WFA), an association of coal-burning utility companies. WFA founded the group in 1997, according to an archived version of it website, "as a vehicle for advocacy on climate change, the environmental impact of CO2, and fossil fuel use."
The Rise and Fall of GES
The group, which appears to have collapsed in 2005, claimed that greenhouse gas emissions are a good thing because they will lead to greater plant growth and a greener environment. It claims that this viewpoint constitutes a "scientifically-sound perspective on the increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide."
According to a 1988 report by the Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research, Greening Earth Society and Western Fuels "are located at the same office suite in Arlington, VA. They share the same leader, Fred Palmer, several WFA board members serve as the board for GES, and they have the same 'manager of communications and governmental affairs,' Ned Leonard. Leonard and Palmer are both registered lobbyists for Western Fuels Association."
Greening Earth Society's view on carbon dioxide is widely rejected by scientists. While Canada, Alaska and Siberia might have such a mild increase, Europe is expected to become colder due to shifts of the Gulf Stream, and the heavily populated belt on the Earth's equator is expected be rendered a scorching desert, in effect expanding the Sahara to Asia. Sea level rise is expected to displace whole populations and spread dangerous diseases. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that over three billion people would be directly affected, many in technologically and militarily sophisticated nations.
|Documents Contained at the Anti-Environmental Archives|
Documents written by or referencing this person or organization are contained in the Anti-Environmental Archive, launched by Greenpeace on Earth Day, 2015. The archive contains 3,500 documents, some 27,000 pages, covering 350 organizations and individuals. The current archive includes mainly documents collected in the late 1980s through the early 2000s by The Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR), an organization that tracked the rise of the so called "Wise Use" movement in the 1990s during the Clinton presidency. Access the index to the Anti-Environmental Archives here.
GES's "Scientific Advisers"
- Sallie Baliunas
- Robert C. Balling, Jr.
- Patrick J. Michaels
- Willie Soon
- Sylvan H. Wittwer
- David E. Wojick
Former Contact information
Greening Earth Society
333 John Carlyle Street, Suite 530
Alexandria, VA 22314
Toll Free: 800-529-4503
Their website, previously at www.greeningearthsociety.org is defunct (as of January 2008). Archived versions can be seen on the Internet Archive. Here is the most recent archived version, from June 2005.
Articles and Resources
Related SourceWatch Articles
- "Join GES", Greening Earth Society website, archived from March 2005.
- Greening Earth Society website, archived on archive.org June 20, 2005, accessed March 2010.
- 'FACTSHEET: Greening Earth Society, GES", ExxonSecrets.org (Greenpeace), accessed March 2009.
- "Scientific Advisers", Greening Earth Society, website archived from December 1998.
- Greening Earth Society, "Scientific Advisers", Greening Earth Society, website archived from September 2001.
- Greening Earth Society, "Scientific Advisers", Greening Earth Society, website archived from November 2000.