An American, libertarian, free-market-oriented, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Heartland Institute researches and develops free market solutions to social and economic problems, including environmental problems. The institute was established in 1984 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Its activities are directed by a fifteen-member board of directors that meets quarterly. As of 2008, thirty full-time staff, including editors and senior fellows, oversee the organization's day-to-day activities. The think tank focuses on issues such as government spending, taxation, education, health care, free market environmentalism, and global warming (Botterill, 2003).

The Heartland Institute asserts that there are no reliable data supporting the notion that global warming mechanisms or trends have ever taken place or are taking place presently. Furthermore, it claims that a moderate degree of global warming is beneficial to the environment and humans worldwide. The institute has partnered with other global warming skeptic organizations such as the Cooler Heads Coalition, which has itself been widely criticized for its work against penalizing big carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters.

At the Heartland Institute's March, 2008, conference, global warming skeptics from around the world were brought together in New York (Axelrod, 2004). At the meeting, participants collectively criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as proponents of any scientific studies that reported positive correlation between human activities and global warming. The organization's numerous publications and conferences have all shared a similar theme and tone.

The Heartland Institute received extensive scrutiny of its publication procedures in April, 2008, after environmental journalist Richard Littlemore revealed that it engaged in questionable practices. In compiling a list of "Five Hundred Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares," the organization included over forty-five scientists as coauthors on various articles with which they had no affiliation, that they did not agree to coauthor, or that made claims with which they disagreed. Following this scandal, when scientists came forward to demand removal of their names from the list, the Heartland Institute claimed that they had no legal or ethical grounds to remove or amend the original list of names.

The institute has also been criticized for its policies on appointing and recruiting members of its board of directors. In the past, executives from such corporations such as ExxonMobil, an oil company, and Philip Morris, a tobacco company, have served on the Heartland Institute's steering committee.

References

1. Axelrod, Regina S., David Leonard Downie, and Norman J. Vig, eds. The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004.

2. Botterill, Linda C., and Melanie Fisher, eds. Beyond Drought: People, Policy, and Perspectives. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO, 2003.

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