Geoffrey Supran

Thank you for all your brilliant work Alex, so sorry to hear about this, but can't wait to see what you do next.

Exclusive: Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor's alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter.

WOW. The FBI is investigating an Exxon lobbyist for allegedly orchestrating the hacking & leaking of emails of 500+ environmentalists & their funders, colleagues & families in an ongoing effort to discredit lawsuits against the company for its climate deceit. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Another job posting from the Climate Accountability Lab at the University of Miami just dropped, this one in the psychology of climate change communication and psychological inoculation against misinformation...

More info and application form here: careers.miami.edu/us/en/job/R1...

Post Doctoral Associate - Psychology of Climate Change in Miami, Florida, United States of America | Research at University of Miami Apply for Post Doctoral Associate - Psychology of Climate Change job with University of Miami in Miami, Florida, United States of America. Research at University of Miami

7/n: Following up to announce another postdoc in the Climate Accountability Lab at UMiami, this one in the psychology of climate change communication and psychological inoculation against misinformation.

More info and application form here: careers.miami.edu/us/en/job/R1...

A Decade of Deception: WSPA’s Web Leaked Front Groups - Last Chance Alliance A decade ago, the anti-fracking movement expanded across California communities as advocates pushed the state to meet its reputation as a global climate

NEW #EnvHist via Last Chance Alliance: Western States Petroleum Assoc front groups spent nearly $32M in CA on influence spending over past 10 years since its slide deck exposing the groups it funds leaked to media, $18M in of it from Chevron (63% of total) lastchancealliance.org/decadeofdela...

If you missed this 🧵 on the "Koch & Climate Obstruction" report I wrote with Robert Brulle @climatessn.bsky.social, please read and share!

It unpacks what what Koch knew, and what Koch said.

Now, here's are new 🧵 on what Koch DID, starting with historic material from the 1990's.

Koch and Climate Obstruction This interim report, by Connor Gibson and Robert J. Brulle, is a result of ongoing historical research into the efforts by Koch, Inc. and its orbit organizations to obstruct climate […]

NEW REPORT 🧵: Here's what Koch seemed to *know* about climate science, using documents from the 1970's, 80's and 90's

vs

what Koch *said* about climate science, and what Koch *did* to fight climate mitigation.

From Brown University Climate Social Science Network:
cssn.org/koch-and-cli...

"We, the undersigned...call on governments worldwide to take immediate and decisive action to address this crisis" of climate disinformation. Honoured to be a co-signatory on this open letter, thanks to @caadcoalition.bsky.social for coordinating.

In other news, the oily chucklefucks that designed Trump1.0's EPA transition have published their top10 wishlist for round 2.

6/n: More to come...watch this space!

Sr. Software Engineer - Computational Social Science in Miami, Florida, United States of America | Information Technology at University of Miami Apply for Sr. Software Engineer - Computational Social Science job with University of Miami in Miami, Florida, United States of America. Information Technology at University of Miami

5/n: Senior Software Engineer: Using computational social science to investigate climate narratives & social networks (same job description as postdoc but different pay grade depending on experience & qualifications).

More info and application form here: careers.miami.edu/us/en/job/R1...

Post Doctoral Associate - Computational Social Science in Miami, Florida, United States of America | Research at University of Miami Apply for Post Doctoral Associate - Computational Social Science job with University of Miami in Miami, Florida, United States of America. Research at University of Miami

4/n: Postdoc: Using computational social science to investigate climate change narratives and social networks.

More info and application form here: careers.miami.edu/us/en/job/R1...

3/n: PhD #2: Using mixed methods to investigate the corporate capture of academic research and government agencies by fossil fuel interests.

More info and application form here: graduate.earth.miami.edu/phd-and-ms-p...

2/n: PhD #1: Using computational social science to investigate climate change discourse on social media.

More info and application form here: graduate.earth.miami.edu/phd-and-ms-p...

🚨No better day to announce the Climate Accountability Lab at the University of Miami is hiring for 4 new positions in computational social science (2xPhD, Postdoc, Software Engineer) to investigate disinformation & propaganda. Come help shape climate accountability for the next four years. ⬇️ 1/n

14/n: Our paper also encourages our colleagues "to go further than research": “to communicate their findings widely, to advocate for the policy implications of their work, and to support others in doing so.”

It's heartening that hundreds have already begun to do so ⬇️:

University funding from fossil fuels slowing switch to green energy – report Study’s authors say integrity of higher education ‘at risk’ upon finding lack of attention to role of oil and gas firms

13/n: To be clear, we are not impugning the integrity of individual scholars. As I told The Guardian's Dharna Noor, “Our intention is to protect scientific integrity. We want to warn scholars & uni leaders that they can be pawns in a propaganda scheme." www.theguardian.com/business/art...

12/n: One of our coauthors, Emily Eaton, had to go so far as to take her own university *to court* to (successfully) compel her university to disclose its fossil fuel funders.

11/n: “Universities’ widespread lack of transparency on funding ties, amounts, and contract details” between themselves & fossil fuel companies is a major obstacle to tackling this problem, our study finds.

“The academic integrity of higher education is at risk.”

10/n: University leaders, for their part, have mostly failed to recognize, much less mitigate, this massive, multi-decadal elephant in the room. In many cases, they have done the opposite, actively soliciting & encouraging fossil fuel donations.

9/n: Out of ~14,000 peer-reviewed articles about sponsorship and conflicts of interest, we found only SEVEN mentioning fossil fuels.

Our paper is therefore also a call to action for scholars to “engage urgently” in a new research agenda focused on fossil fuel ties to academia.

Colleges with fossil fuel funding can become 'vehicle of climate obstruction,' study finds • Louisiana Illuminator For decades, fossil fuel companies have donated millions of dollars to colleges — resulting in conflicts of interest for their researchers.

8/n: “Nothing close to [the] concern or scrutiny or reform [that public health scientists have applied to tobacco or pharma funding] has been applied by climate & energy experts to oil industry funding," I told Miranda Green at Floodlight News/Louisiana Illuminator. lailluminator.com/2024/09/05/c...

7/n: Interestingly, we found that NGOs & students have been raising the alarm on this since at least 2003. Despite this, and despite the glaring historical parallels to the tactics of tobacco, pharma, & junk food industries, academic studies are only just starting to catch up.

6/n: "Fossil fuel companies have embedded themselves in unis across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and beyond," we conclude. This grants Big Oil substantial material & reputational benefits, incl. favorable research, training & recruitment, & the cred & public trust of academia.

5/n: Or as my coauthor Jennie Stephens told
@desmog.bsky.social's Geoff Dembicki, "When you pull it all together, you realize how pervasive a strategy this has been."

University ties to fossil fuel industry face growing scrutiny A new study raises concerns over the oil and gas industry’s influence on higher education

4/n: As I told the @financialtimes.com's Amanda Chu, “Everything that’s been done so far by researchers on this indicates an emerging consensus that this is a really serious & significant problem that needs to be taken a lot more seriously." www.ft.com/content/d0b6...

3/n: Our study uncovers hundreds of real or apparent conflicts of interest for researchers & unis, with oil & gas companies funding climate & energy research, sitting on uni governing boards, endowing academic posts, sponsoring scholarships & lectures, advising curricula, & more.

2/n: This is the first literature review of fossil fuel industry influence in higher education. My colleagues Sofia Hiltner,
Emily Eaton, Noel Healy, Andrew Scerri, Jennie Stephens, and I analyzed every known English-language academic & white paper report on the topic thru 2023.

Fossil fuel industry influence in higher education: A review and a research agenda A growing research agenda: Timeline of the cumulative number of news articles (black, left axis), white paper reports (red, right axis), and peer-reviewed and academic publications (green, right axis....

NEW: In WIREs Climate Change today, our latest peer-reviewed research shows fossil fuel companies have systematically infiltrated academia, threatening to bias research and undermine meaningful climate action. THREAD.

📄 Open access: bit.ly/FossilFUniv