This group is waging war on the Pope's climate change plans [View all]

[damnedifIknow]

If there were a headquarters for U.S.-based opposition to Pope Francis' climate change plans, it would be Chicago.

That's the home of the Heartland Institute, a libertarian public policy think tank that has organized conferences, churned out podcasts, videos, and white papers, and recently arranged a trip to Rome -- all in an effort to build opposition to the pope's environmental message.

Through its efforts, the free market-oriented group has emerged as the most active and vocal organization taking on the pontiff over an issue that some scientists and pols see as the cause of our time. Al Gore and the United Nations also have previously been in the organization's crosshairs on environmental issues. "

* Dr. Michael E. Mann, professor and director at the Earth System Science Center, blasted the Heartland-organized trip to Rome as "a stunt -- an act of desperation, like a little kid throwing a tantrum in public."

"There is no depth the Heartland will not stoop to in their efforts to poison the public discourse of the issue of climate change," Mann told CNNMoney.

And Dr. Jonathan T. Overpeck, director at the University of Arizona's geosciences department, dismissed Heartland's claim that the pope should not involve himself in the climate change isse.

"It's the pope's business," said Overpeck. "

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/17/news/pope-climate-change-opposition/index.html