Scientists and Curators Urge American Museum of Natural History to Drop Funder of Climate Change Denial from Its Board
More than 250 scientists have signed a letter calling for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to remove a funder of climate change-denying organizations from its board of trustees. Rebekah Mercer, a major donor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and a member the executive committee of his White House transition team, has been on the museum’s board since 2013.
In a separate letter sent on January 19 to the AMNH’s senior vice president and provost of science, Michael J. Novacek, 28 of the museum’s curators voiced similar concerns, according to the New York Times. The curators express “profound concern” about Mercer’s support of groups that they claim “challenge and politicize climate change science.”
Rebekah Mercer and her father Robert Mercer, through their Mercer Family Foundation (which she chairs), have given millions to climate change-skeptic organizations including the Heartland Institute, according to a report by Bloomberg. The family is a part owner of Breitbart News and has given more than $35 million to Republican candidates and Super PACs since 2010, according to the Washington Post.
“Rebekah Mercer and the Mercer Family Foundation, political kingmakers and the financiers behind Breitbart News, have given tens of millions of dollars to a list of organizations who attack climate science and policy solutions,” the scientists’ letter, initiated by the mobile Natural History Museum, reads in part. “This includes ringleaders of climate denial such as the Heartland Institute, which garnered $5.9 million from the Mercers from 2008–2016. While on the Trump Administration Transition Team, Rebekah Mercer nominated climate denier Arthur Robinson, board member of Heartland Institute, for consideration as a National Science Advisor.” The Natural History museum has also launched a petition addressed to the chairman and president of AMNH’s board, calling for Mercer’s removal.
Efforts to pressure the AMNH to remove Mercer have recently intensified, including a rally on January 21 outside the museum organized by Revolting Lesbians. Before of the protest, the group sent a letter to each of the museum’s trustees making the case for removing Mercer. An accompanying fact sheet documents more than $42 million in contributions that the Mercer Family Foundation has made to conservative organizations that promote climate change denial and/or the loosening of environmental protection measures.