{{short description|Political activist}} {{Infobox person | name = Marc Morano | image = Marc Morano Corbett (cropped).png | alt = | caption = Morano in 2019 | birth_name = | birth_date = 1968 | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | citizenship = American | other_names = | alma_mater = George Mason University (B.A.) | occupation = Former U.S. congressional staffer, founder and executive editor of ClimateDepot.org | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Marc Morano''' (born 1968)<ref name=almanac/> is a former Republican political aide who founded and runs the website ClimateDepot.com.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mooney|first1=Chris|title=Why Pope Francis is about to make a dramatic wave in the climate debate|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/28/why-pope-francis-may-be-about-to-make-a-dramatic-wave-in-the-climate-debate/|access-date=14 August 2015|newspaper=Washington Post|date=April 28, 2015}}</ref> ClimateDepot is a project of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a US non-profit organisation that promotes climate change denial.<ref name="DryzekNorgaard2011 153">{{cite book|author1=John S. Dryzek|author2=Richard B. Norgaard|author3=David Schlosberg|title=The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsYr_iQUs6QC&pg=PA153|date=18 August 2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-956660-0|page=153|quote=The latter individual, Marc Morano, exemplifies the deep roots of climate change denial in conservative circles ... provides the denial machine with a highly effective means of spreading its message}}</ref>
==Career== Morano was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in McLean, Virginia. He has a bachelor's degree from George Mason University in political science.<ref name=almanac>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VxiLhmqot88C&pg=PA606 | title=The Almanac of the Unelected: Staff of the U.S. Congress 2008 | publisher=Bernan Press | author=Friedman, Lisa | year=2008 | pages=606| isbn=9781598882988 }}</ref>
He began his career working for Rush Limbaugh from 1992 to 1996.<ref name=Esquire/> After 1996, he began working for Cybercast News Service (now CNSNews), where he was the first to publish the subsequently discredited<ref name=Cogan2>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture|first1=Brian|last1=Cogan|first2=Tony|last2=Kelso|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2009|pages=155, 187, 335|isbn=978-0-313-34379-7}}</ref><ref name="vetsattack">{{cite news|title=THE VETS ATTACK|first=Evan|last=Thomas|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/55728/output/print|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610022244/http://www.newsweek.com/id/55728/output/print|archive-date=2008-06-10|work=Newsweek|date=14 November 2004|access-date=6 February 2013 }}</ref> accusations from Swift-Boat veterans that John Kerry had allegedly exaggerated his military service record.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|last1=Kaufman|first1=Leslie|title=Dissenter on Warming Expands His Campaign|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/politics/10morano.html|access-date=14 August 2015|work=New York Times|date=April 9, 2009}}</ref>
Beginning in June 2006, Morano served as the director of communications for Senator Jim Inhofe. He was also communications director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee under the George W. Bush administration. In 2007, Morano produced a report listing hundreds of scientists whose work, according to Morano, questions whether global warming is caused by human activity.<ref name=nyt/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2674e64f-802a-23ad-490b-bd9faf4dcdb7 | title=U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims | publisher=Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works | date=December 11, 2008 | access-date=September 1, 2013 | author=Morano, Marc | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207004110/http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2674e64f-802a-23ad-490b-bd9faf4dcdb7 | archivedate=7 December 2014}}</ref>
In April 2009, despite having no formal education in the field of climate science,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rolly|first1=Paul|title=Rolly: Climate-change denier to speak at energy summit — and you're paying for it|url=http://www.sltrib.com/home/4267300-155/rolly-climate-change-denier-to-speak-at|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date=5 March 2017|date=28 August 2016}}</ref> Morano founded and became executive editor of ClimateDepot.com, a website sponsored by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). In November 2009, Morano was one of the first to break the Climatic Research Unit email controversy story after being contacted by Anthony Watts. The story was subsequently picked up by James Delingpole.<ref name= Esquire>{{cite web|url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a7078/marc-morano-0410/|title=This Man Wants to Convince You Global Warming Is a Hoax|work=Esquire|date=March 30, 2010|access-date=October 2, 2013|author=Richardson, John H.}}</ref> In 2016 Morano co-wrote and presented the CFACT-funded documentary ''Climate Hustle''.
In December 2012, Morano debated Bill Nye on global warming on CNN's ''Piers Morgan Tonight''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/05/clips-from-last-night-bill-nye-vs-marc-morano-on-global-warming-newt-gingrich-on-the-fiscal-cliff/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121208052156/http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/05/clips-from-last-night-bill-nye-vs-marc-morano-on-global-warming-newt-gingrich-on-the-fiscal-cliff/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 8, 2012|title=Bill Nye vs Marc Morano on Global Warming|work=CNN|date=December 4, 2012|access-date=April 18, 2014|author=Piers Morgan}}</ref> In January 2013, Morano debated Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, again on ''Piers Morgan Tonight''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/01/24/pmt-climate-change-marc-morano-michael-brune.cnn.html | title=Does climate change exist? | work=CNN | date=23 January 2013 | access-date=10 October 2014}}</ref> Morano was interviewed in the 2015 documentary ''Merchants of Doubt''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-win-friends-and-bamboozle-people-about-climate-change/ | title=How to Win Friends and Bamboozle People about Climate Change | work=Scientific American | date=6 March 2015 | access-date=13 August 2015 | author=Biello, David}}</ref>
In 2019, Morano's blog described 16-year old climate change activist Greta Thunberg as an "autistic prophet", and he retweeted criticisms of her that center on her autism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-deniers-launch-personal-attacks-on-teen-activist/|title=Climate Deniers Launch Personal Attacks on Teen Activist|last=Waldman|first=Scott | others=E&E News|website=Scientific American|language=en|access-date=2019-09-23}}</ref>
==Reception== Morano mocks scientists in television debates, which he describes as fun. In one blog post he wrote "We should kick scientists when they're down. They deserve to be publicly flogged", but then said "come on, it was a stupid ''expression''." While some climatologists who felt they had been bullied were reluctant to give their names, Michael E. Mann openly said that Morano "spreads malicious lies about scientists, paints us as enemies of the people, then uses language that makes it sound like we should be subject to death threats, harmed or killed." Morano says he merely posts public contact details, and suggests to his followers that they say what they think to the scientists, who he says "live in a bubble" and don't hear from the public. He says this is refreshing, healthy, and "good for the public debate".<ref>{{cite book | title=Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |last=Marshall |first=George |authorlink=George Marshall (environmentalist) | year=2014 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yz4kAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 151] |oclc=885302594 |isbn=9781620401330}}</ref> At the end of 2012, left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America named Morano the "Climate Change Misinformer of the Year."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/12/27/climate-change-misinformer-of-the-year-marc-mor/191878 |title=Climate Change Misinformer Of The Year: Marc Morano |publisher=Media Matters for America |date=December 27, 2012 |access-date=September 14, 2013 |last1=Fitzsimmons |first1=Jill |last2=Theel |first2=Shauna}}</ref>
Morano has been criticized for publishing the email addresses of climate scientists on ClimateDepot.org. In March 2012, Morano posted an article and the email address of sociology professor Kari Norgaard, who had presented a paper on why it is difficult for societies to take action to respond to climate change. This story was later picked up by Rush Limbaugh, after which Norgaard received threatening emails.<ref name=sciam/> Morano repeated this action again in 2013, when he posted the email address of Shaun Marcott in response to Marcott's having published a temperature reconstruction which resembled the hockey stick graph.<ref name=sciam/>
Morano says that emails targeting climate scientists can be nasty in tone, but he defends the practice of posting their addresses by noting that he, too, has received hate mail. He says that his goal is to "let the professors hear from the public" and that receiving nasty emails is "part of the process".<ref name=sciam>{{cite news |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientist-targets-of-climate-change-hate-mail-rally-for-support |title=Scientist Targets of Climate Change Hate Mail Rally for Support|work=Scientific American |date=January 22, 2014 |last=Ogburn |first=Stephanie Paige}}</ref>
In 2010, the conservative group Accuracy in Media awarded Morano their annual Reed Irvine Award alongside Andrew Breitbart.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aim.org/press-release/andrew-breitbart-marc-morano-to-receive-reed-irvine-accuracy-in-media-award/ | title=Andrew Breitbart, Marc Morano to Receive Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Awards | work=Accuracy in Media | date=16 February 2010 | access-date=14 May 2014}}</ref> The lobbying group Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, described by ''The Guardian'' as a "fringe political group",<ref name=guardian>{{cite web |last=Hickman |first= Leo |date=June 4, 2010 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/jun/04/climate-sceptics-fringe-political-groups |title= Climate sceptics and fringe political groups are an unhealthy cocktail |work=The Guardian}}</ref> awarded Morano the 2010 Petr Beckmann Award.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/jul/13/climate-sceptic-morano-award |title=Climate sceptic Morano's 'courage' award is a vicious irony |work=The Guardian |date=July 13, 2010 |last=Hickman |first=Leo |authorlink=Leo Hickman}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.climatedepot.com/ ClimateDepot.com] * {{C-SPAN|9265657}} * {{IMDb name|3092840}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morano, Marc}} Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:George Mason University alumni Category:People from McLean, Virginia Category:Environmental bloggers Category:Date of birth missing (living people) Category:Virginia Republicans