Money in politics has an adverse effect on almost all the major issues of our time. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the issue of climate change. The second installment in our #DemandDemocracy video blog series features Charlie Cray, senior researcher at Greenpeace.
The fossil fuels industry spends enormous amounts of money in politics to prevent carbon dioxide regulations from being passed. As noted in a recent report from Common Cause:
“Dark money spending by special interest groups with deep ties and financial support from the Koch brothers and fossil fuel corporations has skyrocketed since the Supreme Court blew a big loophole in ‘sham issue ad’ rules with its Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC decision in 2007 and then took the lid off in its 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC. The Center for American Progress estimates that outside groups backed by oil, coal, and gas industry spent over $270 million on political advertising during the 2012 election.”
PFAW’s #DemandDemocracy video blog series is a collection of short videos that highlight how big money in politics affects — and often stalls progress on — a range of other critical issues.