H Sterling Burnett Senior fellow in energy and the environment at Heartland Institute  and managing editor of environment and climate news there. He has a PhD environmental ethics.

Sterling said that he didn’t remember disputing the existence of climate change. He is quoted in 2009 by his then-employer the NCPA as saying:

Contrary to what all the climate models have predicted, over the past decade the global average temperature has fallen to its lowest levels in 30 years.

Since that was written, almost every single year has been has been in the top 10 hottest years since 1880, as reported by NOAA.

RANK

PERIOD OF RECORD: 1880–2017

YEAR

ANOMALY °C

ANOMALY °F

1

2016

0.94

1.69

2

2015

0.90

1.62

3

2017

0.84

1.51

4

2014

0.74

1.33

5

2010

0.70

1.26

6

2013

0.67

1.21

7

2005

0.66

1.19

8

2009

0.64

1.15

9

1998

0.63

1.13

10

2012

0.62

1.12

In 2012, before Sterling joined the Heartland Institute, they ran a billboard campaign likening anyone who ‘believed’ in global warming to the unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.

Sterling also questioned me when I mentioned the danger of vehicle fumes to humans.