This is a good development..  GM pulls funding from climate denying Heartland Institute 

General Motors, the world’s largest carmaker, has confirmed that it is pulling funding from the Heartland Institute, an ultra-conservative thinktank known for its scepticism about climate change.

The decision by the GM Foundation to halt its support for Heartland after 20 years underlines the new image the carmaker is seeking to project as part of its social responsibility programme. In the past GM has itself been associated with efforts to discredit climate change science, but in recent years it has been investing heavily in green technologies and cars including the electric/petrol hybrid, the Chevy Volt....

The first indication that the Detroit-headquartered car giant was going to make a clean break with the thank-tank was given by GM’s chief executive Dan Akerson in a speech he made in San Francisco earlier this month. He told Climate One that he believed that global warming was real, said that he had only just learnt of the funding to Heartland by the GM Foundation and promised to “take another look at it when I get back to Detroit”.

 With a strong lineup of fuel efficient cars and an improving corporate image with the environmentally conscious  consumers GM is poised to increase sales and market share across the USA and in California in particular.   Severing ties with a Heartland Institute was a good stroke of business.

Here is a recent post I wrote about Heartland Institute.  Who knows, it may have even helped build the buzz that eventually reached the attention of the GM Board.  I'm sure Diane Bast from Heartland regrets sending me the smart-ALEC e-mail reply.  ha.

Pathteacher:  Heartland Institute. More lobbyists with tax exempt status