# Robert Brulle Environmental sociologist; long a professor of sociology and environmental science at Drexel University, and currently Visiting Professor of Environment and Society at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. **Why he matters here.** Brulle produced what he described as the first peer-reviewed comprehensive analysis of the money behind climate denial — a December 2013 study in *Climatic Change* examining 91 organizations over 2003–2010. The findings are the empirical backbone of [[The Climate Denial Machine]]: - Combined annual income of the organizations examined: **just over $900 million** - The great majority came from conservative foundations rather than direct corporate giving - The [[American Enterprise Institute]] received the largest single share, about **16%** of the total - **[[DonorsTrust]] and Donors Capital Fund were the largest funders** — and the share flowing through untraceable donor-advised vehicles rose sharply across the period That last finding is the one with the most general application: it documents the industry's shift from traceable corporate giving to anonymised pass-through funding as public scrutiny increased. See [[Dark Money]]. Brulle has also co-authored amicus briefs in climate liability cases, and expects the industry to defend its misinformation as political speech protected by the [[First Amendment]] rather than regulable advertising — the argument documented at [[Corporate Free Speech]]. ## Stub — fill out - The 2021 *Climatic Change* follow-up on foundation funding of counter-movement organizations - His Climate Social Science Network affiliation and its research programme - The amicus briefs and which cases they were filed in - His earlier work on the U.S. environmental movement's organizational history