The #1 rule of any environmental group, even if it is anti-climate change is you will need to keep the money coming in.

The Economist reports on The Heartland Institute making some bad moves.

THE Heartland Institute, the world’s most prominent think-tank promoting scepticism about man-made climate change, is getting a lot of heat. In recent weeks it has lost an estimated $825,000 in expected donations, a couple of directors and almost its entire branch in Washington, DC. At its annual shindig in Chicago this week, the institute’s president, Joseph Bast, said Heartland had “discovered who our real friends are.” The 100-odd guests who failed to show up for the “7th Climate Conference” were not among them.

The Heartland made a bad move.

Worse ensued early this month after the institute put up a digital billboard in Chicago that linked belief in global warming to madness and terrorism. It depicted the “Unabomber”, a mass-murderer called Ted Kaczynski, with the slogan, “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?” The offending sign lasted only for a day. But PepsiCo, BB&T bank and Eli Lilly, a pharma company, are among donors that announced the end of their support.

Keep in mind whenever you see an environmental group take action, they are doing the things that keeps the money coming in. If they don't, they'll be in a defensive position like The Heartland.