Who Are the Real Friends of Science?

Image from: "We Don't Have Time"


Who Are the Real Friends of Science?

Probably not the ones who predicted doom by 2016 and have now moved the goal post to 2031!

After notifying Dr. Roger Higgs that I had (May 7) made good use of his 25-point argument against human-caused global warming (specifically CO2), he responded with thanks and a link to Friends of Science which has published on its  blog  a recent letter he had written to the Sunday Times that may or may not be published in The Times this coming Sunday -- since, like most corporate media outlets, The Times is deep into the carbon pollution theory of climate change.

I'm probably not alone in having been unfamiliar with Friends of Science (although they obviously have a wide audience), mainly because my own blog covers a wide range of political topics that take up a lot of my time and mental energy, and also because a Google search for "climate change" does not readily produce a link to the Friends of Science website (as is also the case now with most independent political bloggers) -- a definite advantage to proponents of the carbon theory.

Duck Duck Go is a much better (and privacy conscious) search engine, but even it gets bogged down in the pronouncements of the IPCC, the corporate media and NASA, enhancing the impression that human activity in the form of carbon pollution is driving the dreaded "climate change" that has struck fear into the hearts even of children.

I admit to a certain amount of bias in that, if the term "Friends of Science" had come up in a search, the title would have registered in my mind as support of the going theory, since Science is touted as being fully supportive of the CO2 theory.  Well, it isn't -- although, being quite leftish, I still have to deal with the fact that it was founded and is supported by right wing organizations and oil companies, and that there are oil specialists among the geologists involved.

Canadian retired professor, Dr. Tim Ball, one of the founders of Friends of Science, was himself accused of being in the pay of oil producers, though he and others were quick to convincingly refute that claim.

It has occurred to me that the fuel industry wins no matter what, since if it's used less by the average citizen, a good supply will then be available for the interminable war industry, as well as manufacturing industries that have the advantage of passing on any left-over expense in the process of "cap and trade" to the ordinary consumer of their products.

Here are two articles in the National Review from back in 2015 that make the proponents of man-made climate change look a whole lot more bought and paid for than the naysayers:

NationalReview (2015): Global Warming: Follow the Money

• ... while the energy industry funds both sides of the climate debate, the government/foundation monies go only toward research that advances the warming regulatory agenda. With a clear public-policy outcome in mind, the government/foundation gravy train is a much greater threat to scientific integrity.

NationalReview (2015): On Climate, Science and Politics Are Diverging

• Sea ice at the North Pole has long been a focus of alarm. Just after collecting his Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, Al Gore jetted off to the Bali climate conference to declare a planetary emergency, predicting that the entire north polar ice cap would disappear in as little as five to seven years. The Arctic should have been ice-free by last summer.

Even NASA (though big on carbon theory) had to admit that the shrinking polar ice has rebounded. (Forbes) That doesn't preclude NASA, however, from creating a website dedicated to preaching the carbon theory to kids. 

Speaking of kids: Friends of Science tells a story about Greta and friends that you're unlikely to readily find in the corporate media, and it answers my question as to who provided those marching kids with their very professional-looking banners. "WDHT - We Don't Have Time" is a booming business:

Greta, Inc. (April 2019):

• WDHT is half climate campaigner, half tech start-up. Launched on Earth Day, 2018, WDHT soon attracted 435 investors who now own 75% of its stock. WDHT currently claims 718,000 member/followers.
• Rentzhog’s forte is utilizing all manner of social media to spread messages. Interviewed in a business zine he declared: “our goal is to be the biggest player on the internet.” WDHT sells carbon offsets; provides internet advertising services for sustainable development firms; and prepares climate ratings on businesses and politicians. WDHT’s board includes directors connected to Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.

I'll be curious to see if the Sunday Times prints Dr. Higgs' letter, but since The Times is putting up a pay wall these days, my chances are slim even if it does get published.

Related Archived Posts on YYC

Below Image from TheFederalistPapers:  [In 2006] ... Al Gore said we had only a decade left to save the planet from global warming.
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