John Locke Foundation Promotes Climate Fiction

The folks at Raleigh's John Locke Foundation apparently have given up on sticking to the facts in the debate over manmade climate change, as they're peddling a flat-out fictional account of the problem to the North Carolina General Assembly.

As the state House and Senate confer over a measure creating a state commission on climate change, the conservative pro-business think tank, which receives funds from fossil-fuel interests, is distributing to all lawmakers copies of Michael Crichton's novel State of Fear, a thriller in which scientific debate over global warming serves as a backdrop for romance and political intrigue.

While most scientific organizations warn that manmade climate change is a very real danger, Crichton in a statement on his Web site derides their viewpoint as politicized. In fact, he compares them to the early 20th century U.S. eugenics movement.

"I am not arguing that global warming is the same as eugenics," Crichton writes. "But the similarities are not superficial."

Crichton's novel draws on the work of Dr. S. Fred Singer, a climatologist and global warming skeptic whose Arlington, Va.-based Science & Environmental Policy Project receives funding from greenhouse gas polluter extraordinaire Exxon Mobil. Incidentally, the John Locke Foundation this week hosted Singer for a luncheon speaking event.

Science-based environmental organizations such as Environmental Defense have criticized Crichton's novel for demonstrating an incomplete understanding of technical issues and for giving short shrift to the large body of evidence and analysis supporting the seriousness of the climate-change problem we face.

"Wittingly or not, he is prone to selective use of data, indiscriminate acceptance of dubious sources and just plain errors of fact," according to ED's analysis of the novel.

Let's hope N.C. lawmakers are able to separate fact from fiction while enjoying a little summer pulp fiction.

N.C. Global Warming Legislation AdvancesMeanwhile, global warming skeptic to visit Raleigh

North Carolina is one step closer to becoming the first state in the Southeast to address the intensifying problem of manmade climate change.

The N.C. House of Representatives today by a vote of 78-29 approved a bill establishing a 32-member legislative commission to evaluate the potential impacts on the state of global warming, recommend a pollutant reduction goal and issue a report by November 2006. The Senate passed the bill in May by a vote of 44-6.

The measure now returns to the Senate to approve minor changes made by the House. The legislation then goes to Gov. Mike Easley to sign into law.

"This vote is a huge milestone in protecting public health and ensuring economic growth in North Carolina," says Michael Shore, senior air policy analyst with the North Carolina office of Environmental Defense. "It puts North Carolina on a path to address potential public health impacts and take advantage of business opportunities that will result from reducing global warming pollution."

One of the most outspoken opponents of the measure in the House has been Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake). The Apex attorney counts among his clients the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank that receives funding from fossil-fuel interests while casting doubt on the reality of manmade climate change and urging state lawmakers against taking action on the problem.

Coincidentally, the John Locke folks next Tuesday are holding a luncheon talk featuring Dr. S. Fred Singer, a climate scientist who recently won the Flat Earth Award for his view that manmade climate change is a myth, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, Singer has served as a consultant for fossil fuel interests including Exxon Mobil, Ford, General Electric, General Motors and Shell. He is also president of the Science & Environmental Policy Project, which is funded by Exxon.