Why Are There So Few "Friends of Science"?

authordefault
onApr 24, 2006 @ 07:39 PDT

Rounding up the usual climate change โ€œscepticsโ€ย on the domestic (Canadian front), we have the website www.friendsofscience.org, โ€œProviding Insight on Climateย Change.โ€

FOS embraces that same small group ofย superannuated academicsย who have been so prominent recently in asking the Canadian government to back away from any policy action addressing the problem of climate change. The FOS Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Tim Ball, Dr. Sallie Baliunas, Dr. Chris de Freitas, Dr. Madhav Khandekar, Dr. Tad Murty, and Dr. Tim Patterson, were all signatories to the anti-climate scienceย petition.

FOSย also boasts significant overlap with the U.S.-based deniers who run the Envirotruthย website.

Giving credit where it’s due, Envirotruth acknowledges on its site where its funding comes from, a little detail that FOS apparently decided to skipย over.

That said, the FOS folks can atย leastย count. Where โ€œEnvirotruth has amassed a list of the ‘Top Ten Myths’ surrounding the climate change dialogue. Moreโ€ and then lists 16 โ€œmyths,โ€ theย FOSsickers actually stop at 10. Their myths are noย more credible, but their numerical accuracy isย reassuring.

But, again, why is it that the IPCC can find 2,500 of the world’s top climate scientists to agree that climate change is a real and pressing threat; Dr. Gordon McBean can round up 90 of Canada’s most accomplished experts in the field in less than a week to sign a petition arguing in favour of federal action on climate change; and yet the little cabal of โ€œfriendsโ€ and โ€œtruthโ€ tellers is soย exclusive?

Sometimes being unorthodox means standing up courageously against conventional wisdom. But sometimes it just means that you’reย wrong.

authordefault
Admin's short bio, lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Voluptate maxime officiis sed aliquam! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit.

Related Posts

Analysis
onNov 21, 2025 @ 16:13 PST

Corporate pledges to fight deforestation by turning degraded pasture into cropland seen boosting demand for harmful chemical inputs.

Corporate pledges to fight deforestation by turning degraded pasture into cropland seen boosting demand for harmful chemical inputs.

As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.

As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.
onNov 20, 2025 @ 16:02 PST

Trade groups lobbied ministers to promote a source of energy linked to massive environmental harms at the U.N. climate conference.

Trade groups lobbied ministers to promote a source of energy linked to massive environmental harms at the U.N. climate conference.
Analysis

Agribusiness companies generate huge quantities of greenhouse gas pollution โ€” and PR companies help them obscure it.

Agribusiness companies generate huge quantities of greenhouse gas pollution โ€” and PR companies help them obscure it.