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Friends of Science (FoS) is a non-profit
advocacy organization Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using fac ...
based in
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
, Alberta, Canada. The organization rejects the established
scientific consensus Scientific consensus is the generally held judgment, position, and opinion of the majority or the supermajority of scientists in a particular field of study at any particular time. Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at confer ...
that humans are largely responsible for the currently observed
global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
. Rather, they propose that "the Sun is the main direct and indirect driver of climate change," not human activity. They work to cast doubt on anthropogenic climate change, communicate this doubt to the public, and engage in political debates to defend the hegemony of Canada's fossil fuel industry. The society was founded in 2002 and launched its website in October of that year. They are largely funded by the
fossil fuel industry A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...
. Madhav Khandekar,
Chris de Freitas Christopher Rhodes de Freitas (1948 – 5 July 2017) was a New Zealand climate scientist. He was an associate professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. Education and professional career De Freitas, born in Trinidad, ...
,
Tim Patterson R. Timothy Patterson is a Canadian professor of geology, chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and a researcher with specialization in paleolimnology, paleoceanography, and paleoclimato ...
Spears, T. (2007, Sep 16)
The end is not near; Tim Patterson is one of few scientists who doesn't believe humans are warming the climate
''
The Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newspap ...
'' via
ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for l ...
and
Sallie Baliunas Sallie Louise Baliunas (born February 23, 1953) is a retired astrophysicist. She formerly worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and was the Deputy Director of the Mount Wilson Ob ...
act or acted as advisers to the Friends of Science with their work cited in Friends' publications. Douglas Leahey has been president since December, 2009.


History

In the late 1990s the Calgary-based
Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists The Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) is a professional geoscience society in Canada. CEGA works to advance the science of geology, foster professional development of members and promote community awareness of the profession. The orga ...
, a group modeled on the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with about 17,000 members across 129 countries. The AAPG works to "advance the science of geology, especially as it relates to ...
, invited Chris de Freitas,Chris de Freitas is the brother of Tim de Freitas, an active member of the Calgary branch of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. from The University of Auckland,Chris de Freitas' Geography 101 workbook used for teaching the basics of climate at the University of Auckland, omits references to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...
(IPCC) and its landmark 2007 reports.
a critic of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as guest speaker. Following these talks in which de Frietas was "very critical of what was being said about the role of
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
in global warming, ... all left the luncheon speeches all shaking our heads that this silliness was going on." After the Canadian government signed the
Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is oc ...
, Eric Loughead, former editor of the ''Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin'' and his fellow members of the
Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists The Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) is a professional geoscience society in Canada. CEGA works to advance the science of geology, foster professional development of members and promote community awareness of the profession. The orga ...
responded by creating the Friends of Science Society, who held its first meeting in the curling lounge of
the Glencoe Club The Glencoe Club is a private sports and social club located in southwest Calgary, Alberta, Canada founded in 1931. Its facilities include two swimming pools, six badminton courts, ten bowling lanes, eight curling sheets, a skating rink, seven sq ...
in Calgary in 2002. The first board of directors in 2002 included
oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...
geologist and member of the
Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists The Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) is a professional geoscience society in Canada. CEGA works to advance the science of geology, foster professional development of members and promote community awareness of the profession. The orga ...
, Arthur M. Patterson,After graduating with a Bachelor Science degree in Geology, Friends of Science founding member and first president, Arthur M. Patterson, had a successful career in the oil industry. In retirement he ran a small independent oil company. His father was a well-known lawyer in Calgary and the present neighbourhood of Patterson Heights gets its name from his family. His grandfather was a lawyer and parliamentarian. as President; Gordon C. Wells, as Vice-President; Charles Simpson as Secretary and H. Graham Donoghue as Treasurer. Founding members of the Friends of Science, Arthur M. Patterson, Albert Jacobs,Jacobs was a Senior Manager of
Frontier Exploration at Canterra Energy A frontier is a political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as ...
(1981 – 1986), District Manager at
Aquitaine Company Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administrative region of N ...
of Canada (1971 – 1981), Senior Staff Geologist at
Tenneco Oil & Minerals Tenneco, Inc. (formerly Tenneco Automotive and originally Tennessee Gas Transmission Company) is an American automotive components original equipment manufacturer and an aftermarket ride control and emissions products manufacturer. It is a ''F ...
(1960 – 1971) and District geologist at
Petrofina Group Petrofina was a Belgian oil company. It merged with Total in 1999 to form TotalFina, which after subsequent mergers has changed its name back to Total. In the United States, Fina's former refining and marketing operations are now owned by De ...
(1955 – 1960).
and David Barss (Hons. Geol. published the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) position on global climate change science in January 2003 in which they cite an article by Chris de Freitas entitled "Are Observed Changes in the Concentration of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere Really Dangerous?"The article was described as "an exhaustive review of global climate science by Chris de Freitas of the University of Auckland" (Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, June 2002; also posted on the CSPG website). In 2002, as faculty member of the
University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...
, political scientist Barry Cooper, set up the Science Education Fund which could accept donations through the
Calgary Foundation The Calgary Foundation (TCF) is a Canadian registered charity serving Calgary, Alberta. The foundation was established by a group of community-minded citizens to meet a wide variety of social, cultural, educational, health, environmental, and commu ...
. The 57-year-old charity, Calgary Foundation administers charitable giving in the Calgary area and had "a policy of guarding donors' identities." Albert Jacobs, a geologist and retired
oil exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods V ...
s manager, who attended the first meeting held in the curling lounge of Calgary's Glencoe Club back in 2002, described how donations from industry donors were passed on to the Science Education Fund set up by Barry Cooper, which in turn supported the activities of the Friends of Science. In 2004
Talisman Energy Talisman Energy Inc. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1993 and 2015. The company was created from the assets of BP Canada after British Petroleum divested its 57 percent stake in June 1992. It was one of Canada' ...
, a Calgary-based, global oil and gas exploration and production company, one of Canada's largest independent oil and gas companies, donated $175,000According to Canwest News Service reporter, Mike De Souza's article published in the Vancouver Sun in 2011, the letter from University of Calgary account administrator, Chantal-Lee Watt, accompanying $175,000 Talisman cheque, dated 4 November 2004, was part of documents released by the University of Calgary under the orders of Franklin J. Work, the office of Alberta's information and privacy commissioner. to fund a University of Calgary-based "public relations project designed to cast doubt on scientific evidence linking human activity to global warming." Journalist Mike De Souza published the list of significant donations to the Friends of Science which had been received by the press, in an article published in the Vancouver Sun in 2011. Sydney Kahanoff, a Calgary
oil and gas A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...
executive and philanthropist donated $50,000 through his Kahanoff Foundation, a charity he established in 1979.
Murphy Oil Murphy Oil Corporation is an American energy company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company is ranked 625th on the Fortune 500 and 1860th on the Forbes Global 2000. As of December 31, 2020, the company ...
matched one of its employees $1,050 donations. Douglas Leahey defended the donations to the Friends of Science from the then CEO of Talisman Energy, James Buckee,The Calgary Herald described James Buckee's retirement from Talisman in May 2007 as the end of an
oilpatch The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...
era with Buckee as one of its most colourful characters.
who shared the Friends' views on climate change. On their original web page, dated 2002, the Friends recommended several key documents explaining their standpoint, including testimonies by
George C. Marshall Institute The George C. Marshall Institute (GMI) was a nonprofit conservative think tank in the United States. It was established in 1984 with a focus on science and public policy issues and had an initial focus in defense policy. Starting in the late 1980 ...
Clive Hamilton Clive Charles Hamilton Order of Australia, AM FRSA (born 12 March 1953) is an Australian public intellectual currently serving as Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and the Vice-Chancellor' ...
,
Naomi Oreskes Naomi Oreskes (; born November 25, 1958) is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of H ...
and Erik M. Conway claim the George C. Marshall Institute, founded by three prominent physicists --
Frederick Seitz Frederick Seitz (July 4, 1911 – March 2, 2008) was an American physicist, a pioneer of solid state physics, and climate change denier. Seitz was the 4th president of Rockefeller University from 1968 to 1978, and the 17th president of the Nation ...
,
Robert Jastrow Robert Jastrow (September 7, 1925 – February 8, 2008) was an American astronomer and planetary physicist. He was a NASA scientist, populist author and futurist. Education Jastrow attended Townsend Harris High School. He also attended the ...
, and William Nierenberg in 1984, led the conservative backlash against global warming research and focused on attacking climate change science by creating confusion.
former board members, Richard S. Lindzen and Sallie Baliunas. Richard S. Lindzen's testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on 2 May 2001. Lindzen, a former member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change became one of the most well-known climate ”skeptic” scientists. A prolific writer, he has been criticizing the IPCC since the early 1990s.Richard S. Lindzen was a meteorologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Member, Annapolis Center Science and Economic Advisory Council. Contributing Expert, Cato Institute. Contributing Expert, George C. Marshall Institute. Member, National Academy of Sciences. Ross Gelbspan reported in 1995 that Lindzen "charges oil and coal interests $2,500 a day for his consulting services; his 1991 trip to testify before a Senate committee was paid for by Western Fuels, and a speech he wrote, entitled 'Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus,' was underwritten by OPEC ("The Heat is On: The warming of the world's climate sparks a blaze of denial," Harper's magazine, December 1995)." Noted deniers
Sallie Baliunas Sallie Louise Baliunas (born February 23, 1953) is a retired astrophysicist. She formerly worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and was the Deputy Director of the Mount Wilson Ob ...
was also a paid consultant of the
George C. Marshall Institute The George C. Marshall Institute (GMI) was a nonprofit conservative think tank in the United States. It was established in 1984 with a focus on science and public policy issues and had an initial focus in defense policy. Starting in the late 1980 ...
. The Friends' short recommended reading list also included the anti-Kyoto testimony provided by Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist,
Sallie Baliunas Sallie Louise Baliunas (born February 23, 1953) is a retired astrophysicist. She formerly worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and was the Deputy Director of the Mount Wilson Ob ...
, well-known denier, to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Baliunas claimed that, " oposals like the Kyoto agreement to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions are estimated in most economic studies to have enormous economic, social and environmental costs. The cost estimates for the U.S. alone amount to $100 billion to $400 billion per year. Those costs would fall disproportionately on America's and the world's elderly and poor." MacRae, an engineer, investment banker and environmentalist warned of economic fall-out and inaccurate science of the Kyoto accord. The Friends recommended Wildavaky's 1995 publication in which he claimed that "an all-powerful environmental community" overstated risks in everyday life. In 2008 Canwest News Service confirmed that Morten Paulsen, senior vice president and general manager of Fleishman-Hillard Canada, was hired by the Friends of Science in 2006 on "a one-year contract to manage communications" and during that time was also a registered lobbyist for the Friends as well as two
oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...
companies. Paulsen, who had ties with the Reform and
Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...
parties, volunteered for the Conservative party’s 2006 federal election campaign while working for the Friends of Science as paid communications consulted. The Friends of Science launched radio ads, directed by Paulsen, "targeting key markets in vote-rich Ontario" during the 2006 federal election. The ads attacking the Liberal government's spending on climate change, attracted 300,000 visits to the Friends of Science webpage.


Position

Friends of Science publishes a list of "ten myths of climate change," each of which they disagree with: #Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. #The "hockey stick" graph proves that the earth has experienced a steady, very gradual temperature decrease for 1000 years, then recently began a sudden increase.In 1999,
Mann Mann may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Mann'' (film), a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama * Mann (chess), a variant chess piece * ''Mann'' (magazine), a Norwegian magazine * Mann (rapper), Dijon Shariff Thames (born 19 ...
, Bradley and Hughes published a study which used a new statistical approach to find patterns of climate change in both time and global distribution. covering a 1,000 years summarized in a graph which showed relatively little change until a sharp rise in the 20th century, earning it the nickname of the hockey stick graph. Baliunas disputed that man-made chemicals (
halocarbon Halocarbon compounds are chemical compounds in which one or more carbon atoms are linked by covalent bonds with one or more halogen atoms (fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine – ) resulting in the formation of organofluorine compounds, or ...
refrigerants such as CFCs) were causing
ozone depletion Ozone depletion consists of two related events observed since the late 1970s: a lowered total amount of ozone in Earth, Earth's upper atmosphere, and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone (the ozone layer) around Earth's polar ...
. Baliunas and Soon prepared a
literature review A literature review is an overview of previously published works on a particular topic. The term can refer to a full scholarly paper or a section of a scholarly work such as books or articles. Either way, a literature review provides the rese ...
which used data from previous papers to argue that the Medieval Warm Period had been warmer than the 20th century, and that recent warming was not unusual and sent it ''Climate Research'' editor
Chris de Freitas Christopher Rhodes de Freitas (1948 – 5 July 2017) was a New Zealand climate scientist. He was an associate professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. Education and professional career De Freitas, born in Trinidad, ...
, an opponent of action to curb carbon dioxide emissions, who published the article. Their abstract concluded that "Across the world, many records reveal that the 20th century is probably not the warmest or a uniquely extreme climatic period of the last millennium". The paper acknowledged funding support from the
American Petroleum Institute The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in extraction of petroleum, production, oil refinery, refinement, pipeline ...
, the
Air Force Office of Scientific Research The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct-energy based aerospace warf ...
and
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
.
#Human produced carbon dioxide has increased over the last 100 years, adding to the
greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect occurs when greenhouse gases in a planet's atmosphere insulate the planet from losing heat to space, raising its surface temperature. Surface heating can happen from an internal heat source (as in the case of Jupiter) or ...
, thus warming the earth. #CO2 is the most common greenhouse gas. #Computer models verify that CO2 increases will cause significant global warming. #The UN proved that man–made CO2 causes global warming. #CO2 is a pollutant. #Global warming will cause more storms and other
weather extremes Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weather history. Th ...
. #
Receding glacier The retreat of glaciers since 1850 is a well-documented effects of climate change, effect of climate change. The retreat of Mountain glacier, mountain glaciers provides evidence for the Instrumental temperature record, rise in global temperatures ...
s and the calving of
ice shelves An ice shelf is a large platform of glacial ice floating on the ocean, fed by one or multiple tributary glaciers. Ice shelves form along coastlines where the ice thickness is insufficient to Displacement (fluid), displace the more dense surround ...
are proof of global warming. #The earth’s poles are warming;
polar ice cap A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice. There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor a ...
s are breaking up and melting and the sea level rising Friends of Science states that the satellite and balloon temperature records indicate no significant global warming has taken place over the last three decades. Friends of Science states: : ''Accurate
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
, balloon and mountain top observations made over the last three decades have not shown any significant change in the long term rate of increase in global temperatures. Average ground station readings do show a mild warming of 0.6 to 0.8 C over the last 100 years, which is well within the natural variations recorded in the last millennium. The ground station network suffers from an uneven distribution across the globe; the stations are preferentially located in growing urban and industrial areas ("
heat islands Urban areas usually experience the urban heat island (UHI) effect; that is, they are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds ar ...
"), which show substantially higher readings than adjacent rural areas ("
land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...
effects").''


Activism

In April 2005, Friends of Science released a 23-minute on-line video directed by Mike Visser, entitled "Climate Catastrophe Cancelled: What You're Not Being Told About the Science of Climate Change" that contrasts the views of politicians and scientists on the question of climate change. The video featured consultant Tim Ball, Sallie L. Baliunas, geologist Tim Patterson of Carleton University, Ross McKitrick and political scientist Barry F. Cooper of the University of Calgary, all of whom are known for their rejection of the mainstream scientific view on
global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
. A second edition was released 13 September 2007. Madhav Khandekar,Madhav Khandekar, retired as research scientist with Environment Canada in 1997, argued that there were uncertainties in IPCC science and called for an open debate on the issue in the Canadian Meteorological and Ocean Society (CMOS) Bulletin.
Chris de Freitas Christopher Rhodes de Freitas (1948 – 5 July 2017) was a New Zealand climate scientist. He was an associate professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. Education and professional career De Freitas, born in Trinidad, ...
,
Tim Patterson R. Timothy Patterson is a Canadian professor of geology, chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and a researcher with specialization in paleolimnology, paleoceanography, and paleoclimato ...
,
Sallie Baliunas Sallie Louise Baliunas (born February 23, 1953) is a retired astrophysicist. She formerly worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and was the Deputy Director of the Mount Wilson Ob ...
and Douglas Leahey were among the 60 "accredited experts in climate and related scientific disciplines," signatories along with prominent members of
The Heartland Institute The Heartland Institute is an American conservative and libertarian 501(c)(3) nonprofit public policy think tank known for its rejection of both the scientific consensus on climate change and the negative health impacts of smoking. Founded ...
, to the letter sent to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
calling on him to walk away from the Kyoto agreement, which he eventually did. On 31 December 2011, Canada became the first signatory to announce its withdrawal from the
Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is oc ...
. The Friends of Science endorsed the
Heartland Institute The Heartland Institute is an American conservative and libertarian 501(c)(3) nonprofit public policy think tank known for its rejection of both the scientific consensus on climate change and the negative health impacts of smoking. Founded ...
's 2008 ''Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.'' Some of the Friends, such as Madhav Khandekar,
Chris de Freitas Christopher Rhodes de Freitas (1948 – 5 July 2017) was a New Zealand climate scientist. He was an associate professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. Education and professional career De Freitas, born in Trinidad, ...
,
Tim Patterson R. Timothy Patterson is a Canadian professor of geology, chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and a researcher with specialization in paleolimnology, paleoceanography, and paleoclimato ...
,
Sallie Baliunas Sallie Louise Baliunas (born February 23, 1953) is a retired astrophysicist. She formerly worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and was the Deputy Director of the Mount Wilson Ob ...
and Douglas Leahey, Tom Harris,Tom Harris is Executive Director of the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC). were present at the conference which took place in New York City at the Heartland Institute's 2008
International Conference on Climate Change The International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) is a climate change denial conference series organized and sponsored by The Heartland Institute which aims to bring together those who "dispute that the science is settled on the causes, con ...
in March 2008. Other Friends, like Timothy F. Ball, who were endorsers are climate science specialists or scientists in closely related fields. Arthur M. Patterson was another Friend and endorser. The Friends of Science are proponents of the Manhattan Declaration statements agreeing that "global Warming is not a global crisis" and arguing that "there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change." The Manhattan Declaration calls for an end to "all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2." In 2013 in his opinion piece in the ''Financial Post'' Tom Harris described the climate symposium, "Earth climate: past, present, future" at the
Geological Association of Canada The Geological Association of Canada (GAC) is a learned society that promotes and develops the geological sciences in Canada. The organization holds conferences, meetings and exhibitions for the discussion of geological problems and the exchange o ...
, the
Mineralogical Association of Canada Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...
(GAC-MAC) annual joint conference where Friends of Science presenters included Calgary geophysicist, independent oil and energy professional, Norm Kalmanovitch, a long-time member of Friends of Science. Kalmanovitch argued that the greenhouse effect from
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
has never existed to any measurable extent. In a letter to the editor of the ''Calgary Herald'' dated 16 April 2015, Kalmanovitch claimed that in 1970, "the world was in the grips of a global cooling scare brought on by the 1942 reversion from global warming to global cooling, ending the 250-year recovery from the Little Ice Age and threatening its return. In 1975, the threat ended with the reversion to global warming, but returned with the reversion to global cooling in 2002 that is in place today." Kalmanovitch based his arguments on those of Jim Peden. In June 2014, the organization put up a billboard in
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
stating that the sun is "the main driver of climate change." This provoked criticism from, among others,
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
, whose request for their own advertisement to appear on an Alberta billboard had been denied by the same company that displayed Friends of Science's ad.


Funding

In October 2005 Barry Cooper set up the Science Education Fund at the University of Calgary which was able to access funds from the
Calgary Foundation The Calgary Foundation (TCF) is a Canadian registered charity serving Calgary, Alberta. The foundation was established by a group of community-minded citizens to meet a wide variety of social, cultural, educational, health, environmental, and commu ...
. Critics remark that Cooper established the Science Education Fund to "obscure the political and financial interests behind the donations, not only providing anonymity to donors but also a tax break for their contributions to science education." Friends of Science has been "criticized for its close financial ties to the Alberta patch." In 2010, in the section on "Donations" published in the Friends of Science's newsletter in 2010, Chuck Simpson, the Past Director of Friends of Science called for fund raising to help this "small group of volunteers" with administrative costs. One of their claimed problems is that they were unable to "attract money from corporations",According to an interview with Albert Jacobs and ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
''freelancer Charles Montgomery, in 2006, the Friends of Science' first fundraiser in 2002 with guest speaker, Tim Ball, who makes speeches around the country trying to convince people climate change isn't happening, did not raise enough money. Tim Ball, retired University of Manitoba climatologist, International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) Science Advisory Board member. Ball became the public face of Friends of Science.
although their antagonists claim the Friends of Science are funded by the petroleum industry and close links to the oil and gas industry. Bankruptcy disclosures made by Peabody Energy, a large US coal company, showed that Friends of Science received funding from the company. Peter Gorrie also said in the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...
'' that Friends of Science received a third of its funding from the oil industry.


See also

*
APCO Worldwide APCO Worldwide is an independent global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy. With more than 1200 employees in 35 worldwide locations, it is also the fifth largest independently owned PR firm in the United States. Headquar ...
*
Calgary School The ''Calgary School'' is a term coined by Ralph Hedlin in an article in the now defunct ''Alberta Report'' in reference to four political science professors – Tom Flanagan, Rainer Knopff, Ted Morton, and Barry F. Cooper – who be ...
*
Canada and the Kyoto Protocol Canada was active in the negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Liberal government that signed the accord in 1997 ratified it in parliament in 2002. Canada's Kyoto target was a 6% total reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissio ...
*
The Heartland Institute The Heartland Institute is an American conservative and libertarian 501(c)(3) nonprofit public policy think tank known for its rejection of both the scientific consensus on climate change and the negative health impacts of smoking. Founded ...
*
Talisman Energy Talisman Energy Inc. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1993 and 2015. The company was created from the assets of BP Canada after British Petroleum divested its 57 percent stake in June 1992. It was one of Canada' ...


Notes


References


External links


Friends of Science websiteSourcewatch article about Friends of Science
{{Authority control 2002 establishments in Alberta Climate change denial Organizations established in 2002 Organizations based in Calgary Organizations of environmentalism skeptics and critics