Tom Harris (born 1953) is a Canadian
mechanical engineer,
executive director of the
climate contrarian International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) and former executive director of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project. Harris has 30 years’ experience working as a mechanical engineer, project manager, and in science and technology communications. From May to September 2006, he was
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
operations director of the High Park Group, a
public relations and
lobbying firm active in creating debate over
global warming.
Work at the International Climate Science Coalition
The ICSC calls itself "a non-partisan group of independent scientists", but has been described as having "less to do with science than with public relations". Geochemist and
National Science Board member
James Lawrence Powell
James Lawrence Powell (born July 17, 1936 in Berea, Kentucky) is an American geologist, writer, former college president and museum director. He chaired the geology department at Oberlin College later serving as its provost and president. Powell ...
contrasts the mission and principles of the ICSC with those of the
American Geophysical Union. In Powell's opinion, the ICSC is a "denier organization" that "know
the answers and seek
only confirmation that they are right. One group of minds is open; the other closed".
James Hoggan, public relations professional and Chair of the board of the David Suzuki Foundation, and Richard Littlemore of DeSmogBlog.com quoted and analyzed some paragraphs from the ICSC website. They noted that Harris's views as executive director of the ICSC were published from the same
IP address as and shared the tactics of the
climate change denial
Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or th ...
organizations
New Zealand Climate Science Coalition and
Australian Climate Science Coalition. The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition created the ICSC in 2007 and ICSC led the creation of the Australian Climate Science Coalition in 2008, and the Climate Science Coalition of America in 2010.
Speech at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change
At the 2008
International Conference on Climate Change
The International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) is a 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, consequences, and policy ...
hosted by the
Heartland Institute, Tom Harris gave a speech in which he discussed what he called "information sharing" and "coordinated local activism":
:
..We need regular high-impact media coverage of the findings of leading scientists — not just one or two publications, but we need to have hundreds all over the world. We need to have a high degree of information sharing and cooperation between groups, so that when
Vincent Gray for example has an article published in New Zealand, we can take the same piece and we can (say) submit it to newspapers all over North America and Europe.
References
External links
International Climate Science Coalition official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Tom (lobbyist)
Living people
Canadian mechanical engineers
Canadian lobbyists
People from Ottawa
1953 births