NY Times Fluffs "Goreathon" Climate Change Piece

Their mistake is to treat Canada's own Tom Harris as a credible representative of the "sceptical" side of the AGW argument.   Mediamatters gets some of it right: such technical training as he has is in mechanical engineering, but Tom is mostly a lobbyist/PR guy, not a scientist. 

But there's way more to it than that.  For example, the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) is pure astroturf, and  probably gets funding from Aussie humvee maker Alan Gibbs.  I don't know what Tom's making, but a couple of years ago they were offering $70,000 to $90,000 per year to the administrative head of their American affiliate (a job that eventually went to Steve Goreham). 

So these guys are well paid to spread the FUD.

But perhaps most relevant for the people at the NY Times is (or should have been) Mr. Harris's association with  The Friends of Science, a precursor to both the ICSC and  NRSP (Natural Resources Stewardship Project).  The Friends and Tom have recently made news in Canada.  Basically, they were the recipients of about $500,000 in funds from various oil industry sources channelled improperly through research accounts at the University of Calgary.  Part of this money was used to fly sceptics to various conferences and throw fancy parties for them (Tom Harris included).  Another $175,000 wound up going to the PR firm APCO Worldwide, Mr. Harris's employer at the time, where it helped finance the video Climate Catastrophe Cancelled , script courtesy of...you guessed it...Tom Harris.

This unfolding scandal has given U-of-C a real black eye, and the leader of Alberta's official opposition has requested an investigation to determine whether the university has been subject to "inappropriate corporate influence".  So you may hear Tom's name again in the near future.

And one final question I'd like answered: how is Tom Harris qualified to teach a 2nd year course in climate science anywhere, let alone Carleton University?   I thought the kooks all taught at the University of Ottawa.

Some Days You Can't Even Pay Them To Deny

Back in June, I wrote about how Tom Harris of the ICSC (International Climate Science Coalition), an AGW denial group built and, most likely, funded by Australian business man Alan Gibbs (who also makes Humvees), was looking for an Executive Director for the CSCA (Climate Science Coalition of America ), its U.S. affiliate. Among other things, this position required

Exceptional English language oral (including public speaking), writing and editing skills, with a special focus on communicating with laypeople.

...and had a starting salary of $70,000 to $90,000 USD per annum.

Well, its late August now and the CSCA is up and running. But as an interesting side-note, its contact person is...Tom Harris! So they still haven't found a body to stuff in a suit and lie for them for nearly six figures a year.

That's a sign of something, but I'm not sure what.

About Those 60 German Scientists

...who wrote that open letter denouncing the science behind AGW to Chancellor Angela Merkel who has, incidentally, been showing alot of cleavage lately.

Well,

In fact, if i do a quick search on the list on the word "klima", only one name can be found, being Prof. Dr. Horst Malberg Universitätsprofessor (A.D.) für Meteorologie und Klimatologie. One. That's all.

And of course another name on the list is the infamous Ernst Beck (a high-school teacher),
whose methodology can be used to demonstrate both that C02 levels have fluctuated wildly over the course of the last century and a half, and that the value of π (Pi) has fluctuated wildly over the course of the last two millennium.

Jules Jules' klimaatblog further notes that the outfit behind this open letter, EIKE (Europäisches Institut für Klima und Energie) appears to be the German franchise of the International Climate Science Coalition, a denialist group headed up by Canada's own Tom Harris. If you look at their (EIKE's) "scientific council", you see all the usual suspects: Carter, Courtney, and rounded out with one dead guy--Marcel Leroux.

More Shuffling The Deck Chairs On The Good Ship Denial

International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) Executive Director Tom Harris is looking for an Executive Director for their American afficliate, to be known as the Climate Science Coalition of America (CSCA).

With Dr. Roy Spencer’s acceptance of the Chair position for the new Climate Science Coalition of America, we are now seeking candidates for the Executive Director position, the person who will actually lead the organization from an administrative perspective. Please see the following link which describes the sort of person we are seeking and forward this on anywhere you think would help us in our search for the ideal candidate:

[Here] is the job ad.

Thanks very much!
Tom Harris
Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
P.O. Box 23013
Ottawa, Ontario
K2A 4E2
Canada

The ad is self is quite revealing. PR/Advocacy/looking good on the Rush Limbaugh show are all desirable requirements. So are skills at designing "communications packages for the general public, especially young people."

The Lonely Denier: Meet Gerald E. Marsh

Euro-Denier Maurizio Morabito has a point when he writes:

Interestingly, the FPS [Forum on Physics and Society] and the APS [The American Physical Society] did not make too much of a fuss in the past, when publishing “heretical” climate-related opinions. For an example, see Gerald E. Marsh’s “Climate Stability and Policy” in April 2008.

He's talking about how the APS has come down hard on the editors of one of their own news letters [FPS] after having been embarrassed by Lord Monckton in its pages. Here is the Marsh Paper Mr. Morabito refers to, and its conclusion is:

...that humanity faces a much greater danger from the glaciation associated with the next Ice Age, and that the carbon dioxide increases that we have seen during the past two hundred years are not sufficient to avert such glaciation and its associated disruptions to the biosphere and civilization as we know it. Such conflicting considerations have obvious implications for the formulation of public policy regarding human attempts to manage climate changes.

*Sigh*

Well, I suppose they did not make too much of a fuss previously because previous FPS newsletters did not make much of a splash beyond their usual readers. Marsh, whose website can be found here, seems to have forged few connections within the larger Denialist community. So, for example, earlier non-peer reviewed work of his was referenced by Canadafreepress, a far right Canadian news site, and Atmoz critiques a non-peer reviewed paper of his re the Sun's role in climate change here. But otherwise a wiki search of "Gerald E. Marsh" climate doesn't turn up much. Lord Monckton, on the other hand, knows how to do PR, if not science, and is deeply involved in any number of Skeptics organizations, including the ICSC and SPPI, which have a proven ability to blast their message into the Right Wing Blogosphere and the lower echelons of the MSM.

Now that they have been internationally embarrassed, the APS has responded vigorously.

As for the future of the APS and its newsletter (FPS), unfortunately

If John Mashey is right, all they [the APS] were guilty of was a failure to scrutinise rigorously the activities of volunteers who run a newsletter [the FPS] that happens to have their logo on the masthead. I think the implications are quite worrying: either learned societies will have to start acting like the repressive conspiracies the denialists claim they are, or this sort of thing will keep happening.

...a problem to which I see no easy solution.

Dances With Wingnuts

The strange courtship between AGW Deniers and Canada's Far Right continues, with Tom Harris, leader of the ICSC, seeking validation from the denizens of FreeD. Not the way to enhance your organization's credibility, Tom, but at least this time your not asking them to FREEP your own poll.

Fun With The Manhattan Declaration, or: Who The Heck is Robert Murray?

Tom Harris, once of the Friends of Science, then of the NRSP, now of the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), has published a list of

... individuals, all well-trained in science and technology or climate change-related economics and policy...endorsing the Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.

The Manhattan Declaration itself declares that:

...there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity have in the past, are now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change.

Others will, no doubt, take a more thorough look at the list entries. For the most part they seem the same old gang of cranks, old farts, and fakes that typically turn up on this kind of thing. However, while skimming it, I found a couple of interesting and, as far as I can tell, new names. For example:

Robert E. Murray, PE, B. Eng. (mining engineering, West Virginia University), AMP (Harvard University); Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Murray Energy Corporation and Subsidiary Companies, Pepper Pike, Ohio, U.S.A.

Robert E. Murray is a mining mogul, Republican backer, and outspoken critic of AGW theory. Among his mines is the Crandall canyon mine, which collapsed last summer, trapping and killing six miners. While waiting for news of the six, he engaged in a long, meandering defence of his mining operation which included a tirade against the global warming "crusade" that threatened his business.

During an earlier career as a coal-mining executive for the North American Coal Corporation, Murray was allegedly visited by a "tiny, talking squirrel", which instructed him to go into business for himself. (To be fair, wiki notes that this story is "dubious")

Another name on the list is:

Robert Edward Murray, B Eng. (mining engineering, West Virginia University), MBA (Ohio State University), Vice President, Business Development and External Affairs, Murray Energy Corporation and Subsidiary Companies, Pepper Pike, Ohio, U.S.A.

This is either one of Robert E. Murray's three adult children, or he replaced his middle initial with his full name and signed the decalaration a second time, which would be cheating.

And then there's:

Ryan M. Murray, B Eng. (mining engineering, West Virginia University), MBA (Ohio State University); Vice President, Operations, Murray Energy Corporation and Subsidiary Companies, Alledonia, Ohio, U.S.A."

As far as I can tell, Ryan Murray is pretty clearly one of the adult children of Robert E.

Furthermore, in a supplementary list of "Citizen Endorsers" of the declaration ("non-qualified", one would presume), you find someone who is either Robert E.s wife (given as Brenda Lou Moore in wiki) or an adult daughter:

Brenda L. Murray, Consultant, Murray Energy Corporation and Subsidiary Companies, Pepper Pike, Ohio, U.S.A.

Nice to see that the whole family is involved, but this smacks of Sexism. What makes a lady mining consultant less qualified to have an opinion on the science of climate change than a couple of male Vice-Presidents of the same mining company?

Especially when one of the other "qualified signatories" on Harris' list is a water witch?