John Locke Foundation launches a same-ol, same-ol North Carolina misinformation campaign [2]
We'll never know whether the great empiricist John Locke [7] would have been part of the global warming denial industry, but we can be pretty darn sure that the self-proclaimed "John Locke Foundation" [8] (JLF) is.
The JLF is a well-heeled political organization based in North Carolina that has recently published a "North Carolina's citizen's guide to global warming" [9] (pdf). The guide contains the usual global warming myths that are perpetuated ad nauseum by the global warming denial echo machine - water vapor, medieval warming period etc.
The author of the report, Joel Schwartz, is touring [10] North Carolina flogging the JLF guide. Schwartz, is not a member of the JLF, but is instead currently employed as a "visiting fellow" at the American Enterprise Institute. [11] If you're not familiar with the AEI's involvement in the global warming denial industry, you can check out more here, [12] here [13] and here. [14]
Schwartz is also tight with the usual cadre of the denial industry, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, [15] the National Center for Policy Analysis, [16] and the Reason Foundation. [17]
Here's a link to Schwartz's resume [18] and publications list. Same old song and dance by the global warming denial industry, just a new venue. As the preponderance of scientific evidence for human-caused climate change continues to grow, it only serves to exaggerate the dearth of any real science from the likes of Schwartz and the JFL.
So if anyone in North Carolina happens across the JLF traveling roadshow, please stand up and hold Schwartz and the JLF to account. Ask them the tough questions, like whether they can back their claims with scientific data, or whether they believe Mr. Schwartz's involvement with organizations that have collectively received millions in funding from the oil industry would not be considered a conflict of interest?
Can someone maybe also ask them if they think anyone is even buying their snake-oil anymore? Unfortunately, I suspect many are.
Tomorrow, we will report more in-depth on the history, activities and affiliations of the John Locke Foundation [8] - we've uncovered all sorts of interesting things.
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