MEDIA ADVISORY: Heartland Institute Environment Expert Reacts to NRC Climate Report

Published May 16, 2011

The National Research Council (NRC), a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, has released a new report, America’s Climate Choices, claiming humans are primarily responsible for recent climate change, and that such change is posing significant risks to human welfare and the environment. The report advocates immediate action to address climate change. [For more background, see this May 12 New York Times story: “Scientists’ Report Stresses Urgency of Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”]

The following statement by James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute, may be used for attribution. For more comments, see the contact information below.

Show bookers: Please contact Tammy Nash [email protected] or 312/377-4000 to book Mr. Taylor on your program. If on deadline or after hours, please contact Jim Lakely [email protected] or 312/731-9364.

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“The media is having a field day claiming the NRC report provides objective proof that humans are causing a global warming crisis. The Washington Post editorial board, for example, writes in a May 15 editorial that the NRC report shows ‘climate-change deniers, in other words, are willfully ignorant, lost in wishful thinking, cynical or some combination of the three.’

“In reality, the NRC report is the opinion of a mere 21 authors – most of whom have no formal training in climate science, and nearly all of whom had a longstanding record of global warming activism prior to being selected to serve on the panel.

“For example, the chairman of the NRC panel is a nuclear engineer with no formal training in climate science, and the vice chairman served for years as a top staffer for the Environmental Defense Fund environmental activist group. Other panelists include staffers for WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. These are far from objective voices or qualified climate scientists.

“Far from providing objective, expert proof of a global warming crisis, the NRC report provides objective proof that – despite their grandiose-sounding names – the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council are more interested in political agendas than objective, fact-based science.”

James M. Taylor
Senior Fellow – Environment Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
727/215-3192

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The Heartland Institute is a 27-year-old national nonprofit organization with offices in Chicago and Washington, DC. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.heartland.org or call 312/377-4000.