Dennis T. Avery (Deceased)
Credentials
- According to his biography at the Hudson Institute, Avery studied agricultural economics at Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin. [1]
Background
Dennis Avery was the director of the Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute, where he edited Global Food Quarterly. Avery passed away on June 20, 2020 at 83 years of age. [18]
According to his biography at the Center for Global Food Issues, Avery was a supporter of biotechnology, pesticides, irradiation, factory farming and free trade. He also considers himself an expert on “agriculture, environment, world hunger issues, biotechnology and pesticides, trade, and water issues.”
In addition to his self-professed areas of expertise, Avery frequently commented on global warming science and policy. [2]
Stance on Climate Change
According to the summary of a study conducted by Avery and Fred Singer: “Considered collectively, there is clear and convincing evidence of a 1,500-year climate cycle. And if the current warming trend is part of an entirely natural cycle, as Singer and Avery conclude, then actions to prevent further warming would be futile, could impose substantial costs upon the global economy and lessen the ability of the world’s peoples to adapt to the impacts of climate change.” [3]
Avery has also said that the next twenty to thirty years will bring us cooler temperatures: “The earth’s temperatures have dropped an average of .6 Celsius in the last two years. The Pacific Ocean is telling us, as it has told us 10 times in the past 400 years, you’re going to get cooler.” [4]
Key Quotes
“Why did most of our moderate modern warming take place before 1940 (with 1934 being the warmest year) and why haven’t we had any warming over the last nine years? Could it possibly be the moderate natural 1,500-year cycle revealed in the ice cores and seabed sediments?” [5]
Key Deeds
December 4, 2018
Avery appeared at a live-streamed Heartland Institute media event in Katowice, Poland scheduled to coincide with the 24th UN Conference of the Parties (COP-24). [17]
During the announcement and presentation of a Heartland-sponsored report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) titled “Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels,” Avery said: [17]
“We now have nitrogen fertilizer that’s feeding 6 billion people and the greens refuse to use it. They want organic food, they want food not grown with nitrogen, not grown with pesticides, and they want energy not produced with either fossil fuels or nuclear, and I submit it is time for even the greens to recognize the difference between necessity and preference. We need nitrogen fertilizer. We’ve got to feed eight and a half billion people in 2060 before the human numbers begin to drop off. We need the pesticides to protect that food while it’s growing and while it’s in storage, and we need energy – if not from fossil fuels then from the only other source we know that works and produces no CO2. You can produce the nuclear from uranium or thorium, but you’d better produce it.” [17]
Heartland’s report was touted as a summary for policymakers, and featured a section on the benefits of fossil fuels to human prosperity, health, and the environment. Heartland claims that their data proves that “humans are not causing a climate crisis.” [17]
Video of the presentation, including Avery’s remarks beginning at 42:30, can be viewed on Heartland’s YouTube page:
March 23, 2017
Avery was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s 12th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC12). He spoke on a panel titled “Fossil Fuels and World Peace,” along with Craig D. Idso and Aaron Stover. See video below. [14]
May 21–23, 2012
Dennis Avery was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s 7th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7). [16]
His speech, titled “6,000 Years of Civilizations Collapsed by Abrupt Climate Change” can be viewed below.
DeSmogBlog researched the co-sponsors behind Heartland’s ICCC7 and found that they had collectively received over $67 million from ExxonMobil, the Koch Brothers and the conservative Scaife family foundations.
March 2009
Avery was a speaker at the Heartland Insitute’s Second International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2) in New York City. [15]
His speech, titled “Predicting 21st Century Global Warming with the 1,500-year Climate Cycle” can be viewed below.
DeSmogBlog researched the funding behind the conference and found that sponsor organizations had collectively received over $47 million from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from the Scaife Family of foundations.
March 2008
Avery was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s First International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC1.) [6] His speech, titled “The Unintended Consequences of Biofuels as a Global Warming ‘Solution” can be viewed below.
April 16, 2007
Avery wrote an article that disagrees with banning DDT in North America and Europe as well as reducing its use in third-world countries. Avery’s article indirectly compares Rachel Carson, whose books inspired the ban on DDT and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, to Adolf Hitler:
Avery believes that the ban on DDT led to the death of “five times as many as Hitler killed in his concentration camps.” He describes the ban on DDT as causing the majority of “poverty and human degradation today.” [7]
September 11, 2006
Avery co-published a book with prolific climate change skeptic S. Fred Singer titled Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1,500 Years where they argue that global warming is a natural phenomenon.
Avery has also given numerous talks describing why he believes global warming is not caused by man. For example, this talk was sponsored by the Heartland Institute. A scientist from RealClimate attended Avery’s talk and later wrote an article countering Avery’s points. [8], [9]
August 2, 2002
Avery was signatory to an open letter co-authored by Myron Ebell and Fred L. Smith that supported President Bush’s decision not to attend the World Summit on sustainable Development. [13]
“Although so-called environmental groups may in the next few weeks pressure you to attend, we believe there are good reasons not to give in to this pressure,” signatories wrote. [13]
April 1993
An April, 1993 Wall Street Journal opinion piece cites Avery as claiming organic farming would produce more cancer, not less because “it’s hard to get kids to eat shabby-looking produce.” [10]
Avery made similar claims in 1999 when he said that “Organic is now obviously the deadly choice in food” and claimed that organic foods are more dangerous for human consumption than those treated with chemicals. [11]
Avery is author of Global Food Progress (1991) and Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming, both published by the Hudson Institute.
In Saving the Planet Avery argues that using chemical pesticides, fertilizers and biotechnology is “the solution to environmental problems.”
The Hudson Institute has received grants from numerous companies involved in the argi-business sector including Monsanto, Cargill, and CropLife International.
Affiliations
- The Hudson Institute — Former director, Center for Global Food Issues and Senior Fellow. [1]
- The Heartland Institute — Former speaker at the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change. [6]
- American Council on Science and Health — Former Scientific Advisor. [12]
- Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) — Former CFACT “Advisor” and author. [5]
Social Media
- @DennisTAvery on Twitter.
Publications
According to a search of Google Scholar, Dennis T. Avery had not published any articles in peer-reviewed journals on the subject of climate.
Avery is the editor of Global Food Quarterly, a publication of the Hudson Institute.
Sample (non-peer-reviewed) publications include:
- S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery, “The Physical Evidence of Earth’s Unstoppable 1,500-Year Climate Cycle,” National Center for Policy Analysis, Policy Report No. 279, September 29, 2005.
- Global Food Progress (Hudson Institute, 1991).
- Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming (Hudson Institute, 1995).
- Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery. Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1,500 Year. Rowman and Littlefield, 2006 (see on Amazon.com).
- “Global Warming—Boon for Mankind?”, The Hudson Institute, April 1, 1998.
- Dennis T. Avery. “Greenpeace: A Long History of Poor Judgment,” The Heartlander, March 1, 2008.
Many of Avery’s articles have also been published in the CFACT website.
Resources
- “Dennis T. Avery,” Biography at the Hudson Institute. Archived October 6, 2011.
- “Dennis T. Avery,” biography at the Center for Global Food Issues. Archived August 14, 2011.
- “The Physical Evidence of Earth’s Unstoppable 1,500-Year Climate Cycle,” National Center for Policy Analysis. Archived, Febuary 14, 2008.
- “CNNLOU DOBBS TONIGHT,” Transcript. Program originally aired January 13, 2009.
- “Diminishing the Noble Peace Prize,” CFAC website, Nov 1, 2007.
- “2008 International Conference on Climate Change: Avery, Singer, Armstrong,” The Global Warming Challenge, March 6, 2008.
- Dennis Avery. “Rachel Carson and the malaria tragedy,” Africa Fighting Malaria, December 16, 2007.
- “The Physical Evidence of Earth’s Unstoppable 1,500-Year Climate Cycle,” National Center for Policy Analysis. Archived February 14, 2006.
- “Avery and Singer: Unstoppable hot air,” RealClimate.org, November 20, 2006.
- Dennis T. Avery. “‘Frontline’ Perpetuates Pesticide Myths,” The Wall Street Journal, April 1, 1993. Republished by Legacy Tobacco Documents Library.
- John Berlau. “The risky nature of organics: Growing Produce In Manure Raises Concerns,” Investor’s Business Daily, March 3, 2009. Archived at Junkscience.com, February 10, 2010.
- “Scientific Advisors,” American Council on Science and Health, Accessed February, 2012.
- “An Open Letter To President Bush About The World Summit On Sustainable Development,“ Competitive Enterprise Institute, August 2, 2002. Archived November 5, 2002. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mMFvn
- “DENNIS AVERY,” Climateconference.heartland.org. Archived April 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/MnOxK
- “Second International Conference on Climate Change, Program” (PDF) Heartland Institute. Archived January 23, 2018.
- “Seventh International Conference on Climate Change, Program,” (PDF) Heartland Institute. Archived January 23, 2018.
- “Press Release: Heartland Institute To Present Latest Climate Science In Poland During Cop-24,” The Heartland Institute, November 15, 2018. Archived December 6, 2018. Archive.is URL: http://archive.is/g3JUH
- “DENNIS AVERY, R.I.P.” The Heartland Institute, June 22, 2020. Archived June 24, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/8RAP7
Other Resources
- Hudson Institute,” SourceWatch profile.
- “Dennis Avery,” Wikipedia.
- ExxonSecrets Factsheet: Dennis T. Avery
- “Saving the Planet With Pestilent Statistics,” PR Watch, Fourth Quarter 1999, Volume 6, No. 4.
- “Most Recent Articles by Dennis Avery,” CFACT.
- Dennis Avery. “Our colossal ignorance on global warming.” CFACT, August 9, 2011.
