Lawrence Solomon

Credentials

[Pending further Investigation]

Background

Lawrence Solomon is a columnist with The Financial Post, the National Post (Toronto) and has been a columnist for the Globe and Mail (Toronto) a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and the editor and publisher of The Next City magazine.

Solomon describes himself as “one of Canada’s leading environmentalists,” and an advisor to President Carter’s Task Force on the Global Environment (the Global 2000 Report) in the late 1970’s, and one who has “been at the forefront of movements to reform foreign aid, stop nuclear power expansion, save the world’s rainforests and convert free roads to toll roads.”

He authored a book in 2008 titled The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud based on a series of articles he wrote for the National Post.

Solomon is a founder and managing director of Energy Probe Research Foundation and the executive director of its Energy Probe and Urban Renaissance Institute divisions.¹

Stance on Climate Change

“After writing 10 columns on the subject, one for each ‘denier’ and his theories, one fact is undeniable: The science is not settled. Not on man’s role in causing the warming we’ve seen this century. Not on the consequences of this warming. Certainly not on the extent of warming – or cooling– to come.”²

Solomon has promoted the views of numerous climate skeptics in his “Deniers” series:

“The alignment of the planets, and especially that of Jupiter and Saturn, control the climate on Earth.” ³
“The sun’s increased irradiance over the last century, not C02 emissions, is responsible for the global warming we’re seeing, says the celebrated scientist [Habibullo Abdussamatov], and this solar irradiance also explains the great volume of C02 emissions.”⁴

Key Quotes

“The short version: It’s CO2 to the rescue. The more of it in the atmosphere, the better the Amazon’s chance of survival.”⁵

“In other words, more violent tornadoes would, if anything, be a sign of ‘global cooling’, not ‘global warming’.”⁶

“Several renowned scientists have been predicting for some time that the world could enter a period of cooling right around now, with consequences that could be dire.”⁷

“Coal used to be a very dirty fuel but coal has become cleaner and cleaner over the decades. Clean coal now is quite clean. Clean coal now has the same emissions profile as natural gas. Clean coal can become cleaner still. We can take even more of the pollutants out of coal and I believe we should. Clean coal, I think, is the immediate answer to Canada’s energy needs and the world’s energy needs. There are hundreds of years available of coal supplies. We shouldn’t be squandering that resource. We should be using it prudently.”⁸

Key Deeds

March 9, 2009

Lawrence Solomon was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s Second International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2) where he gave a speech titled “Our Green Friends.”⁹

DeSmog 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.

July 2008

Solomon spoke at Frontier Center for Public Policy (FCPP) events in Winnipeg and in Regina. Solomon describes how CO2 is “the building block of life on Earth.” and that there is “something dangerous about attacking the basis of life on Earth.”¹⁰ ¹¹

In Regina, he says that the Earth is “the greenest it’s ever been” thanks to increased C02 emissions, which he describes as “nature’s fertilizer.” He says “plants love it” and it “helps everything turn green.” Solomon goes on to indirectly criticize “some people who want to stop the c02 we’ve been putting into the atmosphere that’s been helping all our plant life.”

Although Solomon admits that “the planet is warming,” he says that “Plants love that too.”

June 7, 2008

Solomon published a column, titled “In Praise of CO2,” that asserted that carbon dioxide is “nature’s fertilizer, bathing the biota with its life-giving nutrients.”¹²

New Scientist criticized Solomon’s assertion that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could lead to “food production dropping worldwide.” A feedback article at New Scientist revealed that Solomon’s claim had misrepresented a 2004 study that concluded “the change in biomass” over two decades “is largely due to sunnier days in the Amazon and nothing to do with any ‘life-giving nutrients’ in CO2 or anything else.”¹³

December 2008

An executive from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy sponsored a debate about global warming between Lawrence Solomon and Dr. Jay Gulledge of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.¹⁴

See Professor Gulledge’s “Post Debate Follow up” (PDF).¹⁵

April 1, 2008

Solomon published The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud which was based on a series of articles he wrote for the National Post.

DeSmog noted that “The problem, then and still, is that nobody in Solomon’s overheated text actually denies that humans are causing climate change.”

Affiliations

The National Post — Columnist.
The Frontier Center for Public Policy (FCPP) — Speaker at FCPP-sponsored events.
Energy Probe Research Foundation* — Managing Director and co-founder.
Energy Probe Institute — Executive Director
Urban Renaissance Institute — Executive Director and regular contributor.
Consumer Policy Institute — Regularly features Solomon’s articles.

* The Energy Probe Research Foundation is made up of several divisions including Energy Probe, Probe International, Environment Probe, Consumer Policy Institute, Environmental Bureau of Investigation, Urban Renaissance Institute, and the Margaret Laurence Fund.

Publications

According to a search of Google Scholar, Lawrence Solomon does not appear to have published any articles in peer-reviewed journals on any subject.

Sample Publications:

“The Deniers.” National Post article series.
Many of Solomon’s economic policy articles from the National Post have been republished by the Consumer Policy Institute.
Climate Realists republishes many of Solomon’s National Post articles that question man-made global warming.

Books:

The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud. (Richard Vigilante Books, 2008).
The Conserver Solution (Doubleday, 1978).
Energy shock: After the oil runs out (Doubleday, 1980).
Breaking up Ontario Hydro’s Monopoly (Energy Probe, 1982).
Power at What Cost (Doubleday, 1984).
In the Name of Progress (with Patricia Adams) (Earthscan, 1992).

@LSolomonTweets on Twitter

Other Resources

Resources

1
“admin,” Energy Probe. Archived July 26, 2011.
2
Lawrence Solomon. “End the Chill,” National Post. April 17, 2007.
3
Lawrence Solomon. “Climate change by Jupiter,” National Post, November 10, 2007.
4
Lawrence Solomon. “Look to Mars for the truth on global warming,” The National Post. January 26, 2007.
5
“Lawrence Solomon: Are High CO2 Levels Once Again Saving the Amazon Rainforest?” The National Post. May 18, 2011.
6
“Lawrence Solomon: Tornados could be an omen of global cooling,” The National Post. May 1, 2011.
7
Lawrence Solomon. “The Deniers: Our spotless sun,” National Post. May 31, 2008.
8
“Conversations from the Frontier,” Frontier Center for Public Policy, July 4, 2008.
9
“Speakers,” The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change, February 17, 2009. Archived February 18, 2009.
10
“Conversations from the Frontier,” Frontier Center for Public Policy, July 4, 2008.
11
“Lawrence Solomon on Climate Change & IPCC,” YouTube Video. Uploaded by SaskCTF, June 28, 2008.
12
Lawrence Solomon. “In praise of CO2,” Financial Post, June 7, 2008. Archived June 11, 2008.
13
“Feedback,” New Scientist, Issue 2663 (July 2, 2008). Archived December 16, 2009.
14
“The Deniers,” National Chamber Foundation. Accessed February, 2012.
15
Jay Gulledge. “Resources for Understanding Issues Raised in The Deniers by Lawrence Solomon” (PDF), Retrieved February 17, 2012 from the National Chamber Foundation web server.

DeSmog

DeSmog