Scientific Alliance
The Scientific Alliance is a nonprofit organization established in the United Kingdom in 2001, primarily focused on addressing environmental issues. Founded by businessman Robert Durward and political consultant Mark Adams, the organization seeks to create dialogue around biotechnology and environmental change, attracting members from both scientific and non-scientific backgrounds. Under the direction of Martin Livermore, the Scientific Alliance positions itself as a counterbalance to what it perceives as alarmist narratives regarding climate change.
The organization advocates for a pro-business approach to environmental discussions and emphasizes the importance of genetically modified foods, arguing against organic farming practices that it claims could lead to ecological crises. It has hosted several conferences aimed at rethinking environmental decision-making and critiquing prevailing climate change narratives, often challenging the perspectives of prominent environmental activists. Notably, the Scientific Alliance has published critiques of international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol, promoting skepticism about the severity of climate change and the motivations of those advocating for urgent action. Overall, the Scientific Alliance presents itself as a voice for reasoned discourse on environmental issues, appealing to individuals who share its views on climate skepticism and biotechnology.
Scientific Alliance
- DATE: Established 2001
Mission
The Scientific Alliance is a nonprofit organization that was formed in 2001 in the United Kingdom in order to deal with issues facing the environment. Businessman Robert Durward started it in conjunction with political consultant Mark Adams. The organization’s membership consists of individuals interested in the field of and environmental change; some are scientists and others are nonscientists. Its present director is Martin Livermore, the author of Climate Change: A Guide to the Scientific Uncertainties (2007), published by the Centre for Policy Studies. The Scientific Alliance tries to foster discussion about issues dealing with the environment, but it is generally felt to be pro-business.
Significance for Climate Change
The Scientific Alliance is an activist group that contends that it deals logically with issues of the environment, trying to calm the panic caused by extremist groups who use scare tactics to frighten the public. The organization currently consists of many individuals in the field of biotechnology and people skeptical about the issues of climate change. It has sponsored several conferences dedicated to exploration of environmental challenges. Its first conference was held in November 2002, and was entitled Fields of the Future. This conference highlighted the importance of genetically modified foods for the future of the world, while indicating that organic farming would lead to ecological collapse and mass starvation.
A second conference held in November 2004 was entitled Cautionary Tales: Rethinking Environmental Decision Making and Risk Assessment. This conference warned of the risks of organic farming as well as the risks that would be associated with wind power. In 2005, the organization’s conference was titled “Apocalypse No: Assessing Catastrophic Climate Change.” This conference featured many speakers who indicated that individuals such as Al Gore (author of An Inconvenient Truth) and other pro-environmentalists were attempting to determine the direction of the future of the world by falsely creating a panic based on environmental change.
In December 2004, the Scientific Alliance published a paper criticizing the and minimizing the risks of global warming. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in the late 1990s in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gases and minimize global warming. The Scientific Alliance as an organization has worked and continues to work to convince society that climate change is unlikely to occur, unimportant, and proposed by radicals trying to influence the course of society.
"Al Gore's Climate Watchdog Spots Rogue Emissions." Science.org, 3 Dec. 2023, www.science.org/content/article/al-gore-s-climate-watchdog-spots-rogue-emissions. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
"What Is Climate Change?" NASA, 2024, science.nasa.gov/climate-change/what-is-climate-change/. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.