Letter to the Friends of Science
Dear Friends of Science,
The banner of your website contains an alleged statement of Sir John Houghton, the first chairperson of the IPCC.
In a November 2006 article in Australia's The Daily Telegraph, journalist Piers Akerman quoted Houghton as saying "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen", attributing the quote to his 1994 book Global Warming, The Complete Briefing. This has since been quoted by many critics, including Benny Peiser and Christopher Monckton, and is listed at the top of the front page of Christopher Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster.
However, the quote does not appear in any edition of the book. Houghton denies saying any such thing and believes the opposite.However, in the Sunday Telegraph (10 Sept. 1995) he did say: "If we want a good environmental policy in the future we’ll have to have a disaster." The respective article was published in the Independent:
It appears a general problem with your organization that you do not choose your sources carefully but rely on the echo chamber of the right-wing blogosphere. As it stands, your false claim is libellous and constitutes not only an ad hominem attack but a complete character assassination.
Please remove the fabricated statement from your website a.s.a.p.
Thanks,
Derek L. Schweinsgruber
Friends of Gin & Tonic
Calgary
The banner of your website contains an alleged statement of Sir John Houghton, the first chairperson of the IPCC.
In a November 2006 article in Australia's The Daily Telegraph, journalist Piers Akerman quoted Houghton as saying "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen", attributing the quote to his 1994 book Global Warming, The Complete Briefing. This has since been quoted by many critics, including Benny Peiser and Christopher Monckton, and is listed at the top of the front page of Christopher Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster.
It appears a general problem with your organization that you do not choose your sources carefully but rely on the echo chamber of the right-wing blogosphere. As it stands, your false claim is libellous and constitutes not only an ad hominem attack but a complete character assassination.
Please remove the fabricated statement from your website a.s.a.p.
Thanks,
Derek L. Schweinsgruber
Friends of Gin & Tonic
Calgary
