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Revision as of 10:58, 2 August 2010

Lawrence Solomon is a Canadian writer and environmentalist. He is the founder and managing director of Energy Probe, a Canadian environmental agency. His work has appeared in a number of newspapers, including The National Post where he has a column, and he is the author of several books on energy resources, urban sprawl, and global warming, including The Conserver Solution (1978), Energy Shock (1980), Toronto Sprawls: A History (2007), and The Deniers (2008).

Solomon opposes nuclear power based on its economic costs, is a global warming skeptic, and has been critical of government approaches and policies used to address environmental concerns.

Career and environmental activities

Lawrence Solomon worked as a columnist at The Globe and Mail and National Post, and has been published in the National Review Online, CBS News, and the Wall Street Journal. He was the editor and publisher of Next City magazine, now defunct. Solomon has written for American Forests, an environmental conservation organization. Serving as executive director of the Urban Renaissance Institute, a division of Energy Probe, Solomon has advocated environmental protection, conservation, and safeguards throughout the world community, especially in non-affluent nations. Roberta Stauffer in the Montana Standard described Solomon as "a leader in the Canadian environmental movement since the 1970s."

Solomon supports reforms in foreign aid, putting a stop to nuclear power expansion, and supports the privatization of transport projects and the expansion of toll roads. In his columns and book Toronto Sprawls: A History, Solomon blames government policy for exacerbating and encouraging sprawl. He is a critic of subsidies to rural Canada. Solomon has also criticized Ontario Hydro's actions and projects and their effects on Canada's environment. Solomon states that he was very active during the 1970s and 1980s with Energy Probe in opposing attempts to expand the use of nuclear power in Canada.

Global warming

In a series of articles and a companion book published in 2008, The Deniers, Solomon writes about scientists whose views and research, according to Solomon, contradicts what he calls the alarmist view of global warming presented by Al Gore, the IPCC and the media. The book featured on C-SPAN's Book TV on May 11, 2008. Reviews of the book have appeared in the Washington Times, Vancouver Sun, Alternatives Journal, and other publications.

In 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, who took the opposite view. Solomon's blog has been mentioned in U.S. News & World Report's website concerning carbon emissions reduction legislation.

According to Elaine Kurtenbach for America's Intelligence Wire, Solomon discovered and revealed that the IPCC used a flawed and non-peer reviewed paper by James Hansen and Eigil Friis-Christensen as support for the IPCC's conclusions on the correlation between land based global temperatures that had been contaminated by proximity to expanding urban areas with rising atmospheric CO2.

Misplaced Pages

Solomon has also written columns criticizing Misplaced Pages's coverage of global warming and other topics, including his own Misplaced Pages page.

Green Beanery

In 2004, Solomon founded Green Beanery, a non-profit online merchant specializing in organic coffee beans produced by small, independent farmers. The company is located in downtown Toronto and includes a cafe where customers can sample a wide variety of coffee. The profits from Green Beanery go to Probe International.

Published works

Solomon's books include:

• The Conserver Solution (Doubleday, 1978 ISBN 978-0385145336)
• Energy shock: After the oil runs out (Doubleday, 1980 ISBN 978-0385171618)
• Breaking up Ontario Hydro's Monopoly (Energy Probe, 1982)
• Power at What Cost (Doubleday, 1984 ISBN 978-0919849037)
• In the Name of Progress (with Patricia Adams) (Earthscan, 1992 ISBN 978-1853831218)
• Toronto Sprawls: A History (University of Toronto Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0772786180)
• The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud (Richard Vigilante Books, 2008 ISBN 978-0980076318)

References

1. Lawrence Solomon, Energy Probe, accessed May 31, 2010.
2. The Deniers, dedication
3. For sources referring to Solomon as an environmentalist or a free-market environmentalist, see
   • "Climate change: Munk Debates", CBC, November 4, 2009: "Lawrence Solomon, Energy Probe's executive director, is one of Canada's leading environmentalists".
   • Oboler, Andre; Steinberg, Gerald; and Stern, Rephael. "The Political Framing of Political NGOs through Criticism Elimination", Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 7(4), 2010.
   • "The climate change deniers", Washington Times, Tuesday, May 6, 2008: "heralded Canadian environmentalist Lawrence Solomon".
     • One source, writing in an magazine which strongly opposes free markets , described him as a "free-market environmentalist": Cizek, Peter. "Scouring scum and tar from the bottom of the pit", Canadian Dimension, July 9, 2006
   • In addition to the above third party sources, the Financial Post, on its columnist biography page for Solomon, describes him as "one of Canada's leading environmentalists"; and Solomon himself has stated his case for the environmentalist label here
4. Lawrence Solomon (August 1, 2009). "The two blows that killed the industry". National Post.
5. Brit Humen (June 4, 2007). "Is the Earmark System Really Being Reformed by Democrats?". FoxNews. Retrieved 2009-08-24. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
6. ^ Financial Post. "Lawrence Solomon Biography". Financial Post. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
7. Lawrence Solomon articles in Financial Post National Post
8. "Toronto sprawls; a history." Reference & Research Book News (2007).
9. "The Next City magazine, published and edited by Solomon, was started in 1995." Thomas Walkom Hydro thorn Energy Probe rooted on the right; Pro-privatization empire not part of environmentalism's whole-grain world August 23, 1997 page E.1 Toronto Star
10. Solomon, Lawrence. "Save the forests - sell the trees." American Forests Jan.-Feb. 1990: 48+.
11. Spence, Bruce, "Correlation does not equal causation." America's Intelligence Wire 11 Aug. 2003.
12. "Flip side of a hot topic: Monday Musings." Montana Standard 27 Apr. 2009.
13. "I note that Lawrence Solomon continues to advocate road tolls, and the privatization of the TTC (like London) for Toronto's transportation system." Bruce Campion-Smith Toll roads safer, better maintained, expert says November 21, 1996 Toronto Star page A.20
14. Lawrence Solomon Stimulating sprawl April 04, 2009 Financial Post
15. Walks, R. Alan. "Toronto Sprawls: A History." Ontario History 100.1 (2008): 110+.
16. Berridge, Joe. "Suburbia forever: nothing, it seems, can stop cities from growing ever outwards." Literary Review of Canada 15.7 (2007): 24+.
17. You keep Yonge St.: Two writers from Alberta take on Lawrence Solomon's view that rural Canada is an unviable drag on cities. What about all those urban subsidies? May 15, 2004 America's Intelligence Wire (From Financial Post)
18. Solomon, Lawrence. "Ontario Hydro, 1906-2002." Toronto Life. 36. 8 (May 2002): 146.
19. Solomon, Lawrence, he Deniers, Richard Vigilante Books, 2007, pp. 2–3.
20. "The Deniers: The World-Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud". Book TV on C-Span2. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
21. McBean, Gordon. "The danger of misinformation: the Deniers is so full of misinformation that it is impossible to list it all." Alternatives Journal 34.4 (2008): 37.
22. Shawn Macomber (2008-05-06). "The climate change deniers". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
23. Mark Milke (2008-05-09). "'The Deniers' details flaws in the theories on global warming". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
24. Ben-Peter Terpstra (January 11, 2009). "Book Review: The Deniers". Canada Free Press. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
25. "James L. Jones' energy views worry some environmentalists". Retrieved 2009-09-15]. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
26. Lawrence Solomon. "Alice in Climateland". Retrieved 2009-09-15.
27. Barone, Michael. "Barack Obama's Carbon Emissions Plan Might Be Flawed." U.S. News & World Report Online 10 Nov. 2008.
28. Kurtenbach, Elaine, "Climate change." America's Intelligence Wire 20 Apr. 2007.
29. Lawrence Solomon (2008-04-12). "Misplaced Pages's Zealots". Financial Post. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
30. Lawrence Solomon (2008-04-19). "Hide your name on Wicked Pedia". Financial Post. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
31. Lawrence Solomon (2008-04-26). "The real climate Martians". Financial Post. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
32. Lawrence Solomon (2008-05-03). "The Opinionator". Financial Post. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
33. Lawrence Solomon (2008-07-08). "Wikipropaganda". National Review Online. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
34. Lawrence Solomon (2009-12-18). "How Misplaced Pages's green doctor rewrote 5,428 climate articles". National Post. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
35. Lawrence Solomon (2009-12-23). "Lawrence Solomon: Climategate rages on at Misplaced Pages". National Post. Retrieved 2009-24-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
36. Lawrence Solomon (2010-02-13). "Lawrence Solomon: Who am I?". National Post. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
37. http://www.canada.com/cityguides/toronto/story.html?id=ded662f0-1778-4b5a-b989-232cec6ae7ed&p=2
38. ^ "Roast-your-own coffee business goes green" (Press release). Green Beanery. 2004-09-15. Retrieved 2008-07-10.

External links

• Climate change: The Deniers provides an index to the series of articles by Solomon in the National Post about scientists who "buck the conventional wisdom on climate science."
• "Don’t Deny Yourself", an interview with Lawrence Solomon, in National Review, April 22, 2008.
• "A Time to Deny", an interview with Lawrence Solomon at The American Spectator, April 18, 2008.
• The climate change deniers, an article on Solomon's book The Deniers in The Washington Times, May 6, 2008.
• "The Deniers details flaws in the theories on global warming", The Vancouver Sun, May 9, 2008. "An anti-nuclear, Toronto-based, urban-loving, 1970s peace activist who opposes subsidies to the oil industry might be the last person expected to detail cracks in the science of global warming...."
• Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change contains links to various articles by Solomon.
• Lawrence Solomon (1990-01-01). "Save the Forests - Sell the Trees". American Forests. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
• Mark Milke, "Alberta to Bury Carbon, and its History", a Frontier Centre for Public Policy article dated 2008-07-16 referring to Lawrence Solomon's book The Deniers.

• 1948 births
• Living people
• Critics of Misplaced Pages
• Canadian non-fiction writers
• Canadian columnists
• Canadian environmentalists
• Canadian people of Romanian descent