Kenneth Green is a senior fellow at the Reason Foundation. He specializes in energy and environmental policy. The Reason Foundation is a libertarian think tank that seeks to advance “a free society by developing, applying, and promoting libertarian principles, including liberty, free markets, and the rule of law.” The Reason Foundation was also a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, a collection of organizations that deny climate change.
In an article published in 2021, “It Is Time for Environmentalism 3.0,” Green claimed that all other iterations of environmentalism have failed to do what they claimed, “have become politically divisive and, in more than a few cases, actually makes the problems worse.” Green wrote that there needs to be less centralization and regulation, hence a movement towards an “Environmentalism 3.0.” Given the Foundation’s focus on economics, he also mentioned that there needs to be an opportunity for individual choices in a “market.”
In 2002, Green, then the Chief Scientist for the Fraser Institute, signed a joint letter with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. In the letter, they asked Presiden Bush to withdraw the “Climate Action Reports 2002” and rewrite it based on “sound science,” claiming that the report largely consists of “junk science.” The letter suggested that Bush fire all staff that aren’t adhering to Bush’s agenda on climate change. They also lauded Bush for opposing the Kyoto protocol. The letter has since been removed from the Competitive Enterprise’s website.
Green published a book review of State of Fear by Michael Crichton in which he emphasized quotes that questioned the veracity of climate science and suggested that we know far less about future trends than scientists say we do.
He has also called climate change an “excuse” used by regulators to “keep them in business.” He wrote that cars in California aren’t causing climate change, so creating regulations for cars “will provide little or no climate protection to current or future generations” “whether you believe we face a risk of catastrophic climate change due to manmade gas emissions or not.”
Before working for the Reason Foundation, Green worked for the Centre for Natural Resource Studies at the Fraser Institute, the Environmental Literacy Council, and the American Enterprise Institute.
See also:
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Climate of Denial