Globalisation:Frontiers of Freedom

Frontiers of Freedom (FoF)

Frontiers of Freedom was founded in 1996 by ex-Republican Senator Malcolm Wallop. It aims to fight environmental regulations that are viewed as infringing on ‘property rights’ and it has become a powerful global warming skeptic organisation which has gone to great lengths to relay their message .

The organisation has links to companies such as ExxonMobil, Morris Cos and RJ Reynolds Tobacco which each have clear agendas to support the stance against the threat from global warming. Between 1998 and 2005, ExxonMobil granted $16 million to FoF and these grants have been used to fund initiatives such as the launching of a new branch organisation called the Centre for Science and Public Policy The centre’s main operation was to discredit the views that stressed that global warming was being caused by the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

FoF also oversees five other policy centres. These are; Centre for Constitutional Government, Centre for Economic Liberty and Property Rights, Centre for National Security and Defense, Centre for Free Market, Centre for Civic, Family, and Societal Progress and Centre for Free Market Environmentalism and Conservation. The last of these actively promotes industry friendly ‘sound science’.

The FoF organisation has also been linked to tobacco companies, as in 1996 FoF’s Jeff Taylor asked Alexander Spears of Lorillard Tobacco Company for solicit funding in a memo. FoF has links to the Bush administration and their obvious support of the U.S. government withdrawing from Kyoto have highlighted their strong affiliation to a conservative outlook. The organisation has apparently received grants from conservative foundations which include that of; the Earhart Foundation, Carthage Foundation, John M. Olin Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation. The FoF also operates several associated websites including OpionionEditorial.com and SpinFreeNews.com. This quote highlights the stance which FoF has taken regarding global warming; "Climate has always varied, often with large swings...These dramatic climatic ebbs and flows are naturally occurring events. A more appropriate response to potential climate change is the production and employment of resources toward meaningful adaptation strategies."