The Lavoisier Group is an independent, nonprofit organization that aims to promote debate within Australia on the science of global warming and climate change and the perceived need to reduce fossil fuel consumption through national and international regulation. The group's activities are motivated by the belief that some of the science on which national and international climate policy is based is not beyond reproach (Botterill, 2003). In light of this belief, the organization encourages dialogue within Australia on the scientific merits of climate policies and agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol, as well as their economic consequences. The organization also seeks to explore the consequences which any international treaty relating to global decarbonisation targets, and the methods of policing such treaties, would have on Australian sovereignty and independence, and for the World Trade Organization rules which protect Australia from the use of trade sanctions as an instrument of extraterritorial power.

The group is run by volunteers comprising mainly active and retired earth and atmospheric scientists, engineers, and other professionals.

The Lavoisier Group is named after Antoine- Laurent Lavoisier, a French scientist, economist, and public servant (Axelrod, 2004). Although he is best known for his discovery of the role oxygen plays in combustion, Lavoisier was politically liberal and persuaded of the need for social reform in France during the years leading up to the French Revolution. At age fifty, during the Reign of Terror, he was found guilty of incivisme (avoiding civic responsibility) by the French revolutionists and put to death by guillotine. Eighteen months after his death, Lavoisier was exonerated by the French government when it was formally declared he had been falsely convicted. The Lavoisier Group highlights noteworthy developments in climatology, publishing information on its Web site and inviting speakers on the subject.

The topics most frequently covered in the organization's site and seminars include greenhouse gas theory, solar and planetary influences on Earth's climate, predictions and projections of future climate, the history of climate change, the economics of energy and technology, energy security, the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in promoting global warming hysteria, and the response of Australia's governments to the decarbonization campaigns of the environmentalist movement and the media.

References

1. Axelrod, Regina S., David Leonard Downie, and Norman J. Vig, eds. The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004.

2. Botterill, Linda C., and Melanie Fisher, eds. Beyond Drought: People, Policy, and Perspectives. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO, 2003.

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