OUR MISSION
At the heart of CFACT, our goal is to enhance the fruitfulness of the earth and all of its inhabitants. CFACT accomplishes this through four main strategies:
- Prospering Lives. CFACT works to help people find better ways to provide for food, water, energy and other essential human services.
- Promoting Progress. CFACT advocates the use of safe, affordable technologies and the pursuit of economic policies that reduce pollution and waste, and maximize the use of resources.
- Protecting the Earth. CFACT helps protect the earth through wise stewardship of the land and its wildlife.
- Providing Education. CFACT educates various sectors of the public about important facts and practical solutions regarding environmental concerns.
In 1985, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) was founded to promote a much-needed, positive alternative voice on issues of environment and development. Its co-founders, David Rothbard and Craig Rucker, strongly believed the power of the market combined with the applications of safe technologies could offer humanity practical solutions to many of the world’s most pressing concerns. A number of leading scientists, academics, and policy leaders soon joined them, along with thousands of citizens from around the U.S. and around the world.
Today, CFACT is a respected Washington D.C.-based organization whose voice can be heard relentlessly infusing the public-interest debate with a balanced perspective on environmental stewardship and oth er important issues. With an influential and impressive scientific advisory board, effective collegiate program on U.S. college campuses, CFACT Europe, official United Nations’ NGO representation, Adopt-A-Village project, Global Social Responsibility program, and “Just the Facts” daily national radio commentary, CFACT continues to offer genuine solutions to today’s most important global challenges.
CFACT has been termed “invaluable” by the Arizona Republic, it has been lauded for its “effort to bring sound science to the environmental debate” by a former president of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been praised by a respected Boston Herald columnist for “a record of supplying absolutely solid information.”
OUR STAFF
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Director of Research and Education, Center for Global Food Issues
Hudson Institute
Alex Avery was the director of research and education with the Center for Global Food Issues at Hudson Institute. Prior to joining Hudson in 1994, he was a McKnight research fellow at Purdue University, where he worked on a team developing drought- and disease-resistant sorghum varieties for sub-Saharan Africa.
Former Senior Fellow and former Director, Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute
From 1980-1988, Dennis T. Avery served as agricultural analyst for the U.S. Department of State, where he was responsible for assessing the foreign-policy implications of food and farming developments worldwide. At Hudson, Avery continued to monitor developments in world food production, farm product demand, the safety and security of food supplies, and the sustainability of world agriculture. As a staff member of the President’s National Advisory Commission on Food and Fiber, he wrote the Commission’s landmark report, “Food and Fiber for the Future.” Avery is the author of Global Food Progress 1991 (Hudson Institute, 1991) and Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming (Hudson Institute, 1995). The second edition of Saving the Planet was published in 2000. He is the editor of Global Food Quarterly, the newsletter of the Center for Global Food Issues, and writes a weekly column for The BridgeNews Forum.
Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Sallie Baliunas, Ph.D. served as part Deputy Director of Mount Wilson Observatory and as Senior Scientist at the George C. Marshall Institute in Washington, DC, and chairs the Institute’s Science Advisory Board and is past contributing editor to the World Climate Report. Her awards include the Newton-Lacy-Pierce Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Petr Beckmann Award for Scientific Freedom and the Bok Prize from Harvard University. She has written over 200 scientific research articles. In 1991 Discover magazine profiled her as one of America’s outstanding women scientists. She was technical consultant for a science-fiction television series, “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict,” airing 1997 – 2001. She received her M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees in Astrophysics from Harvard University.
Professor, Dept. of Geographical Sciences, Arizona State University
Robert Ballinghas a long history of conducting research on the climate change issue with a special interest in blending in applications involving Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Balling has written four books on the climate change issue, he has served as a science consultant to the United Nations, and he was the 2011 ASU Professor of the Year awarded by Order of Omega Greek Honorary Society. He is also the director of the Master of Advanced Study in Geographic Information Systems program.
Director, Africa Fighting Malaria
Roger Bate is an economist who researches international health policy, with a particular focus on tropical disease and substandard and counterfeit medicines. He also writes on general development policy in Asia and Africa. He writes regularly for AEI’s Health Policy Outlook.
Wildlife biologist, IWMC World Conservation Trust
Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota.
National Spokesman, Cornwall Alliance for Environmental Stewardship
Dr. Beisner is Founder and National Spokesman of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, a network of over 60 Christian theologians, natural scientists, economists, and other scholars educating for Biblical earth stewardship, economic development for the poor, and the proclamation and defense of the good news of salvation by God’s grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Dr. Beisner was associate professor of historical theology and social ethics at Knox Theological Seminary from 2000 to 2008 and of interdisciplinary studies (focusing on the application of Biblical worldview, theology, and ethics to economics, government, and public policy) at Covenant College from 1992 to 2000.
Professor of Philosophy, University of Trier (Germany)
Bouillon studied art history and philosophy (MA). He was appointed Ph.D. in 1988 at the University of Trier. phil. obtained his doctorate and habilitated in 1995 in Political Philosophy. In 2008, he was awarded the title of unscheduled professor there . In the summer semester 2004 he was a visiting professor at the University of Economics in Prague . From the summer semester 2007 until the summer semester 2009 he was a substitute professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen . In the summer semester 2009 he was guest professor at the Friedrich A. v. Hayek Instituteat the Vienna University of Economics and Business . In the summer semester 2013 he became a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
Author and Lecturer
James Bovard is the author of Public Policy Hooligan (2012), Attention Deficit Democracy (2006), Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (1994), and 7 other books. He is a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors and has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Washington Post, and other publications. His articles have been publicly denounced by the chief of the FBI, the Postmaster General, the Secretary of HUD, and the heads of the DEA, FEMA, and EEOC and numerous federal agencies.
Director of International Affairs, Congress of Racial Equality (Uganda)
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) has been the focal point of Cyril’s adult life. While in College and later as he worked in various educational environments, he was an ardent and committed CORE volunteer. In 1970, he led a delegation of over 1200 people on a “pilgrimage” to Africa, organized by the National Director of CORE – Roy Innis. Cyril later became a full time employee of CORE, devoting himself to its principles of self-reliance. He has held the positions of Director of Cultural Affairs, Special Assistant to The National Chairman for Media Relations, Editor of CORE magazine and served as a National Board Member. He is responsible for CORE’s historic consultative status at the United Nations, Cyril is currently an integral part of CORE’s senior staff, serving as Director of International Affairs and Advisor to CORE’s NationalChairman.
Managing Editor, Environment & Climate News, Heartland Institute
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. is a Heartland senior fellow on environmental policy and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News. Prior to joining The Heartland Institute in 2014, Burnett worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis for 18 years, ending his tenure there as senior fellow in charge of environmental policy. He has held various positions in professional and public policy organizations, including serving as a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Task Force in the Texas Comptroller’s e-Texas commission.
Independent energy consultant (U.K.)
Richard S. Courtney is the Technical Editor for CoalTrans International, a journal of the international coal trading industry. In the early 1990s Courtney was a Senior Material Scientist of the National Coal Board (also known as British Coal) and a Science and Technology spokesman of the British Association of Colliery Management. Courtney is a member of the the editorial board of Energy & Environment.
Transportation consultant; Principal, Demographia
Wendell Cox is principal of Demographia, an international public policy firm located in the St. Louis metropolitan area. He has served as a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris since 2002. His principal interests are economics, poverty alleviation, demographics, urban policy and transport. He is co-author of the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.
Director, Oligo Synthesis, Keck Biotechnology Genomics Services
Yale University School of Medicine
Department of Economics, Loyola College of Maryland
Thomas DiLorenzo is professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland and a member of the senior faculty of the Mises Institute. He is the author of The Real Lincoln; How Capitalism Saved America; Lincoln Unmasked; Hamilton’s Curse; Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government; and The Problem with Socialism.
Director of the University of Wyoming-Casper and Associate Dean for the University of Wyoming Outreach School
He is an adjunct scholar with the Midland, Mich.-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Principal, Science Speaks (Australia)
David Evans is an electrical engineer and mathematician, who earned six university degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering over ten years, including a PhD from Stanford University in electrical engineering (digital signal processing): PhD. (E.E), M.S. (E.E.), M.S. (Stats) from Stanford University, B.E. (Hons, University Medal), M.A. (Applied Math), B.Sc. from the University of Sydney. He is an expert in Fourier analysis and signal processing and trained with Professor Ronald Bracewell late of Stanford University. Notably, David consulted full-time for the Australian Greenhouse Office from 1999 to 2005, and part-time for the Department of Climate Change from 2008 to 2010, and was the lead modeler in developing FullCAM, the world-leading carbon accounting model that Australia uses for analyzing the carbon in Australia’s biosphere for the Kyoto Protocol.
Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy, St. Catherine’s University
Terry Flower is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the College of St. Catherine where he has taught for 21 years. He is an active pilot, flying gliders and small planes and has served his community on the local school board and the Metropolitan Council. He works with youth in 4-H and reaches the public through a weekly TV show. Terry has been going to the South Pacific for the past ten years to study Polynesian Astronomy in Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa.
Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut
Howard C. Hayden is a retired professor of physics at the University of Connecticut. [2] He is the editor of The Energy Advocate, a monthly newsletter promoting energy and technology.
Author, political commentator, and policy scholar
Steven F. Hayward is an American author, political commentator, and policy scholar. He is currently the Thomas Smith Distinguished Fellow at the John M. Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, where he directs the Ashbrook Center’s new program in political economy. For the last decade he was the F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and a Senior Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco.
Former Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands
Founding President, Frontier Centre for Public Policy (Canada)
Peter Holle is the founding President of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, an award-winning western Canadian based public policy think tank. Mr. Holle has worked extensively with public sector reform and has provided advisory services to various governments across Canada and the United States. His publications have appeared in various newspapers and journals including dozens of newspapers, the National Post and the Wall Street Journal. He has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a member of various organizations including the Mont Pelerin Society.
Chairman, Board of Directors, Center for the Study of CO2 and Global Change
CRAIG D. IDSO is the founder, former president, and currently chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change. In 2009, Dr. Idso became the lead author and editor for the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), overseeing a team of internationally renowned scientists in the production of several major reports on climate change. Dr. Idso also serves as an adjunct scholar for the Cato Institute and as a policy advisor for the CO2 Coalition, the Heartland Institute and the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow.
President, Center for the Study of CO2 and Global Change
Sherwood B. Idso assumed the Presidency of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change on 4 October 2001. Prior to that time he was a Research Physicist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service at the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked since June of 1967. He was also closely associated with Arizona State University over most of this period, serving as an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Geology, Geography, and Botany and Microbiology. Dr. Idso was honored with an Arthur S. Flemming Award, given in recognition of “his innovative research into fundamental aspects of agricultural-climatological interrelationships affecting food production and the identification of achievable research goals whose attainment could significantly aid in assessment and improvement of world food supplies.”
Nuclear engineer; CEO, Nuclear Africa, South Africa
Kelvin Kemm is a nuclear physicist and the Chief Executive Officer of nuclear project management company, Nuclear Africa. Kemm is the chairperson of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation.Kemm was appointed to the International Board of Advisors of the Washington DC-based environment and technology lobby group; The Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow in 1994. He is also a Board Member of GoNuclear Inc, and EFN: USA both based in Colorado, USA. He is the author of Techtrack – A Winding Path of South African Development, and At the Forefront of Weather. The physicist is more commonly known as a columnist for Engineering News. He serves on several boards, including the International Board of GoNuclear Inc and the American Board of: Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy.
Director of Economic Opportunity ProgramsPhilanthropy Roundtable
Previously, she was Vice President of Institute Relations at Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and Director of the Philanthropy and Environment Program for the Capital Research Center. She holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Economics from the University of Michigan.
Department of Food Sciences, Rutgers University
Dr. TUNG-CHING LEEis a Professor II (Distinguished Professor of Food Science and Nutrition) with the Department of Food Science, the Center for Advanced Food Technology, as well as the Institute of Marine and Coastal Science at Cook College, Rutgers University. He is a certified CFS (Certified Food Scientist) by the Institute of Food Technologist, He is also a certified C.N.S. (Certified Nutrition Specialist) by U.S. Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists. Dr. Lee received the prestige 2007 Bobcock-Hart Award for contributions to food technology that improve public health through nutrition or more nutritious food by Institute of Food Technologists and International of Life Science Institute. In 2014 he had the highest honor to be elected a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society) for “distinguished, innovative contributions in food quality attributes and their improvements by discovering basic mechanisms and providing realistic applications to improve food resources and health worldwide.”
Electrical and mechanical engineer, International Climate Science Coalition
Bryan Leylandis a New Zealand based consulting engineer with experience in all aspects of the power industry. While his main interest is in hydropower, he has experience in wind, solar, tidal and wave power. He has also worked on substations and transmission lines, on diesel, steam and gas turbine stations and had some involvement in nuclear power. His academic qualifications include a Master’s degree in power system design and he is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a retired Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He has acted as a consultant on many overseas projects in developing countries. This has included work for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and as independent advisor on dam projects in India, West Africa and Afghanistan.
Executive Director, Free Market Foundation of South Africa
Leon Louw is a South African intellectual, author, speaker and policy advisor. He is the executive director and cofounder of the Free Market Foundation, a nonprofit organization ranked at number 123 in a 2017 list[2] of the most influential think-tanks in the world. He is a regularly featured speaker and writer in South African and international media. He has addressed many prominent organizations, including the US Congress hearings on apartheid, the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the Hoover Institute and the United Nations.
Professor of Economics and Law, University of Texas at Arlington
Dr. Roger Meiners also served as a Regional Director for the Federal Trade Commission. His research interests focus on legal and economic aspects of environmental policy. He is a Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana.
Founder, Meredith Advocacy Group; Member, Agenda 21
John Meredith is the founder and president of the Meredith Advocacy Group, a lobbying and grassroots firm located in Washington, DC. John Meredith is the person that you want to have on your team when dealing with the complexities of our bureaucratic governmental system. Heis also a member of the national advisory council of the black leadership network Project 21. His father, James Meredith, was the historic first black student to be enrolled at Ole Miss.
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute
Patrick J. Michaels is the director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute. Michaels is a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists and was program chair for the Committee on Applied Climatology of the American Meteorological Society. He was a research professor of Environmental Sciences at University of Virginia for 30 years. Michaels was a contributing author and is a reviewer of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
President, Institute for Regula