Exposing the Eco-Terrorists

State of Fear
By Michael Crichton
(Harper Collins, 2004, 603 pages, $24.99)

Those of us who had already read Michael Crichton's Caltech Michelin Lecture in January 2003, "Aliens Cause Global Warming", and his "Remarks to the Commonwealth Club" in San Francisco in September 2003, would not have been surprised when his new thriller State of Fear was published last December.

Nevertheless, the delight was palpable, just as was the predictable fury from various Green activists.  Readers of the White Picket Fence, the Lavoisier Group, sceptical environmentalists and leading atmospheric scientists from around the world will be satisfied.  Many of us have been trying hard to expose the Chicken Little scare of a runaway greenhouse effect and the ineffectual and economically damaging Kyoto Protocols.  We find at long last a big box office star providing a serious antidote to The Day after Tomorrow, and the biases of the media.

But unlike that film, and unlike the deliberate misinformation of Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, this book is a deadly serious attempt to straighten the record on these issues by an author who not only understands the scientific evidence but who, in his own words at the Commonwealth Club, considers

the greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda.  Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.

These are strong words.  Even though the book's implausible Hollywood grab-all, frenetic, action-packed story definitely distracts from the significance of the new book, it is just this genre of thriller that is perhaps necessary to get his important message across to a fatigued public.

To understand the depth of what Crichton has achieved, one must look at the long road he took in becoming a best-selling Hollywood storyteller.  After graduating from Harvard University in anthropology and studying further as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge, he began a medical degree back at the Harvard School of Medicine.  To help fund his studies, he started writing thrillers.  This led to The Andromeda Strain, and after several others, the well known book, Jurassic Park.  His novels have always been characterised by a profound knowledge and understanding of science and of all the latest research, even though couched in fictional plots.  He has always shown a keen interest in the political and ethical issues of the day and is considered the undisputed "father of the techno-thriller".

State of Fear differs from his previous novels in that Crichton packs the story not only with "real" science, but copiously footnoted research from peer reviewed published work!  The book includes a message from the author, two appendices -- "Why Politicised Science is Dangerous", and "Sources of Data for Graphs" -- and no fewer than 21 pages of Bibliography and explanatory notes!

Very briefly, the story itself is about an environmental group with a fanatical leader -- some think a Ralph Nader foil -- who schemes to criminally engineer several weather-related catastrophes.  A mysterious millionaire philanthropist supports the group with oodles of money to gain moral redemption and acceptance in the eyes of California's wealthy environmentally-conscious elites.  In the meantime, a slightly idealistic lawyer representing the millionaire, learns -- through the twists of the plot and through some lecturing by a mysterious, all-knowing and powerful undercover agent who seems to hold all the keys to the unravelling mystery -- that he is dealing with an eco-terrorist web, and that nothing is at it seems;  especially the integrity of the scientific claims of an impending catastrophe.  These little lectures have been criticised by several reviewers as being somewhat wooden and didactic -- and they do slow down the action -- but for those of us who know the arguments, and Crichton is at pains to give us all the salient details, it provides a satisfying exchange.  In these passages, one can only dream that Green fundamentalists reading the book will be forced to "wake up and smell the coffee", as it were.  There is certainly a sense of schadenfreude for this reader at seeing Green organisations being, just for once, depicted as evil and criminal and self-interested.

Of course, we should know better.  As with most ideas, those who understand the science will be chuffed:  a Michael Moore working for us.  Those who are dyed-in-the-wool fundamentalist believers in Greenhouse will be outraged, as indeed they have been.

Some comments from the Net at random are indicative:

I think Michael Crichton is a great writer in style.  His books are enjoyable.  It sounds like he is about to get back in my good graces with this global warming honesty, BUT ... He is a luddite.  Not a Marxist exactly, but a luddite in the same way that Marx was.

The only odious villain is Michael Crichton ... arrogant and self-righteous plus antiscientific and anti-environmentalist and very rich at the suckers-who-read-his-trash's expense.

Although this may be predictable, there is hope that his efforts will not be wasted.

I am very environmentally-minded, as is Michael Crighton, but after reading this book and some of the references he listed, it's clear that we are not being given all the facts by the media.

I don't know if I have ever read a novel where I learned more ... I'll be more cynical about what dangers are being presented to me as fact in the future by the media which acts as lightning rod for misinformation.

Apart from the scientific summaries of the issues, which are outstanding -- and I recommend the book to anyone who wants to read a bit about the science and the actual data and enjoy a compelling story;  it would be an ideal book for Year 12 English -- there is another dimension to it that will infuriate activists but ring a clarion bell to those of us who understand the nature of the beast.

Through the story, Crichton reveals the fanatical side to fundamentalist environmentalism.  He explains philanthropic motivation, how NGOs funnel money through to activist fronts, how government largesse is taken advantage of, and how these essentially self-serving unrepresentative groups use very sophisticated public relations teams to get the ear of the media and capitalise on fear and disinformation in the public.  It is truly an instruction manual of how Left activist groups work.

It is hard to know at this stage how the book will go, and whether timid and politically correct Hollywood will have the courage to make a film of it.  The book is still on amazon.com's 20 top-seller list after two months.  If it does make it to the cinema, it may just provide the turning point for public opinion and, subsequently, for politicians.

Unlike the agitprop PC films mentioned above, it has several things going for it:  common sense, political grains of truth, scientific facts and integrity.