In September 2005 Senator Inhofe invited science fiction author Michael Crichton to Washington to counsel the U.S. Congress on the issue of climate change. Due to his celebrity influence, Crichton’s melding of science fiction with policy recommendations risks hindering the capacity for informed public discussion on scientific matters of concrete social importance. Crichton’s speech collapsed the spheres of entertainment and scientific discourse, and therefore questions the idea of scientific authority (and its origins) in the wider context of environmental discourse.