RICHARD S. LINDZEN, MIT PROFESSOR OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE- On Global Warming Fears

From Greenie Watch:

I think it's mainly just like little kids locking themselves in dark closets to see how much they can scare each other and themselves.

And there's a lot of confusion in this and, you know, at the heart of it, we're talking of a few tenths of a degree change in temperature. None of it in the last eight years, by the way. And if we had warming, it should be accomplished by less storminess. But because the temperature itself is so unspectacular, we have developed all sorts of fear of prospect scenarios -- of flooding, of plague, of increased storminess when the physics says we should see less.

"[I]f there's anything that there is a consensus on, [it is that we] will do very little to affect climate. So right now despite all of the claims to the contrary, we're talking about symbolism. And I think Julian's point is correct. Do you spend a lot? Do you distort a great deal in the economy for symbolism? And I think future generations are not going to blame us for anything except for being silly, for letting a few tenths of a degree panic us.

And I think nobody is arguing about whether our climate is changing. It's always changing. Sea level has been rising since the end of the last ice age. The experts on it in the IPCC have freely acknowledged there's no strong evidence it's accelerating.

Senator Inhofe was absolutely right. All that's coming out Friday is a summary for policymakers that is not prepared by scientists. Rob is wrong. It's not 2,500 people offering their consensus, I participated in that. Each person who is an author writes one or two pages in conjunction with someone else. They travel around the world several times a year for several years to write it and the summary for policymakers has the input of about 13 of the scientists, but ultimately, it is written by representatives of governments, of environmental organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists, and industrial organizations, each seeking their own benefit.  (emphasis added)

Who is the greater threat to humanity, the Greens or the Islamists?  Time will tell.  I used to think it was the Greens, but I think (hope) I sense a backlash coming among the young.  They're all deeply committed to the environment, but I don't think (hope) they're quite as committed to the hysterical leftiness of their parents.  I might be just whistling past the graveyard, though -- I have no data, and there's plenty of anecdotal stuff to contradict me, but still, how long can good sense be suppressed?  As one doomsday deadline after another passes without disaster, surely the Chicken Littles will lose credibility.

Comments

[MikeInSeattle]

Well, interesting that OPEC's take on Global Warming is represented here.

If you weren't aware of it, Dr. Lindzen, besides testifying to Congress as a paid "expert" by the oil and coal industries also wrote his paper, "Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus" under contract from OPEC.

But, hey, we are always happy to help our Saudi overlords.

[Walt]

ZING!! You go Mikey. [snicker, snicker].

[pedro]

Insult & smear. Greaaaaaaat.

[pedro]

OTOH, I just finished reading Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley -- funniest book I've read in years.

[MikeInSeattle]

Um. Stating facts is now and insult? Documentation is now a smear?

Compare and contrast
A) Documenting who paid for a "research" report that disagrees with every scientific journal on the planet and coincidentally backs the results wanted by the sponsors
B) calling virtually every scientist on the planet "Chicken Little".

Which is "insult & smear"? Why? Show your work.

[MikeInSeattle]

And speaking of facts...

Just a few missing replies:

Nobody on the right side of this blog was able to say what "Victory" in Iraq was (Just that any plan their leaders didn't propose wouldn't accomplish this phantom combined with a purely-on-faith belief that whatever this Administration proposed must be right.)

Nobody on the right side of this blog was able to say why Republican Administrations grow the government consistently faster than Democratic ones and have for the entire post-WWII era or present facts from a neutral source that MY facts were in any way in error.

Nobody on the right side of this blog was able to say why we die younger and have more children die than most other industrial countries or present facts from a neutral source that MY facts were in any way in error.

Just pointing out a few of the unanswered facts still remaining on just the front page...