4/09/2007

Richard S. Lindzen on Global Warming

Lindzen doesn't pull many punches in this piece in Newsweek.

Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it? Recently many people have said that the earth is facing a crisis requiring urgent action. This statement has nothing to do with science. There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe. What most commentators—and many scientists—seem to miss is that the only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes. The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week. . .

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2 Comments:

Blogger Red Sonya said...

I really like the point further down in the article that if current warming trends are due to a spike in emissions that first occurred as a result of the Industrial Revolution, then there is no reason to believe the warming trends will continue for long at this rate b/c emissions are no longer spiking, or something like that. Logic: the worst enemy of enviro wackos.

4/09/2007 6:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's funny that you describe Richard Lindzen as "not pulling his punches" because in fact he has backed way considerably from his well-documented earlier positions on Global Warming.

Here is a rough history of his evolving position:

(1) There is no global warming.
(2) There is global warming, but it is minor and not anthropogenic.
(3) There is significant anthropogenic global warming, but it is not a serious social, political, or ecological problem.

Give Lindzen credit for modifying his views in response to evidence.

4/24/2007 6:28 AM  

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