Science evolves; so-called global warming consensus doesn’t exist Science evolves, as noted by Alan Guebert in an April 18 Farm World editorial regarding climate change (Climate change deniers risking lives and riches; page 4). Climate science became, unfortunately, politicized, much to the doings of the Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org/about/history-of-accomplishments.html) founded in 1969 at MIT as an anti-war and nuclear disarmament activist group. UCS has credentialed scientists on its staff and Board of Directors, as well as lawyers and others. While the “warmists” have been quite successful at advancing their cause, other highly credentialed scientists reach different conclusions. A 123-page, nontechnical report (www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2018/02/Groupthink.pdf), published in March by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), chronicles the evolution of global warming theory since its beginnings in the late-1970s. The GWPF report discusses how the theory was introduced to and advanced through various United Nations agencies by Dr. Brent Bolin, with the assistance of Dr. John Houghton, who later headed the U.K, MET and the Hadley Center, and Maurice Strong, founder of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Strong was a Canadian billionaire in the energy business, who once self-identified as a “socialist in ideology, a capitalist in methodology.” Bolin founded and became the first Chairman of the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with Houghton chairing “Working Group I,” tasked with contributing the climate change section of the first “assessment report,” in 1990, which has been followed by four additional assessment reports, the last one in 2014. Much controversy has followed the global warming alarmism, including the release of emails in November 2009, indicating collusion among a small cadre of scientists, suppression of dissenting views, adjustment of data, and biased Federal funding, among other issues. Much of this discussion can be found in the GWPF report, and a 1,500-word article in the March 21 edition of American Thinker (www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/03/global_warming_the_evolution_of_a_hoax.html) The Academic Advisory Council of the GWPF are all credible experts, with 18 holding the title of Professor: Professor Christopher Essex, mathematics Department and former director of Theoretical Physics, University of Western Ontario Professor Vincent Cuatrillo, Geophysics, Paris Diderot University Professor Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician, Princeton University, emeritus Professor Larry Gould, Physics, University of Hartford Professor William Happer, atomic physics, Princeton University, emeritus Professor David Henderson, Fellow, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, former Head of the Economics and Statistics Department, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Paris Professor Terence Kealey, medical biochemist, University of Buckingham, Visiting Senior Fellow at CATO Institute Professor Deepak Lal, International Development Studies, University of California, Los Angeles Professor Richard Lindzen, meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, emeritus Professor Ross McKitrick, Economics Department, University of Guelph Professor Robert Mendelsohn, Economics Department, Yale Professor Garth Paltridge, Atmospheric Physicist, University of Tasmania, emeritus Professor Ian Plimer, Mining Geology, University of Adelaide Professor Paul Reiter, Medical Entomology, Pasteur Institute, Paris Professor Nir Shaviv, Astrophysicist, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Professor Henrik Svensmark, Astrophysicist and head of the Center for Sun-Climate Research, National Space Instititue, Denmark Professor Anastasios Tsonis, Atmospheric Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor (Honorary) Fritz Vahrenholt, University of Hamburg, Chemistry Others, skeptical of warmest alarmism, include those who testified at the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVTmo2Vxnk&feature=youtu.be) and the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (https://science.house.gov/legislation/hearings/full-committee-hearing-climate-science-assumptions-policy-implications-and). They were Dr. John Christy, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Alabama and State of Alabama Climatologist; Dr. Judith Curry, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and former Head of Department, Georgia Institute of Technology; William Happer, Professor of physics, Princeton University, and former Director of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy 1991-93; and Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. Professor, Environmental Studies, University of Colorado. While the so-called “consensus” does not exist, a robust debate can and should. Dale Leuck DaleLeuck Farms, LLC Ph.D. Agricultural Economics University of Tennnessee, 1979 Retired, USDA, Economic Research Service Farm Service Agency |
