FACTSHEET: Richard Lindzen
DETAILS
Professor of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Member, Annapolis Center Science and Economic Advisory Council. Contributing Expert, Cato Institute. Contributing Expert, George C. Marshall Institute. Member, National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Lindzen is one of the highest prolife climate skeptic scientists, arguably because he has been a member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and contributed to the Second Assessment Report. He regularly takes issue with the general conclusions drawn from the IPCC's reports and has been at the forefront of the consistent attacks on the IPCC since the early 1990's. His prolific writings assert that climate change science is inconclusive. His opinions are cited throughout the ExxonMobil funded groups and he regularly appears at events organised by them.
Ross Gelbspan reported in 1995 that Lindzen "charges oil and coal interests $2,500 a day for his consulting services; his 1991 trip to testify before a Senate committee was paid for by Western Fuels, and a speech he wrote, entitled 'Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus,' was underwritten by OPEC." ("The Heat is On: The warming of the world's climate sparks a blaze of denial," Harper's magazine, December 1995.) Lindzen signed the 1995 Leipzig Declaration.
KEY QUOTES
11 June, 2001
"The press has frequently tied the existence of climate change to a need for Kyoto. The NAS panel did not address this question. My own view, consistent with the panel's work, is that the Kyoto Protocol would not result in a substantial reduction in global warming. Given the difficulties in significantly limiting levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a more effective policy might well focus on other greenhouse substances whose potential for reducing global warming in a short time may be greater."
Source: "Scientists' Report Doesn't Support the Kyoto Treaty," WSJ 6/11/01
23 February, 2004
"We simply do not know what relation, if any, exists between global climate changes and water vapour, clouds, storms, hurricanes, and other factors, including regional climate changes, which are generally much larger than global changes and not well correlated with them. Nor do we know how to predict changes in greenhouse gases. This is because we cannot forecast economic and technological change over the next century, and also because there are many man-made substances whose properties and levels are not well known, but which could be comparable in importance to carbon dioxide."
Source: "Canadian Reactions To Sir David King," Hill Times Ottawa 2/23/04
14 February, 2007
"To say that climate change will be catastrophic hides a cascade of value-laden assumptions that do not emerge from empirical science."
Source: San Diego Union Tribune 2007
31 January, 2007
"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."
Source: CNN transcript - Larry King Live 1/31/07
26 April, 2007
Lindzen described Exxon Mobil as "the only principled oil and gas company I know in the US." "They have a CEO who is not going to be bamboozled by nonsense," he adds. Professor Lindzen wants the debate on global warming kept alive. He also describes the Royal Society letter as a "disgrace," adding "they don't know what they're talking about."
Source: BBC News, "Science Climate Conflict Warms Up," April 26, 2007
13 May, 2006
Q: You're a meteorologist, what do you think scientists really agree on? LINDZEN: "I think they agree that we've probably warmed about a half-degree centigrade in the last century. I think they agree that carbon dioxide has gone up 30 percent. I think we agree that carbon dioxide would tend to contribute warming. But there is no agreement that the warming we've seen is due to man. Moreover, the warming we've seen is much less than we would have expected on the basis of the models that produce alarm. "
Source: Fox News 'The Journal Editorial Report' May 13, 2006
11 June, 2001
"The press has frequently tied the existence of climate change to a need for Kyoto. The NAS panel did not address this question. My own view, consistent with the panel's work, is that the Kyoto Protocol would not result in a substantial reduction in global warming. Given the difficulties in significantly limiting levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a more effective policy might well focus on other greenhouse substances whose potential for reducing global warming in a short time may be greater."
Source: "Scientists' Report Doesn't Support the Kyoto Treaty," WSJ 6/11/01
23 February, 2004
"We simply do not know what relation, if any, exists between global climate changes and water vapour, clouds, storms, hurricanes, and other factors, including regional climate changes, which are generally much larger than global changes and not well correlated with them. Nor do we know how to predict changes in greenhouse gases. This is because we cannot forecast economic and technological change over the next century, and also because there are many man-made substances whose properties and levels are not well known, but which could be comparable in importance to carbon dioxide."
Source: "Canadian Reactions To Sir David King," Hill Times Ottawa 2/23/04
QUOTES
1 December, 2004
"It doesn't even matter whether recent global mean temperatures are ‘record breakers' or even whether current temperatures are ‘unprecedented.’ These are simply red herrings designed to obfuscate the fact that the change over the past century has been small. The fact that such claims are misleading or even false simply provides a temptation to discuss them and implicitly to attach importance to them. Remember, we are talking about tenths of a degree and all of you know intuitively that that isn't very much."
Source: Marshall Institute Website (2006)
12 April, 2006
"Alarm rather than genuine scientific curiosity, it appears, is essential to maintaining funding. And only the most senior scientists today can stand up against this alarmist gale, and defy the iron triangle of climate scientists, advocates and policymakers."
Source: Wall Street Journal Lindzen op-ed 2/12/06
21 April, 2007
Q: On a recent Grade 7 test my daughter was asked something to the effect of, "How are you going to educate your parents about global warming?" Lindzen: "I know. It's straight out of Hitlerjugend."
Source: National Post (Canada), "Relax, The Planet is Fine," April 21, 2007
1 December, 2004
"It doesn't even matter whether recent global mean temperatures are ‘record breakers' or even whether current temperatures are ‘unprecedented.’ These are simply red herrings designed to obfuscate the fact that the change over the past century has been small. The fact that such claims are misleading or even false simply provides a temptation to discuss them and implicitly to attach importance to them. Remember, we are talking about tenths of a degree and all of you know intuitively that that isn't very much."
Source: Marshall Institute Website (2006)
KEY DEEDS
2 May, 2001
Testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the scientific evidence of global warming was flawed and that the Kyoto Protocol would be ineffective and economically harmful.
Source: Transcript, Richard Lindzen's testimony before Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, 5/2/01
30 September, 2002
Lindzen was the main speaker for a congressional media briefing, sponsored by the Cooler Heads Coalition, entitled "On The Meaning of Global Warming Claims". He argued that scientists who claim that global warming is a problem are exploiting the public's lack of scientific knowledge.
Source: "MIT Climatologist Richard S. Lindzen To Address Cooler Heads Coalition" In Print @ CEI, 9/30/02
8 March, 2007
Appeared in documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle"
Source: The Great Global Warming Swindle (Documentary)
2 May, 2001
Testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the scientific evidence of global warming was flawed and that the Kyoto Protocol would be ineffective and economically harmful.
Source: Transcript, Richard Lindzen's testimony before Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, 5/2/01
30 September, 2002
Lindzen was the main speaker for a congressional media briefing, sponsored by the Cooler Heads Coalition, entitled "On The Meaning of Global Warming Claims". He argued that scientists who claim that global warming is a problem are exploiting the public's lack of scientific knowledge.
Source: "MIT Climatologist Richard S. Lindzen To Address Cooler Heads Coalition" In Print @ CEI, 9/30/02
ORGANIZATIONS
Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy
Source: Annapolis Center website 3/04
Cato Institute
Source: Cato Institute website 4/04
Tech Central Science Foundation or Tech Central Station
Source: Tech Central Bio Lindzen
George C. Marshall Institute
Source: Marshall Institute Website (2006)
Heartland Institute
Source: Heartland Institute - HeartlandGlobalWarming.org
exxonsecrets.org |
