Richard Lindzen is one of the heroic challengers to the scientific establishment on the topic of global warming, yet you don’t often hear about him. He is an an atmospheric physicist and the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When I picked up my October issue of Outside magazine, I was delighted to see the interview with him. Fortunately, the article is now online here.
Lindzen is a global warming doubter. As Outside notes, “With so many Americans searching for answers on climate change, an endowed MIT Professor with pithy quotes offers a level of assurance that few can rival.”
Lindzen says that atmospheric CO2 is a “minor atmospheric ingredient,” and describes global warming as a “red herring used to justify bad policy.” He has also challenged Al Gore’s simplistic and confused assertions on human-induced global warming. Lindzen points out that prior to the Industrial Revolution, average temperatures in Europe were rising, while the period after the Industrial Revolution saw the onset of global cooling. He asserts that, yes, temperatures have been rising for the last three decades, however, it is due to “fluctuations in temperature that have occurred for millions of years,” thus the cyclical changes we face are not catastrophic. Both he and Bjorn Lomborg understand the role of humans in contributing to global warming (from human-generated CO2), but both are very clear that the human contribution is far smaller than the Greenie Hysterics would have us believe.
The Outside article is written by Washington Post reporter Juliet Eilperin, and it cites Alexander Cockburn from Counterpunch as well as the Cato Institute.
Here is a list of Lindzen’s publications.
