Princeton Scientist Adds His Voice To AGW Skeptics

Isn't it interesting that yet another scientist has decided to speak out against the proponents of Anthropogenic Global Warming, saying he “believes the community of climate change scientists has become a veritable 'religious cult,' noting that nobody understands or questions any of the science.”

Physics professor William Happer GS ’64 has some tough words for scientists who believe that carbon dioxide is causing global warming.

...Happer, the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics [at Princeton], said in an interview, “Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Every time you exhale, you exhale air that has 4 percent carbon dioxide. To say that that’s a pollutant just boggles my mind. What used to be science has turned into a cult.”

Happer served as director of the Office of Energy Research in the U.S. Department of Energy under President George H.W. Bush and was subsequently fired by Vice President Al Gore, reportedly for his refusal to support Gore’s views on climate change. He asked last month to be added to a list of global warming dissenters in a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee report. The list includes more than 650 experts who challenge the belief that human activity is contributing to global warming

This guy isn't just some hack blowing off steam. He is someone with an understanding of scientific method, wants proof of what is claimed, and is finding the AGW faithful sorely lacking in credibility And when it comes to climate he knows a lot more than Al Gore and a majority of the so-called “scientists” who signed off on the UN IPCC report.

In a statement sent to the Senate as part of his request, Happer explained his reasoning for challenging the climate change movement, citing his research and scientific knowledge.

“I have spent a long research career studying physics that is closely related to the greenhouse effect, for example, absorption and emission of visible and infrared radiation, and fluid flow,” he said in the statement. “Based on my experience, I am convinced that the current alarm over carbon dioxide is mistaken.”

Of course there are plenty trying to discredit Happer, falling back on the IPCC report as if it is gospel. One of those is one of the authors of the report, trying to paint Happer as a know-nothing.

Geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer, the lead author of the fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — whose members, along with Gore, received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize — said in an interview that Happer’s claims are “simply not true.”

Oppenheimer, director of the Wilson School’s Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy, stressed that the preponderance of evidence and majority of expert opinion points to a strong anthropogenic influence on rising global temperatures, noting that he advises Happer to read the IPCC’s report and publish a scientific report detailing his objections to its findings.

But there are some major problems with that report, including the claim that a “ majority of expert opinion points to a strong anthropogenic influence on rising global temperatures.” That 'majority' comprised less than 100 scientists, many of whom have no background in climate science or related fields. Some of those have since retracted their support for the report, adding their voices to the over 650 scientists expressing their skepticism about AGW.

Despite claims by AGW proponents, the science is not settled, if for no other reason the models AGW proponents are using are so inaccurate as to be totally useless.

[Happer] noted in an interview that in the past decade, despite what he called “alarmist” claims, there has not only not been warming, there has in fact been global cooling. He added that climate change scientists are unable to use models to either predict the future or accurately model past events.

“There was a baseball sage who said prediction is hard, especially of the future, but the implication was that you could look at the past and at least second-guess the past,” Happer explained. “They can’t even do that.”

Things are starting to look bleak for the Goristas looking to have us spend hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars to fix a problem that may not even exist. Talk about a scam!

Before we commit our resources to battle something that may be nothing more than a well crafted illusion, shouldn't we make sure we know what really needs to be done, even if it's nothing at all?