On Mon, 11 Jun 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Wall Street Journal [of course] - June 11, 2001
>
> Scientists' Report Doesn't
> Support the Kyoto Treaty
>
> By Richard S. Lindzen. Mr. Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at
> MIT, was a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel on
> climate change.
An interesting context for the article that follows is provided by Doug's interview last Thursday, the day after the report came out, with Ross Gelbspan, author of _The Heat Is On_:
<transcript excerpt>
Doug: The Times story said the National Academy panel included some previous skeptics. Is that true, and who are they?
Ross: Yes, the main skeptic is a fellow named Richard Lindzen, from MIT. Part of the work that I had done earlier in getting into this issue exposed the fact that there were a number of skeptics who were basically taking money under the table from the fossil fuel lobby. Lindzen is not among them, although he's taken a lot of, not research funding, but consulting money from oil and coal interests. Lindzen has been a contrarian for many many years. He's basically posited the fact that he believes global warming is a self-limiting event. And Lindzen's conclusions come from the fact that he studies atmospheric dynamics and he's said that water vapor, which is a large amplifier of the warming -- that water vapor will not build up, but that as it goes higher into the atmosphere it will dry out, and that will be a natural sort of cancelling effect on global warming. What's most interesting in this NAS report is that they're confirming a big build up of water vapor and the fact that it does enhance heat, and that pretty much contradicts the thrust of the work of Lindzen. And nevertheless he was one of the authors on this NAS report.
Doug: So does that mean he's gone along, or did he file a dissent, or what?
Ross: He did not file a dissent as far as I can tell, and I have not caught up with him, so I don't know. And unfortunately there was no reference to his reaction to the report. But he's one of the authors who signed off on it. And just to add one thing, this takes away from the skeptics the one sort of scientifically credible voice that has been claiming that global warming is basically a non-event.
<end transcript excerpt>
Although after his strategic retreat he seems to be fortifying a new line of defense on the ridge of uncertainty.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com