This Monday, Newsweek will publish an op-ed by well-known climate-change contrarian Richard Lindzen, which concludes that global warming is nothing to worry about and may even be a good thing. “Why So Gloomy?” he wonders, and adds that “a warmer climate could be more beneficial than the one we have now.”
Nothing new here: Lindzen’s been making the same points for years, despite evidence to the contrary, and despite the fact that he served on a prestigious panel chosen by the National Academy of Sciences that reported to the Bush administration that yes, temperatures are rising due to human activity. (The panel reported that global temperatures will rise 3 degrees Centigrade over the course of this century, with numerous serious consequences, including perpetual drought (PDF) in the Southwest. The contrarian Lindzen continues to insist it’s just as likely they will decline, though he will not bet on it at less than 50-to-1 odds.)
The real news, as reported by Joshua Holland, is that in a biographical note the weekly publication declared that Lindzen "receives no funding from energy companies,” although Lindzen has charged oil and gas interests $2,500 a day for consulting, according to Harper’s, and wrote a speech on the “alleged consensus on global warming” for no less than OPEC.
Newsweek, for shame!
