Richard LindzenBackground
Richard S. Lindzen holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Harvard University. Currently, Dr. Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorolgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Professor Lindzen's academic interests lie within the topics of "climate, planetary waves, monsoon meteorology, planetary atmospheres, and hydrodynamic instability." According to his curriculum vitae and Google Scholar, Dr. Lindzen has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in the field of climatology.
Richard Lindzen and the Heidelberg Appeal
Lindzen is a signatory to the Heidelberg Appeal. The Heidelberg Appeal was created by the International Centre for Scientific Ecology, a public relations front group, during the 1992 UN World Summit. Eventually the document was endorsed by 4,000 scientists who declared that "we are worried at the dawn of the twenty-first century, at the emergence of an irrational ideology [man-made global warming] which is opposed to scientific and industrial progress and impedes economic and social development."
The document also says that "many essential human activities are carried out by manipulating hazardous substances, and that progress and development have always involved increasing control over hostile forces."
The prominent climate-change denier Dr. Fred Singer also sat on the board of the International Centre for Scientific Ecology. Dr. Singer and the International Centre for Scientific Ecology consented to the tobacco giant Philip Morris' use of the Heidelberg Appeal to draw support to its European branch of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC)—TASSC Europe.
TASSC was Philip Morris's front group inititated to question the science that showed the devastating effects of smoking on the human body.
Oregon Petition
Lindzen is a signatory to the infamous Oregon Petition. This controversial petition was first circulated in 1998 with an article that appeared to be a reprint of a National Academy of Science peer-reviewed article. The National Academy of Science has stated that it is not connected in any way with the Oregon Petititon.
Richard Lindzen and the Cato Institute
Lindzen has worked with the conservative think-tank, the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute has received $125,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. In his 1995 article, "The Heat Is On," Ross Gelbspan notes that Lindzen charged oil and coal organizations $2,500 per day for his consulting services.
Lindzen has described ExxonMobil as "the only principled oil and gas company I know in the US."
Richard Lindzen, the Cooler Heads Coalition, and the Heartland Institute
Lindzen has been a speaker at climate change events sponsored by both the Cooler Heads Coalition and the Heartland Institute.
The Cooler Heads Coalition has a membership that includes the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the George C. Marshall Institute, the Fraser Institute, the Heartland Institute, the Independent Institute (TII), the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and the Pacific Research Institute. Collectively, these organizations have received $5,659,400 in funding from ExxonMobil since 1998.
Dr. Lindzen was a keynote speaker at the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change in 2008 and 2009. The sponsors of the conference have collectively received $5,802,000 in funding from ExxonMobil since 1998. Sponsors for the 2009 conference have received a grand total of over $47 million from energy companies and right-wing foundations.
Lindzen is also listed as a "global warming expert" on the Heartland Institute's website.
Stance on Climate Change and Global Warming
Richard Lindzen's scientific stance on climate change and anthropogenic global warming is that the earth goes through natural periods of global warming and cooling.
According to Dr. Lindzen, the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are problematic and limited because they are based on computer models which Lindzen says are "generally recognized as experimental tools whose relation to the real world is questionable."
Furthermore, Lindzen feels that the issue of global warming is completely political, and that policy makers and the media not only manipulate science but also force scientists to produce work that supports a particular agenda.
Richard Lindzen Signs Open Letters Denying Climate Change
2007 open letter to UN Secretary-General
Lindzen was a signatory to a 2007 open letter to Un Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that declared "It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages."
The letter further explains how carbon dioxide is a "non-polluting gas that is essential to plant photosynthesis" and why the IPCC's reports are "inadequate as justification" for implementing climate change policy.