Never heard of him. Does this mean any climate change non-denier scientist making money from green companies are disqualified?
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On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Larry Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/28/climate-change-sceptic-willie-soon > > Climate sceptic Willie Soon received $1m from oil companies, papers show > John Vidal, environment editor > guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 June 2011 18.37 BST > > Documents obtained by Greenpeace show prominent opponent of climate change > was funded by ExxonMobil, among others > > One of the world's most prominent scientific figures to be sceptical about > climate change has admitted to being paid more than $1m in the past decade by > major US oil and coal companies. > > Dr Willie Soon, an astrophysicist at the Solar, Stellar and Planetary > Sciences Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is > known for his view that global warming and the melting of the arctic sea ice > is caused by solar variation rather than human-caused CO2 emissions, and that > polar bears are not primarily threatened by climate change. > > But according to a Greenpeace US investigation, he has been heavily funded by > coal and oil industry interests since 2001, receiving money from ExxonMobil, > the American Petroleum Insitute and Koch Industries along with Southern, one > of the world's largest coal-burning utility companies. Since 2002, it is > alleged, every new grant he has received has been from either oil or coal > interests. > > In addition, freedom of information documents suggest that Soon corresponded > in 2003 with other prominent climate sceptics to try to weaken a major > assessment of global warming being conducted by the UN's leading climate > science body, the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate > Change.. > > Soon, who had previously disclosed corporate funding he received in the > 1990s, was today reportely unapologetic, telling Reuters that he agreed that > he had received money from all of the groups and companies named in the > report but denied that any group would have influenced his studies. > > "I have never been motivated by financial reward in any of my scientific > research," he said. "I would have accepted money from Greenpeace if they had > offered it to do my research." He did not respond to a request from the > Guardian to comment. > > Documents provided to Greenpeace by the Smithsonian under the US Freedom of > Information Act (FoIA) show that the Charles G Koch Foundation, a leading > provider of funds for climate sceptic groups, gave Soon two grants totalling > $175,000 (then roughly £102,000) in 2005/6 and again in 2010. In addition the > American Petroleum insitute (API), which represents the US petroleum and > natural gas industries, gave him multiple grants between 2001 and 2007 > totalling $274,000, oil company Exxon Mobil provided $335,000 between 2005 > and 2010, and Soon received other grants from coal and oil industry sources > including the Mobil Foundation, the Texaco Foundation and the Electric Power > Research Institute. > > As one of very few scientists to publish in peer-reviewed literature denying > climate change, Soon is widely regarded as one of the leading sceptical > voices. His scientific position and the vehemence of his views has made him a > central figure in a heated political debate that has informed the US right > wing and helped to undermine public trust in the science of global warming > and UN negotiations. > > "A campaign of climate change denial has been waged for over 20 years by big > oil and big coal," said Kert Davies, a research director at Greenpeace US.. > "Scientists like Dr Soon, who take fossil fuel money and pretend to be > independent scientists, are pawns." > > Soon has strongly argued that the 20th century was not a uniquely extreme > climatic period. His most famous work challenged the "hockey stick" graph of > temperature records published by Michael Mann, which showed a relatively > sharp rise in temperatures during the second half of the 20th century. A > paper published with Sallie Baliunas in 2003 in the journal Climate Research > which attacked the hockey stick on flimsy evidence led to a group of leading > climate scientists including Mann deciding to boycott the journal. In a > letter to the Guardian in February 2004, Soon wrote that the authors had been > open about their sources of funding. "All sources of funding for our research > were fully disclosed in our manuscript. Most of our funding came from federal > agencies, including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Nasa," he > wrote. > > He has also questioned the health risks of mercury emissions from coal and in > 2007 co-wrote a paper that down-played the idea that polar bears are > threatened by human-caused climate change > > The investigation is likely to embarrass Exxon, the world's largest oil > company, which for many years funded climate sceptics but in 2008 declared it > would cut funds to lobby groups that "divert attention" from the need to find > new sources of clean energy. According to the documents, Exxon provided > $55,000 for Soon to study Arctic climate change in 2007 and 2008, and another > $76,106 for research into solar variability between 2008 and 2010. > > Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said this week the company did not fund Soon > last year, and that it funds hundreds of organisations to do research on > climate and the environment. > > Southern gave Soon $120,000 starting in 2008 to study the Sun's relation to > climate change, according to the FIA documents. Spokeswoman Stephanie Kirijan > said the company has spent about $500m on funding environmental research and > development ,and that it did not fund Soon last year. > > In one 2003 email released to Greenpeace, that Soon sent, it is believed, to > four other leading sceptics, he writes: "Clearly [the fourth assessment > report] chapters may be too much for any one of us to tackle them all ... But > as a team, we may give it our best shot to try to anticipate and counter some > of the chapters ..." He adds: "I hope we can ... see what we can do to weaken > the fourth assessment report." > > In 2003 Soon said at a US senate hearing that he had "not knowingly been > hired by, nor employed by, nor received grants from any organisation that had > taken advocacy positions with respect to the Kyoto protocol or the UN > Framework Convention on Climate Change." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:339661 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
