Richard Lindzen

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'''Richard Lindzen''' {{lived|1940}} was an atmospheric [[physicist]] at MIT until May 2013;<ref>[http://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/2013/spring-newsletter-faculty-news/ Faculty News: Dick Lindzen Retires], MIT</ref> as expected, he is now a "Distinguished Senior Fellow" at the [[Cato Institute]].<ref>[http://www.cato.org/news-releases/2013/8/1/mit-professor-prominent-climate-scientist-richard-lindzen-joins-cato/ MIT Professor, Prominent Climate Scientist Richard Lindzen Joins Cato]</ref> He is also affiliated with the 
industry shill front group
 [[Heartland Institute]].<ref>[https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/richard-lindzen]</ref>

Lindzen has had a long career in climatology and worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. However, he became infamously embarrassing for MIT over the last decade as a member of the [[Bjørn Lomborg]] "It's not that bad!" school of [[global warming]]. Though Lindzen fully accepts anthropogenic global warming, he claims that predictions made by other climatologists' models are "alarmist" and that temperatures will increase by less than one degree Celsius. He maintains this position<ref>[http://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2016/03/Lindzen.pdf/ Essay for the Global Warming Policy Foundation]Global Warming Policy Foundation</ref> even though the one degree barrier has already been broken. Managing to incorrectly predict the past is, in a bizarre way, quite an impressive feat for any scientist.

==Argument from authority, personified==
Lindzen is probably the one most responsible for the [[denialist]] [[talking point]] about models not taking clouds into account. The Lindzen-Choi paper is the most often cited, but it's been trashed by other scientists for poor methodology and overstating its conclusions.<ref>[http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/01/lindzen-and-choi-unraveled/ Lindzen and Choi Unraveled], Real Climate</ref><ref>[http://www.skepticalscience.com/Lindzen-Choi-2009-low-climate-sensitivity.htm Climate Sensitivity], Skeptical Science</ref> Naturally, Lindzen's skepticism has attracted funding from [[fossil fuel]] interests and he's worked on projects underwritten by Exxon and OPEC.<ref>[http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/personfactsheet.php?id=17 Lindzen fact sheet] on ExxonSecrets</ref> He is trotted out by deniers as "proof" that "[[argument from authority|real scientists disagree]]" about global warming and that there is no [[scientific consensus]], even though he does accept the theory (just not most of the predictions made by the IPCC). His op-eds in popular [[media]] have increasingly fallen back on [[point refuted a thousand times|refuted]] denier talking points as well. This makes him a massive enabler. 

He has also appeared at the [[Heartland Institute]]'s conferences as the keynote speaker. This makes him a ''really'' massive enabler.<ref>[http://heartland.org/richard-lindzen His Heartland Page]</ref>

[[James Inhofe|Senator Snowball]] had occasionally referred to Dick as a personal "hero"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=surP84BQwhc&feature=youtu.be&t=6m52s]</ref> for crusading against the [[common sense|liberal alarmists]] and their warmist agenda.

In the 90s, Dick reportedly charged "$2,500 a day for his 'consulting services'".<ref>[http://dieoff.org/page82.htm]</ref>

Speaking of 90s, Dick often scoffs at Cook's famous 97% consensus statistic. Didn't anyone tell him to speak for himself?<ref>[https://bbickmore.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/dick-lindzen-prager-u-and-the-art-of-lying-well/]</ref>

Lindzen's talent seems to be making repeatedly failed predictions as well as failing to get much of his material published in [[peer-reviewed journals]] in his more "[[pseudoskepticism|skeptical]]" days. 

Some other stuff he's been wrong about:

*Claiming that the link between [[tobacco|smoking]] and lung [[cancer]] is "weak."<ref>[http://www.newsweek.com/2001/07/22/the-truth-about-global-warming.html The Truth About Global Warming], ''Newsweek''</ref>
*Satellite measurements showing no warming.<ref>[http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/08/et-tu-lt/ Et tu, LT?], Real Climate</ref>
*Decrease in water vapor would allow carbon dioxide to escape from the atmosphere. (He has since accepted this as refuted and calls it an "old view.")<ref>[http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_contrarian/?page=all The Contrarian], ''Seed Magazine''</ref>
*Solar and volcanic forcings were severely downplayed to fudge data.<ref>[http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/02/richard-lindzens-hol-testimony/ Lindzen's HoL Testimony], Real Climate</ref>
*Misrepresenting the link between warming and [[hurricane]]s.<ref>[http://www.desmogblog.com/lindzen-keeps-it-complicated-and-the-wall-street-journal-laps-it-up Lindzen keeps it complicated], DeSmogBlog</ref>

Dick is also a card-carrying member of the [[CO2 is Green]] crowd, saying: "controlling carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon, you control life." Can never have too much of a good thing, right? [http://news.mit.edu/2013/study-air-pollution-causes-200000-early-deaths-each-year-in-the-us-0829 Right?]

==The Nutty Professor==
While Lindzen was once merely 'skeptical' of the anthropogenic GHG effect's results, he appears to have become increasingly unhinged with age. Despite once considering those who dispute the anthropic GHG effect 'nutty', Dick wrote in the [[wingnut]] publication Merion West<ref>[http://merionwest.com/2017/04/25/richard-lindzen-thoughts-on-the-public-discourse-over-climate-change/]</ref> in April 2017, attempting to discredit basically all widely accepted tenets of climate science. Not too different from his usual [[Wall Street Journal|WSJ]] ramblings. Too bad he forgot to disclose his thoughtful gifts from Peabody.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/13/peabody-energy-coal-mining-climate-change-denial-funding]</ref> Lindzen’s move towards outright [[wingnut]]tery also includes shacking up with [[Dennis Prager]]'s “Prager University” (PragerU) [[YouTube]] channel for a 2016 climate change denial video.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwqIy8Ikv-c Climate Change: What Do Scientists Say? | 5 Minute Video]</ref>

==See also==
*[[The Great Global Warming Swindle]], in which he appears
*[[Judith Curry]]
*[[Wall Street Journal]], for which he regularly writes

==External links==
*[http://www-eaps.mit.edu/faculty/lindzen.htm Lindzen's faculty page]
*[http://www.skepticalscience.com/Lindzen_Illusions.htm "Lindzen Illusions" #1-7], Skeptical Science
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111206103804/http://www.logicalscience.com/skeptics/Lindzen.htm Logical Science profile of Lindzen]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McsZ1U20W0M&feature=related Lindzen vs. Bill Nye]
*Real Climate: [http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/02/climate-reporting-in-physics-world/ Climate Reporting in Physics World], [http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/adventures-on-the-east-side/ Adventures on the East Side], [http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/04/lindzen-in-newsweek/ Lindzen in Newsweek]
*[https://www.skepticalscience.com/skeptic_Richard_Lindzen.htm Climate Misinformer: Richard Lindzen] This cites a list of cases where it is claimed Lindzen did bad science.

==References==
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[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Physicists]]
[[Category:Climatologists]]
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Categories: Pseudoscience promoters, Physicists, Climatologists, Global warming, Living people