Willie Soon's paydays

[I Think]

For years, politicians wanting to block legislation on climate change have bolstered their arguments by pointing to the work of a handful of scientists who claim that greenhouse gases pose little risk to humanity.

One of the names they invoke most often is Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who claims that variations in the sun’s energy can largely explain recent global warming. He has often appeared on conservative news programs, testified before Congress and in state capitals, and starred at conferences of people who deny the risks of global warming.

But newly released documents show the extent to which Dr. Soon’s work has been tied to funding he received from corporate interests.

He has accepted more than $1.2 million in money from the fossil-fuel industry over the last decade while failing to disclose that conflict of interest in most of his scientific papers. At least 11 papers he has published since 2008 omitted such a disclosure, and in at least eight of those cases, he appears to have violated ethical guidelines of the journals that published his work.

[alfred2]

what do you think suzuki is like? They are all for the money, we all believe what we want.

[nextimeround]

what do you think suzuki is like? They are all for the money, we all believe what we want.

We all believe what we want, that is true. However reasonable people can take the time to look at many viewpoints and make informed decisions based on more than a single person's viewpoint. As for "doing it for the money" I'll challenge you: I'll bet for every 1 environmentalist that clearly is in it for the money you can find 100 scientists who have fossil fuel lobbyists behind them. Nobody on this planet has ever gone to war over environmental causes. Can you say the same regarding oil? Environmental movement has very little hope of profit - can you say the same of oil?

[maryjane48]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015 ... imate.html



Charles R. Alcock, director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, acknowledged on Friday that Dr. Soon had violated the disclosure standards of some journals.
“I think that’s inappropriate behavior,” Dr. Alcock said. “This frankly becomes a personnel matter, which we have to handle with Dr. Soon internally.

[rustled]

We all believe what we want, that is true. However reasonable people can take the time to look at many viewpoints and make informed decisions based on more than a single person's viewpoint. As for "doing it for the money" I'll challenge you: I'll bet for every 1 environmentalist that clearly is in it for the money you can find 100 scientists who have fossil fuel lobbyists behind them. Nobody on this planet has ever gone to war over environmental causes. Can you say the same regarding oil? Environmental movement has very little hope of profit - can you say the same of oil?

I think it's awfully naive to think the environmental movement has very little hope of profit.

And while we may not have gone to war over environmental causes, we have certainly used environmentalism to force some of the most impoverished among us to be hungrier and to be less able to heat their homes or cook safely. Perhaps for some, the end outcome isn't a whole lot different from war.

[I Think]

some of the most impoverished among us to be hungrier and to be less able to heat their homes or cook safely. Perhaps for some, the end outcome isn't a whole lot different from war.

Can you give specific examples?

[maryjane48]

yes lol i was like huh? how have environmentalists cause folks go hungry?

[I Think]

They could try trotting out the use of corn (ethanol) driving up the price of corn flour.
But if you research the facts, you will quickly discover that the price of corn has closely followed the cost of oil for 60 or more years.

BTW corn is a very weak feedstock for making ethanol, it was introduced with subsidies as a sop to USA megafarm corporations.