The Wall Street Journal's editorial page features an essay by MIT scientist Richard Lindzen expressing skepticism about recent science surrounding climate change. In response to the recent stories about the muzzling of climate scientists at NASA and NOAA who want to make public the information they are gathering about climate change, Lindzen now claims that global warming alarmists are muzzling him and his fellow skeptics.
We maintain a strict anti-muzzling stance here at Good, as is evidenced by the puncture wounds occasionally inflicted upon our staff by Darrell, our office puppy. What is puzzling, however, is the fact that Lindzen charged $2,500-a-day consulting fees to oil and coal companies during the 1990's and gave speeches underwritten by OPEC. In 1991, he flew into Washington on a plane provided by the Western Fuels Association, a $400 million consortium of coal suppliers and coal-fired utilities, to give testimony to a Senate committee on climate change. That's almost as ballsy as Tom DeLay taking the RJ Reynolds jet to his indictment.
In 2004 Lindzen said publicly that he would bet anyone that earth's climate will be cooler in 20 years than it is now. When British climate researcher James Annan offered to take the bet and give him 2-1 odds, Lindzen balked, saying he would only take it at 50-1. We'll wager that he has found that the safest bet for him is serving oil and coal interests... for a small fee.
