Patrick J. Michaels (born February 15, 1950) is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Professor of Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia where he worked from 1980-2007. He is a former state climatologist for Virginia, a position he was appointed to in 1980 and resigned from in 2007 amid uncertainty over whether he still officially retained the position. He earned his Ph.D. in ecological climatology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1979.
VIews on Climate change
In interviews Michaels has said that he does not contest the basic scientific principles behind greenhouse warming and acknowledges that global mean temperature has increased in recent decades, though he is widely regarded in the media as a global warming skeptic. He contends that the changes will be minor, not catastrophic, and maintains that current and future warming will occur at the low end of the range IPCC assessments.
He has written extensive editorials on this topic for the mass media, and for think tanks and their publications such as Regulation .
Michaels asks:
Criticism and Support
Office of Science and Technology Policy director, John Holdren, told the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, "Michaels is another of the handful of U.S. climate-change contrarians … He has published little if anything of distinction in the professional literature, being noted rather for his shrill op-ed pieces and indiscriminate denunciations of virtually every finding of mainstream climate science." Michaels responded in a Washington Examiner Op-Ed, writing, "The last IPCC compendium on climate science, published in 2007, left out plenty of peer-reviewed science that it found inconveniently disagreeable."
In 2009, George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian , questioned Michaels' motivations and stated that "Michaels, one of a handful of climate change deniers with a qualification in climate science, has been lavishly paid by companies seeking to protect their profits from burning coal".
Climate scientist Tom Wigley, a lead author of parts of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has stated that "Michaels' statements on the subject of computer models are a catalog of misrepresentation and misinterpretation … Many of the supposedly factual statements made in Michaels' testimony are either inaccurate or are seriously misleading."
Michaels has also attracted support from other climate change skeptics and journalists.
The Economic Times Consulting Editor and noted Indian journalist Swaminathan Aiyar wrote, "The climate establishment dismisses most dissenters as the equivalent of Holocaust deniers. It cannot so easily dismiss Michaels or Christy, who are distinguished members of the Nobel Prize-winning team." Aiyar addresses Michael's critics' attack on his perceived lack of peer-reviewed publication, writing "After establishment scientists threatened a boycott of publications and reviews, half the editorial board of Climate Research resigned. Scientists like Michaels found it increasingly difficult to get published. Some dissenters like Sallie Baliunas stopped trying, 'tiring of summary rejections of good work by editors scared of the mob'."
Michaels received praise for his book, "Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don't Want You to Know" from University of Alabama-Huntsville Principal Research Scientist Roy Spencer, who wrote, "Michaels and Balling have provided a treasure trove of the latest global warming science." Will Harper, Professor of Physics and Former Chairman of the University Research Board at Princeton University, also praised the book and wrote it "...provides important and honest information about climate change that is hard to find elsewhere."
Intermountain Rural Electric Association controversy
In a July 27, 2006 ABC News report, it was revealed that a Colorado energy cooperative, the Intermountain Rural Electric Association, had given Michaels $100,000. The report noted that the cooperative has a vested interest in opposing mandatory carbon dioxide caps. The wider context of the report concerned entities within the fossil fuel industry giving money to scientists in an effort to create a perception that there is a lack of consensus in the scientific community regarding global warming.
State climatologist
In 2006 the Governor of Virginia, Timothy M. Kaine, clarified that Virginia does not have an official state climatologist. Former Gov. John Dalton had appointed Michaels to the position in 1980, but in 2000 the University of Virginia (rather than the state government) assumed responsibility for certification through the American Association of State Climatologists. A letter sent to the University of Virginia by Secretary of the Commonwealth Katherine Hanley clarified that the Code of Virginia "does not provide for the governor to appoint a state climatologist." Hanley made it clear that Michaels works for the university, not the state government. Michaels was asked to "avoid any conflict of interest or appearance thereof by scrupulously avoiding the use of the title of 'state climatologist' in connection with any outside activities or private consulting endeavors." In late September 2007, Michaels and the head of the Environmental Sciences Department, Jay Zieman, confirmed that Michaels officially resigned as state climatologist, but remains on the faculty of the University of Virginia as a part time research professor on leave.
Selected publications
Michaels is the author of several books including: Sound and Fury: The Science and Politics of Global Warming (1992), Satanic Gases (2002; as coauthor), Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians and the Media (2004), published by the Cato Institute, and Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming (2005; as editor and coauthor).
His writing has been published in major scientific journals, including Climate Research , Climatic Change , Geophysical Research Letters , Journal of Climate , Nature , and Science , as well as in popular serials such as the Washington Post , Washington Times , Los Angeles Times , USA Today , Houston Chronicle , and Journal of Commerce . He was an author of the climate "paper of the year" awarded by the Association of American Geographers in 2004.
Science papers
- Michaels, P.J.; Singer, S.F.; Knappenberger, P.C.; Kerr, J.B.; McElroy, C.T. (1994). "Analyzing ultraviolet-B radiation--is there a trend?". Science 264 (5163): 1341–1343. doi:10.1126/science.264.5163.1341 . http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994Sci...264.1341M .
- Michaels, Patrick J.; Knappenberger, Paul C. (1996). "Human effect on global climate?". Nature 384 (6609): 522–523. doi:10.1038/384522b0 . http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996Natur.384..522M .
- Michaels, Patrick J.; Balling Jr., Robert C.; Knappenberger, Paul C. (1998). "Analysis of trends in the variability of daily and monthly historical temperature measurements" (PDF). Climate Research 10 : 27–33. doi:10.3354/cr010027. ISSN 0936-577X . http://www.int-res.com/articles/cr/10/c010p027.pdf .
- Davis, Robert E.; Knappenberger, Paul C.; Novicoff, Wendy M.; Michaels, Patrick J. (2002). "Decadal changes in heat-related human mortality in the eastern United States" (PDF). Climate Research 22 : 175–184. doi:10.3354/cr022175. ISSN 0936-577X . http://www.int-res.com/article
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming ...
Cato Institute 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW Washington DC 20001-5403 Phone (202) 842-0200 Fax (202) 842-3490 Contact Us
Cooler Heads Bookstore - Meltdown: The Predictable ...
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media By Patrick J. Michaels
Amazon.com: Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of ...
Amazon.com: Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media (9781930865594): Patrick J. Michaels: Books
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming ...
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media (Cato Institute, 2004) BOOK FORUM Thursday, November 18, 2004
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming ...
Author: , Published: 2005-07-22, Type: Commentary ... Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming ...
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media
Meltdown: The predictable distortion of global warming ...
THERE is a busy and sometimes quite lucrative business retailing stories about a supposed global conspiracy to invent the perils of global warming.
Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming ...
This spirited critique challenges the conventional doom saying about global warming. Climatologist Michaels acknowledges that the earth is warming because of anthropogenic ...
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Meltdown: The Predictable ...
Climate Change Incompetent Reporting Exposed For those of you whose understanding of climate change or global warming comes from the main stream media (New York Times, LA Times ...
Meltdown : the predictable distortion of global warming ...
Get this from a library! Meltdown : the predictable distortion of global warming by scientists, politicians, and the media. [Patrick J Michaels] --