Noted Climate Denier Richard Lindzen Suddenly Concerned Re. Subpoenas, Privacy (Big Switch)

[hatrack]

Professor emeritus Richard Lindzen is a noted climate change skeptic who has suddenly discovered his concern for politically motivated investigations into climate scientists. But that's just part of his latest op-ed in the WSJ which starts with these classic chestnuts:

Research in recent years has encouraged those of us who question the popular alarm over allegedly man-made global warming. ... The climate has been changing since the Earth was formed. This normal course is now taken to be evidence of doom.

Anytime you see the spiel "climate has always been changing and therefore we shouldn't worry," it's a clear sign the person making it is either intellectually dishonest or just plain ignorant. To put it in terms the usual suspects can grasp, it's like saying there have always been wars causing civilian deaths, so why predict the worst with ISIS or Iran now? Or there have always been plagues and we survived, so why the big worry over weaponized anthrax or Ebola?

On the other hand, Dr. Lindzen's concern with subpoenas of private correspondence between scientists is welcome, in fact we share that concern. But they're especially noteworthy as just a few years ago, the good professor was by all accounts an eager participant in hearings and identical subpoenas issued by conservative lawmakers to mainstream climate scientists. Trafficking in doubt may be nothing new for Lindzen. Dr James Hansen, author of Storms of my Grandchildren, reports this exchange some years ago:

"I considered asking Lindzen if he still believed there was no connection between smoking and lung cancer. He had been a witness for tobacco companies decades earlier, questioning the reliability of statistical connections between smoking and health problems. ... When I met him at a later conference, I did ask that question, and was surprised by his response: He began rattling off all the problems with the data relating smoking to health problems, which was closely analogous to his views of climate data."

EDIT

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/05/1368706/-Noted-climate-contrarian-suddenly-discovers-concern-with-email-subpoenas?showAll=yes

[creeksneakers2]

1. Yes climate has changed

Its also caused mass extinctions.