Media Advisory: Muller Paper Misses the Point on Global Warming Skepticism

Published October 21, 2011

The national media has been giving a great deal of attention to a new paper by University of California, Berkeley professor Richard Muller, claiming a review of global temperature records refutes the rapidly increasing scientific and public skepticism toward global warming worries.

But the paper is seriously flawed, says James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute.

“Muller asserts that warming temperatures found at approximately two-thirds of ground-based temperature stations end the global warming debate. However, this fact is quite irrelevant to the global warming debate,” said Taylor, who wrote an essay refuting Muller’s paper at Environment & Climate News.

“Skeptics don’t dispute that temperatures have been modestly rising since the end of the Little Ice Age approximately 100 years ago. What skeptics dispute is the assertion that humans are causing an imminent crisis,” Taylor added. “Temperatures have naturally risen and fallen many times during the past several thousand years without creating a global catastrophe. Muller’s assertion that temperatures have recently been rising says nothing about whether or not humans are creating a climate crisis.”

For additional comments, contact Taylor at [email protected] and 941/776-5690. To book Taylor on your program, please contact Tammy Nash at [email protected] and 312/377-4000. After hours, contact Jim Lakely at [email protected] or 312-731-9364.

The Heartland Institute for years has led efforts to replace politically driven climate alarmism with sound science that explores what is actually happening to the environment. It has hosted six international conferences on climate change since 2008, attended by thousands of scientists from the world’s most prestigious universities and research organizations. Click here to watch videos from Heartland’s climate conferences, and read Environment & Climate News every day for excellent coverage of climate science and policy.

The Heartland Institute is a 27-year-old national nonprofit organization with offices in Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; Austin, Texas; Tallahassee, Florida; and Columbus, Ohio. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.