Top Trump science adviser candidate thinks climate scientists are a 'glassy-eyed cult'

[DonViejo]

Source: RawStory


BRAD REED
15 FEB 2017 AT 09:54 ET

Princeston physicist William Happer is reportedly the top candidate to be President Donald Trump’s official science adviser — and he really does not think much of climate scientists.

In an interview with the Guardian, the 77-year-old Happer describes climate scientists as more of a “cult” that he believes will undermine the public’s trust in science as a whole. “There’s a whole area of climate so-called science that is really more like a cult,” Happer told the Guardian. “It’s like Hare Krishna or something like that. They’re glassy-eyed and they chant. It will potentially harm the image of all science.”

Happer’s skepticism of climate change research makes him a good fit for President Trump, who at one point claimed that climate change was merely a hoax concocted by the Chinese government to undermine American industry.

In addition to his opposition to mainstream climate science, Happer also supports muzzling scientists within the government from independently talking about their work without first getting clearance. “So many people are fed up of listening to the government lie to them about margarine and climate change that when something is actually true and beneficial they don’t listen,” he told the publication. “The government should have a reputation of being completely reliable about facts – real facts.”

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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/top-trump-science-adviser-candidate-thinks-climate-scientists-are-a-glassy-eyed-cult/

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. Great. He will fit right in with the antivaxxers. nt

[Botany]

2. Facts

In over 2,200 peer-reviewed articles about climate change by over 9,000 authors, published between November 2012 and December 2013, just one author and paper rejected human actions as the cause.

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/infographic-scientists-who-doubt-human-caused-climate-change

[Yavin4]

3. 9,000 authors? 2200 peer-reviewed articles?

That's a lot of glassy eyes.

[pangaia]

6. LOL !!!!!!!

[Botany]

8. I am sitting about 3 miles from Ohio State U's Institute of Polar Studies

Where they have ice cores from all over the world that show
millions of data points about the link between green house
gases and the climate. The ice cores give the picture of what
the earth's climate was like in some cases they go back to
400,000 years.

[TranssexualKaren]

4. The debasement of science.

A few years ago the climate denial crowd produced 3,000 "scientists" who purportedly challenged the science of climate change.
I am a scientist!
I resent the fact that even if you can face down psuedoscientists the overall effect is to diminish the currency of the scientific method. Which is their ultimate goal.

[Orrex]

5. Projection

I've seldom seen a glassier-eyed cult than Trump's Chumps.

[dalton99a]

7. Sounds like the top Trump doctor who pronounced him the healthiest individual ever elected

[angstlessk]

9. Those folks in China surely have glassy eyes from all that coal produced

smog...

[MBS]

10. Sigh.

So upsetting. So insulting. So dangerous.
And such a contrast with the deeply competent scientific appointees to the Obama administration, at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dept. of Energy, and NOAA: John Holdren, Jane Lubchenco, Kathryn Sullivan, Steven Chu, and Ernie Moniz.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Happer is pro-warming and pro-CO2

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028472755

plus:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112750230
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002531938
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017314454

(that's "pro-" as in "likes global warming, and therefore wants more CO2 emissions to increase it&quot

[cab67]

13. He actually said higher CO2 is good in front of Congress.

Not just that it's not a problem - that it's actually beneficial.

[cab67]

12. The Trump Administration is circling the bowl at this point.

I don't know if the science advisor needs congressional approval, but I would ask Congress to withhold approval on anyone Lord Dampnut nominates on the grounds that he won't be in office for a whole lot longer.

[RedWedge]

14. "The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/15/carbon-dioxide-demonization-jews_n_5589098.html

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Why does Princeton have this guy in their employ?

[hatrack]

16. At 77, he's probably emeritus, so he works cheap . . .

Beyond that, can't think of a single reason why.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. My first thought was that he should be retired

and off somewhere at a kook convention spouting his nonsense outside of a real academic environment. But then emeritus makes sense (to establish some sort of "alternate" point of view).