A conversation with Dr. Willie Soon – on polar bears, the sun, and Earth’s climate
Contributed by Grégoire Canlorbe © 2017 Publised at WUWT by request of Mr. Canlorbe. These are the opinions of the author and interviewee.
- Dr. Willie Soon is an independent solar physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- [ NO HE ISN'T ! : SEE HARVARD DENIAL AT END]
- who has been studying the Sun and its influence on the Earth’s climate for more than a quarter of a century. A short while ago, he had a conversation with Mr. Grégoire Canlorbe, an independent journalist who is also vice president of the French Parti National-Libéral (“National-Liberal Party,” conservative, nationalist, and free-marketist). Here Dr. Soon speaks for himself.
• Canlorbe: You say polar bears are far less endangered by global warming than by environmentalists dreading ice melt. Could you expand?
Dr. Soon: Yes, indeed. I have argued that too much ice will be the ultimate enemy for polar bears. Polar bears need less sea ice to be well fed and to reproduce. Why? Think about this for a minute: Polar bears eat a lot. Any large colony will need a great deal of food. The bears’ staple diet is seal blubber.. that means oceans warm enough to support the lower links in the food chain from plankton all the way up to seals…The so-called “environmentalists”, who seem to allow unreasoning emotion and political prejudice to stand in place of rational thought and sound science, became very angry when I asked them whether they would prefer to see a billion polar bears …
I should say categorically that this polar bear fear-mongering is evidence of mass delusion promoted by group think...
My own examination of the Earth’s climate system extends beyond the solar system ... consider our galaxy’s interaction with passing stellar systems, especially the coming merger (in a few billion years) between the Milky Way and the M31 Andromeda galaxy to form the Milkomeda cluster.
As A.E. Housman’s Greek chorus used to put it, “I only ask because I want to know.” It’s the Sun, stupid!..
As A.E. Housman’s Greek chorus used to put it, “I only ask because I want to know.” It’s the Sun, stupid!..
The Philosophy of Science Hotheads and hot weather
Canlorbe: People from South America, Africa, Italy and the Middle East are sometimes thought of as having elevated testosterone levels and, consequently, a propensity to solve political conflicts through violence. These populations are thought of as being warm-blooded, or even hot-headed, owing to the hot climates in which they live. Do you warmly welcome this hypothesis or hotly deny it?
Dr Soon: I am very happy to receive such a question, for I am always trying to understand the extent to which life is dependent upon and influenced by the Sun.
Professor John Todd of the University of Cambridge has recently published a paper that focuses on how some 5,135 out of 22,822 human genes studied for immunity and general physiology exhibited seasonal dependence on incoming sunlight. This finding that the Sun directly influences about a quarter of our genome adds a profound insight and possibly legitimacy to the broad statements you list above. But far more importantly, it proffers a proper and scientific approach to such a question
Are environmentalists Fascist?
Canlorbe: Although environmentalist and self-proclaimed antifascist movements obviously share the totalitarian dimension of Italian Fascism – at least, in its final version – they may not share the anthropology and the view of nature that were at the heart of Fascist ideology… Does Trumpian conservatism or green socialism come closest to the spirit of historical Fascism as expressed above?
Dr. Soon (with help from Christopher Monckton of Brenchley):
Fascism, National Socialism, International Socialism and Communism are all disfiguring and mutually indistinguishable instances of the totalitarianism that the political philosophers of early imperial China excoriated as “legalism” and the French philosophers as йtatisme, intйgrisme and dirigisme…
Such questions, however, are more political than scientific. Beyond saying that science tends to be corrupted by cruel notions such as eugenicism or Lysenkoism under totalitarian regimes, and to prosper in a climate of freedom, I respectfully decline to address your question.
I do not do politics, as the environmentalist socialists do. I do science. As Lucretius put it, Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas … it should never be forgotten that modern environmentalist socialism was invented by Hitler in Mein Kampf as a method of exercising that fingertip control over every aspect of people’s lives and work that all totalitarians crave.
Gregoire Canlorbe is the vice president of the French Parti National-Libйral (“National-Liberal Party,” conservative, nationalist, and free-marketist)...He promotes a new form of liberalism (libertarianism), which he calls “territorial-aristocratic liberalism.”
“The sense was communicated that this was a certified Harvard piece of work. But to my knowledge, neither one of them actually work for Harvard,” McElroy said.
Allegations Against Smithsonian Researcher
Bring Attention to Harvard
By MEG P. BERNHARD and ZARA ZHANG, CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS February 25, 2015
Although a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who has come under fire amid conflict of interest allegations has no formal affiliations with Harvard, the scientist’s use of Harvard’s name on research has brought attention to the University amid the public controversy.
Wei-Hock Soon, the controversial researcher based in Cambridge who claims that variations in the sun’s energy can largely explain climate chang...
Soon, who is also called Willie, is employed part-time by the Smithsonian side of the center and has no formal affiliations with Harvard, according to Charles R. Alcock, director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Soon is not an employee of Harvard, and there are no records indicating that he has applied for or been granted funds administered by the University, according to a statement from University spokesperson Jeff Neal quoted in multiple news outlets.
According to W. John Kress, interim undersecretary for science at the Smithsonian Institution,... Soon does not formally study climate change...Soon did not respond to a request for comment on his relationship with and employment at Harvard.
Although Soon is not a University employee, he has a Harvard email address and... some news outlets have referred to Soon as a “Harvard astrophysicist.” Michael B. McElroy, a professor of environmental studies at Harvard, said it is common practice for scientists to submit journal articles without prior review by their affiliate organizations. Even so, McElroy said he thinks that Soon ... used Harvard’s name inappropriately.
