Dr. Paul Berenson

March 13, 2012 in scientists

Dr. Paul Berenson, an M.I.T-educated physicist, was the executive secretary of the
Defense Science Board for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Scientific Advisor to
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and Scientific Advisor to
the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Berenson, who describes himself as a “scientific truth seeker,” has published about a
dozen peer-reviewed studies in the field of thermodynamics, power, fluid mechanics,
and heat transfer.

His main contribution is this single statement from the US Senate Minority Report of 400/700/1000 sceptical scientists.

Berenson believes that man-made global warming fears have no
objective scientific basis. “Earth is in the final stages of a typical 10,000 year plus
interglacial when both atmospheric temperature and CO2 content tend to increase long
term from natural causes, as they have after every ice age. The next major stage is the start
of a new ice age which hopefully is more than a thousand years in the future,” Berenson
wrote in a February 2008 commentary. “Man has been putting increasingly large amounts
of CO2 in the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Age and rapidly increasing
the last 60 years as shown in all the references. However, the amount of CO2 man has
added to the atmosphere is less than 1 % of the CO2 that is there from natural causes,”
Berenson explained. “Current atmospheric temperatures and CO2 content are no higher
than they have been at various times during the past million years . The so-called Climate
Optimum 1000 to 1300 A.D. was 1-3 degrees C warmer than now, and apparently provided
better living conditions for humans, animals, and vegetation. For example, Greenland was
green and habitable by farmers. Water vapor (H2O) is the primary greenhouse gas,
contributing roughly 80 % of the greenhouse effect. Without the warming effect of the
greenhouse gases, the Earth would be roughly 10 degrees cooler, and probably
uninhabitable by humans. It has been estimated that the warming effect of CO2 is roughly
one thousandth that of water vapor,” he added. “The analytical models used to predict
higher atmospheric CO2 content and temperature have not been validated, and do not
predict the measured values from the last 200 years; e.g., the cooling of roughly 1 degree C
from about 1940 to 1975. Thus they are not valid and should not be used. They are not
valid because they do not include major effects on the climate such as clouds, rain, electric
currents, cosmic rays, sun spots, etc,” Berenson concluded.

The text highlighted in green is simply wrong. Smart people can get their facts wrong especially if climate [and just checking the facts] is not their field of expertise.