
How former professional climate change skeptic Jerry Taylor changed his mind - DamonHD
https://theintercept.com/2017/04/28/how-a-professional-climate-change-denier-discovered-the-lies-and-decided-to-fight-for-science/
======
Claudus
From the article:

 _On air, I said that, back in 1988, when climate scientist James Hansen
testified in front of the Senate, he predicted we’d see a tremendous amount of
warming. I argued it’d been more than a decade and we could now see by looking
at the temperature record that he wasn’t accurate. After we got done with the
program and were back in green room, getting the makeup taken off, Joe said to
me, “Did you even read that testimony you’ve just talked about?” And when I
told him it had been a while, he said “I’m daring you to go back and double
check this.” He told me that some of Hansen’s projections were spot on. So I
went back to my office and I re-read Hanson’s testimony. And Joe was correct._

Here is a transcript of the testimony, he appears to be referring to...

[http://climatechange.procon.org/sourcefiles/1988_Hansen_Sena...](http://climatechange.procon.org/sourcefiles/1988_Hansen_Senate_Testimony.pdf)

Having read it twice, I'm not sure exactly which "predictions" he is referring
to.

John Taylor, according to his Wikipedia article is "an environmental activist
and policy analyst", and apparently more than happy to shill for either side.

Criticism of him from some random link on the second page of Google:

[http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2017/04/is-jerry-taylor-
doin...](http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2017/04/is-jerry-taylor-doing-what-i-
think-hes-doing.html)

No matter your opinion on the topic, this guy certainly seems less than
credible.

~~~
Claudus
Another note: The user who posted this link created his account 21 days ago,
and already has 51 submissions, most related to similar topics. Unsurprising,
given the details on the site linked from his profile page.

[http://d.hd.org](http://d.hd.org)

 _My big project is OpenTRV which has the modest aim of cutting the UK 's
entire carbon footprint by 10% (and/or Europe'ss by 8%) at low cost by halving
space heating costs especially for homes in a simple and fiddle-free way!_

~~~
pavlov
What exactly is nefarious about reducing heating bills? OpenTRV sounds useful:

[http://opentrv.org.uk/what-is-opentrv/](http://opentrv.org.uk/what-is-
opentrv/)

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tajen
Our best glimpse of hope for climate change would be if Trump, the sceptic
amongst the sceptics, changed its mind. "I thought it was bullshit, but I've
decided after further information that America _will not_ survive without
converting itself to XXIst-century technology, that is, sustainable tech.
Let's make America great again."

~~~
saosebastiao
That's not how it would work. Trump doesn't change his mind, he merely
progresses to a point where he pretends that something he said in the past
doesn't actually exist and the fact that people talk about it is a liberal
media lie and fake news.

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ZeroGravitas
I'm surprised more libertarians aren't worried about the blowback when it
becomes common knowledge that they were lying for the benefit of large
corporations. I can easily imagine a swing towards nationalisation,
confiscation of property etc. when things become visibly messed up.

~~~
Edmond
In the future when the effect of climate change is fully realized and there is
no more denying it I do hope retro-active action can be taken perhaps in the
form of lawsuits that would lead to the seizure of assets of any business
entity that willfully engaged in misinformation on the subject...think fossil
fuel industry and assorted politicians who helped them.

~~~
nikanj
Like we did with e.g. the tobacco industry?

~~~
Edmond
Yes but likely much more economically costly...Philip Morris is still around
and quite healthy...if whole city waterfronts end up under water around the
world, the liabilities could be enough to make Exxon et al disappear.

~~~
gonzo41
i don't see this happening. Right now exxon can explore for gas in the Great
Australian Bite and if there is an oil spill as a result of this drilling, its
on the taxpayers because it exploratory drilling!

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louithethrid
Doesent the tradition of the convert demand a way morea zealot approach to the
once opposite view? After all you got too proof it to the world, to yourself,
to the old allys and the new allys- that what you did was right.

Everything else would be heresci.

