BBC Trots Out Skeptic Benny Peiser To Question Global Warming In A Snow Storm

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
on

The BBC used Britainโ€™s recent snowy cold snap to trot out the climate skepticism of Dr. Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at Liverpoolโ€™s John Moores University with absolutely zero scientific expertise in climate change.ย 

In a segment titled โ€œHow the big freeze fits theories of global warming,โ€ exploring โ€œhow one of the longest cold snaps for a generation fits in with theories of a warming planet and global climate change,โ€ the BBC oddly shoehorns Peiserโ€™s climate change denialism into an otherwise decent piece explaining the difference between weather and climate and why the existence of snow and cold weather does not in any way negate the realities of climate change.

So what could Dr. Peiser – whose greatest achievement in science is getting an asteroid named after him โ€“ have to offer on the subject of climate change?

Standing out in a field lightly dusted with snow for the BBC camera, Peiser posits that, because the Met Office predicted a mild winter, โ€œpeople are right to ask questions and to look into the complexities of climate.โ€

Below his name, the BBC lists Peiserโ€™s affiliation with The Global Warming Policy Foundation, a new UK โ€œthinkโ€ tank founded by Lord Nigel Lawson, the former Conservative Chancellor and current global warming โ€œcritic.โ€

After Peiserโ€™s 10 seconds in the sun, er snow, BBC host David Shukman immediately launches into a correction of Peiserโ€™s misunderstanding of climate, noting that โ€œthe key thing is that thereโ€™s a difference between weather and climate.ย  The weather is what you get day by day, month by month, like this cold spell.ย  But the climate is the kind of weather that you get over a thirty-year period. And that is what the scientists say is changing. โ€œ

Then Rob Varley of the Met Office further explains that: โ€œItโ€™s absolutely undoubtedly true that, over the last 100 years, the world has gotten warmer and the science is really very clear that the world will continue to get warmer, and the fact that itโ€™s snowy in my garden at the moment really doesnโ€™t alter that one bit.โ€
ย 
Peiser is a confused skeptic, as even he acknowledges the overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is caused by human activity. Peiser admitted to Media Watch in 2006 that: โ€œI do not think anyone is questioning that we are in a period of global warming. Neither do I doubt that the overwhelming majority of climatologists is agreed that the current warming period is mostly due to human impact.โ€

According to an ISI search of publications, Peiser has published only a handful of research papers in peer-reviewed journals, mostly in sports medicine and astronomy journals.ย  None of Peiserโ€™s peer-reviewed work is related to human-induced climate change.

So why does the BBC think it necessary to include Peiserโ€™s views in a piece on climate when he clearly has no credible expertise in the science of climateย change?

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

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