Indur M. Goklany

Credentials

• Ph. D., Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University (1973).
• M.S., Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University (1969).
• B.Tech., Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. (1968)

Source: [1]

Background

Indur M. Goklany is listed as a Senior Adviser [1] for Program Coordination at the U.S. Interior Department’s Office of Policy Analysis. [2]

His website, Goklany.org [2] mentions that has "worked with federal and state governments, think tanks, and the private sector for over 35 years."

Goklany is associated with numerous think tanks [3] that question man-made climate change including the Cato Institute [4], which published both of Goklany’s books, and the Reason Foundation [5]which published multiple "Policy Studies" by Goklany critical of the IPCC and which claim that the impact sof climate change are exaggerated.

Goklany was the Julian Simon Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) [6] in 2000, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute [7] (2002-2003), and the winner of the CEI's Julian Simon Prize and Award (2007). He is also a regular guest contributor [8] on the blog Watts Up With That run by climate change skeptic Anthony Watts.

Goklany.org [2] mentions that he’s "worked with federal and state governments, think tanks, and the private sector for over 35 years.”

Other climate denier think tanks Goklany is affiliated with [3] include the Cato Institute, which published both of Goklany’s books, and the Reason Foundation which has published multiple "Policy Studies" by Goklany attacking the IPCC and claming climate change impacts are exaggerated.  He was involved in a Competitive Enterprise Institute film countering Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. He's also affiliated with the Global Warming Policy Foundation and the International Policy Network, according to Sourcewatch [9].

Goklany was also the Julian Simon Fellow at the anti-environmental Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in 2000, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (2002-2003), and the winner of the Julian Simon Prize and Award (2007).

Goklany is a regular guest contributor on denier blog Watts Up With That [8], posting as recently as a few weeks ago. 

Goklany is listed as a Senior Adviser on the Interior Department’s Office of Policy Analysis current staff list [10].

According to leaked documents [11], Indur Goklany receives $1,000 per month from the Heartland Institute [12], an organization at the forefront of climate change skepticism.

Goklany is also known for his promotion of DDT [13]as a method to fight malaria, despite the possibility for more effective measures available. [3]

Stance on Climate Change

Although Goklany does not appear to dispute the existence of climate change, he routinely argues that adaptation is the only solution:

". . . over the foreseeable future, the magnitude of the problem due to unmitigated climate change is generally smaller than that due to non-climate change related factors, and, where it is not, as in the case of coastal flooding, it is more economical to remedy it via  adaptation. Therefore, global warming is unlikely to be the most important environmental problem facing the world, at least for most of the remainder of this century." [4]

Key Quotes

"Climate change is not now—nor is it likely to be for the foreseeable future—the most important environmental problem facing the globe, unless present-day problems such as hunger, water-related diseases, lack of access to safe water and sanitation, and indoor air pollution are reduced drastically. . . Future generations should, moreover, have greater access to human capital and technology to address whatever problems they might face, including climate change. Hence the argument that we should shift resources from dealing with the real and urgent problems confronting present generations to solving potential problems of tomorrow's wealthier and better positioned generations is unpersuasive at best and verging on immoral at worst." [5]

"Considering that future generations will be far better off than current generations even after accounting for climate change, it would be more equitable for today’s industrialized world to help solve the real problems facing today’s poorer developing world than to mitigate climate change now to help reduce the burden on future populations that would not only be wealthier but also technologically superior." [6]

"Strictly from the perspective of human well-being, the richest-but-warmest world characterized by the A1FI scenario would probably be superior to the poorer-but-cooler worlds at least through 2085, particularly if one considers the numerous ways GDP per capita advances human well-being." [7]

Key Deeds

February 22, 2012

Representative Raúl M. Grijalva called for a full Natural Resources Committee hearing [14] to probe whether Indur Goklany improperly received payments from the Heartland Institute while still receiving taxpayer dollars.

Goklany was listed as receiving $1,000 per month to write a chapter on "Economics and Policy" for a Heartland-funded book (the NIPCC report) on climate science.

The letter (PDF) [15] from M. Grijalva points out that employees of federal agencies are specifically warned not to take payment from outside organizations, particularly for "teaching, speaking and writing that relates to [their] official duties." [8]

May 16 - 18, 2010

Goklany was a speaker at the Heartland Institute's Fourth International Conference on Climate Change in Chicago, Il.

His presentation was titled "Global Warming, Global Warming Policy and Mortality Rates [16]," an discussed "potential death and disease from biofuel production."

December 13, 2009

Made a presentation to the University of Pennsylvania Workshop on Markets & the Environment titled "Trapped Between the Falling Sky and the Rising Seas: The Imagined Terrors of the Impacts of Climate Change [17]."

October-December 2006

Goklany was one of the authors of "The Stern Review: A Dual Critique" (PDF) [18] which criticized numerous elements of the Stern Review. [9]

Other authors included prominent climate change skeptics such as Robert M. Carter, Chris De Freitas, and Richard S. Lindzen.

According to the critique, "The scientific evidence for dangerous [climate] change is, in fact, far from overwhelming, and the Review presents a picture of the scientific debate that is neither accurate nor objective." One could interpret this last statement to mean that not enough evidence from the "Skeptic" side was presented.

Goklany appears to have contributed to both parts of the report, as his name is listed for both "Part 1: The Science," and "Part II: Economic Aspects."

Although the original Stern Review is not without it's own faults, RealClimate concludes [19] that "Stern gets the climate science largely right." However, the Dual Critique published by Goklany et al has been criticized for it's own lack of peer review [20], and citation of a certain paper by Khilyuk and Chilingar [21]. [10], [11]

August, 2009

Goklany took part [22] in a video produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute [23] titled "Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies are More Dangerous than Global Warming Itself."

The movie, narrated by climate change skeptic Marlo Lewis, criticizes Al Gore's film, "attacking the assumptions cited as fact in 'An Inconvenient  Truth' and the solutions Gore proposed to combat the alleged disastrous consequences of global warming."

Goklany also participated in a panel discussion on the movie along with Marlo Lewis [24] and Heritage Foundation [25] policy analysts Ben Lieberman [26] and David Kreutzer [27]. [12]

Affiliations

• American Enterprise Institute (AEI) [7]— Visiting fellow (2002 - 2003). [13]

• Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) [28]— Member, Academic Advisory Council [29]. [14]

• International Policy Network (IPN) [30]— Contributor [31].  [15]

• Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development (EJSD)  [32] (co-published by IPN) — Past Co-editor. [15] It is unclear whether EJSD is still in operation [33].

• Watts Up With That (WUWT) [34]— Contributor [35].

Publications

According to a search of Google Scholar, and a list of publications provided at Goklany's website, it appears the Goklany has published numerous papers on Policy related to climate change, but has not published a single paper involving the Science relating to climate change. 

The majority of Goklany's climate-related papers are published by skeptical think tanks and by the journal Energy & Environment which has been criticized for it's peer review process and is noted for a tendency to published papers by climate change skeptics.

Sample Papers Published in Reputable Journals

• Indur M. Goklany. "Strategies to enhance adaptability: Technological change, sustainable growth and free trade [36]," Climatic Change, Volume 30, Number 4 (1995).

• Indur M. Goklany. "Integrated strategies to reduce vulnerability and advance adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development [37]," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Volume 12, Number 5 (2007).

• Kenneth D. Frederick, Indur M. Goklany and Norman J. Rosenberg. "Conclusions, remaining issues, and next steps [38]," Climatic Change, Volume 28, Numbers 1-2 (1994).
   
• Indur M. Goklany. "Precaution without Perversity: A Comprehensive Application of the Precautionary Principle to Genetically Modified Crops [39]," Biotechnology Law Report. June 2001, 20(3): 377-396.

Sample Papers Published by Climate Skeptic Journals and Organizations

• Indur M. Goklany. "Discounting the Future" (PDF) [40], Regulation (Cato Institute publication), Spring, 2009.

• Misled on Climate Change: How the UN IPCC (and others) Exaggerate the Impact of Global Warming [41], Reason Foundation, Policy Study No. 399, December 2011.

• Wealth and Safety: The Amazing Decline in Deaths from Extreme Weather in an Era of Global Warming, 1900–2010 [42], Reason Foundation, Policy Study No. 393, September 2011.

• Economic Development in Developing Countries: Advancing Human Well-Being and the Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change [43]. Draft. In: Patrick J. Michaels, ed., Climate Coup: Global Warming’s Invasion of Our Government  and Our Lives (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2011), 157–184.

• Is Climate Change the "Defining Challenge of Our Age"? [44] Energy & Environment 20(3): 279-302 (2009).

• What to Do about Global Warming [45], Policy Analysis, Number 609, Cato Institute, Washington, DC, 5 February 2008.

• "Is a Richer-but-warmer World Better than Poorer-but-cooler Worlds?" [46] Energy & Environment, vol. 18, nos. 7 and 8, pp. 1023-1048 (2007).

• "Wealth, Health and the Cycle of Progress [47]," in: Philip Stevens (ed.), Fighting the Diseases of Poverty [48](IPN Press, London, 2007)

• Death and Death Rates Due to Extreme Weather Events:  Global and U.S. Trends, 1900-2006 [49], in The Civil Society Report on Climate Change [50], International Policy Press, London, November 2007.

• "Living with Global Warming." [51] Policy Report No. 278 (Dallas, TX, National Center for Policy Analysis, September 2005).

• "Climate Change: the 21st Century’s Most Urgent Environmental Problem or Proverbial Last Straw?" [52] In Kendra Okonski, ed., Adapt or Die: The Science, Politics and Economics of Climate Change (London: Profile Books, 2003), pp. 56-74

• "Relative Contributions of Global Warming to Various Climate Sensitive Risks, and Their Implications for Adaptation and Mitigation," [53] Energy & Environment 14: 797-822 (2003).

• "Global Warming: From the Frying Pan into the Fire." In R. Bate, ed., Perilous Precaution: the Folly of Disregarding Science (Cambridge, UK: European Science and Environment Forum, 2002), pp. 28-69.

• "Much Ado About Warming?" [54] Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy 16 (no. 4, 2002): 40-46.

• Applying the Precautionary Principle to Global Warming. Center for the Study of American Business, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., USA. Policy Study 158. November 2000. [55]

Resources

1. "Indur M. Goklany: Brief Biography [2]," Goklany.org. Accessed April 19, 2012.

2. "OPA - Staff Directory [1]," U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed April, 2012. Archived with WebCite [56] April 19, 2012.

3. Tim Lambert [13]. "Indur Goklany, DDT and Malaria," Deltoid, September 15, 2010.

4. "A Climate Policy for the Short and Medium Term: Stabilization or Adaptation?" [57] Energy & Environment 16: 667-680 (2005).

5. Is Climate Change the "Defining Challenge of Our Age?" [44] Energy & Environment 20(3): 279-302 (2009).

6. Discounting the Future [58], Regulation 32: 36-40 (Spring 2009).

7. Is a Richer-but-warmer World Better than Poorer-but-cooler Worlds?" [46]  Energy & Environment, vol. 18, nos. 7 and 8, pp. 1023-1048 (2007).

8. "Dear Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member Markey" (PDF) [15], Raul M. Grijalva, Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, February 22, 2012.

9. The Stern Review: A Dual Critique [18], Part I: The Science (by Robert M. Carter, C. R. de Freitas, Indur M. Goklany, David Holland & Richard S. Lindzen), and Part II: Economic Aspects (by Ian Byatt, Ian Castles, Indur M. Goklany, David Henderson, Nigel Lawson, Ross McKitrick, Julian Morris, Alan Peacock, Colin Robinson & Robert Skidelsky), World Economics  7 (4): 165-232 (2006).

10. Tim Lambert. "Khilyuk and Chilingar: the gift that keeps giving [20]," Deltoid, January 17, 2007.

11. Tim Lambert. "Paper claims human CO2 emissions are negligible [21]," Deltoid, December 6, 2006.

12. Adam Brickley. "New Movie Seeks to Refute Gore’s 'Inconvenient Truth' [22]," CNSNews.com, August 14, 2009. Archived June 6, 2011.

13. Indur M. Goklany. The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet [59]. Cato Institute, 2007. Page vii.

14. "Academic Advisory Council [29]," The Global Warming Policy Foundation. Accessed April, 2012.

15. "Indur M. Goklany [31]," Profile at the International Policy Network. Accessed April, 2012.

16. "Indur Goklany [9]," SourceWatch.

17. "Indur M. Goklany [60]," Wikipedia.

18. ExxonSecrets Factsheet: Indur M. Goklany [61].