Desmog Video

George Taylor

Background

Taylor denies the realities of human-induced global warming and has been a controversial figure in his home-state of Oregon where he is a faculty member at Oregon State University.

Taylor is also the “State Climatologist,” but the Oregon State Governor’s office has stated: “George Taylor doesn't represent the governor's office, and he doesn't represent the state of Oregon.”

Taylor is listed as a “scientific advisor” to the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, an organization that has received funding from ExxonMobil and the Western Fuels Association.

Links to the oil industry

An August 2005 news article reports that, “Taylor himself has supplemented his government salary with oil money.” Taylor is listed as a “scientific advisor” to the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, an organization that has received funding from ExxonMobil and the Western Fuels Association. Taylor has also been paid to write articles for Tech Central Station (TCS), an organization that has also received money from ExxonMobil. Until very recently, TCS was run by Washington lobby/PR firm DCI Group and was the centre of controversy over a YouTube Al Gore spoof video they produced and posted under the guise of 29-year old amateur filmmaker.

Controversy with Oregon’s Governors Office

The same article reported: “While Taylor holds the title of ‘state climatologist,’ the office of the Governor of Oregon has stated: “The state climatologist does not speak for the governor on global warming,” says Van't Hof, Kulongoski's sustainability policy advisor. “George Taylor doesn't represent the governor's office, and he doesn't represent the state of Oregon,’ the aide says. "The governor consistently is in favor of addressing global warming. Global warming is real and is greatly accelerated by human activity."

Taylor’s controversy with colleagues

“Taylor's colleagues at Oregon State's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences have grown frustrated over the years with what they consider his misunderstanding of climate-change facts. On multiple occasions, faculty members found it necessary to correct statements in Taylor's regular 'Weather Matters' column in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.” (source)

Phillip Mote, the climatologist for neighboring Washington State, ”surmises that Taylor is guilty of looking only at data that support his views, while discarding the rest. You can only come to that conclusion if you handpick the climate records," said Mote. He also says that, “while his Oregon counterpart is a good friend [Taylor’s] dead wrong about global warming.” (source)

Taylor's credentials

Taylor has a Master’s degree in meteorology and has published very little research in the area. According to an ISI search of publications Taylor has published three research papers in peer-reviewed journals in the last 17 years.