Craig Loehle
Credentials
- Ph.D., Range Management (mathematical ecology), Colorado State University.1“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
- M.S., Forest Management, University of Washington.2“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
- B.S., Forest Science, University of Georgia.3“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
Background
Craig Loehle is the principal scientist with the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, which was established in 1943 by the pulp and paper industry to “provide technical assistance for the industry’s goal of lowering the ecological impact of its spent pulping liquors.”4“About Us,” National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. September 29, 2008. Accessed March 2, 2012.
Loehle worked in the Environmental Research Division at Argonne National Laboratory 1991-1998 and was a Research Ecologist at Savannah River Laboratory from 1987-1991
Stance on Climate Change
“I am not a ‘denialist’ and my recent paper… attributes about 40% of recent warming to human activity – estimating that this equates to a no-feedback atmosphere.
“What I would deny is that tree rings are good thermometers, but this is a scientific view based on my knowledge of trees, not a political view.”5Craig Loehle. “Scientist’s rebuttal of Michael Mann’s ‘denier’ and other unsavory labels in his book,” April 17, 2012.
Key Quotes
“The climate change “biodiversity crisis” is like a whack-a-mole game (a carnival game where plastic animals pop out of holes and you try to whack them with a mallet), with an almost-daily claim popping up about this species or that at risk from climate change. Not just polar bears and coral reefs, but even avocados are going to disappear! Whacking each silly claim one by one is an impossible task, and the claims get into public consciousness whereas the refutations do not.”6Craig Loehle. “Climate Change and the Biodiversity Crisis,” Watts Up With That, March 16, 2014. Archived June 27, 2014.
“I am not part of a conspiracy and am not directed by anyone. I have never received money from fossil fuel interests, as Mann states is true of all sceptics. On the contrary, I work for the US wood products industry (which has no official position on climate change and does not tell me what to say or think). This industry is the largest single renewable fuels user because it uses wood waste to generate steam and power at paper mills. It is also the largest recycler (of paper), plants millions of trees every year, and manages millions of acres of forest land to ensure protection of wildlife. Only a fraction of my work concerns climate change.”7Craig Loehle. “Scientist’s rebuttal of Michael Mann’s ‘denier’ and other unsavory labels in his book,” April 17, 2012.
“Within the United States, the claim that bad climate effects can ‘already’ be detected is a totally subjective and unsupported hypothetical.”8Craig Loehle. “Climate Change Impacts In The USA are Already (NOT) Happening,” Watts Up With That, March 8, 2012.
Key Deeds
July 7–9, 2014
Craig Loehle was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC9) in Las Vegas, Nevada.9“Return of Climate Denial-a-Palooza: Heartland Institute Hitches Anti-Science Wagon to Vegas FreedomFest,” DeSmog, July 7, 2014. Archived July 14, 2014.
DeSmog has done in-depth research on the other speakers and sponsors from Heartland’s ICCC9, which can be found here.
May 2012
Craig Loehle was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7).
DeSmog researched the co-sponsors behind Heartland’s ICCC7 and found that they had collectively received over $67 million from ExxonMobil, the Koch Brothers and the conservative Scaife family foundations.
2011
Co-authored a study (PDF) with fellow climate change skeptic Nicola Scafetta. The study, titled “Climate Change Attribution Using Empirical Decomposition of Climatic Data,” contends that “current models underestimate the strength of natural multidecadal cycles in the temperature records, the anthropogenic contribution to climate change since 1850 should be less than half of that previously claimed by the IPCC.”10Craig Loehle and Nicola Scafetta. “Climate Change Attribution Using Empirical Decomposition of Climatic Data” (PDF), The Open Atmospheric Science Journal, 2011, 5, 74-86.
March 8–10, 2009
Loehle was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s 2009 International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2).
His presentation was titled “1,500-Year Climate Cycles, Broken Hockey Sticks, and Ocean Cooling.”11“1,500-Year Climate Cycles, Broken Hockey Sticks, and Ocean Cooling,” Speech at the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. Viddler video uploaded by “Heartland,” June 15, 2011.
DeSmog researched the funding behind Heartland’s Second International Conference on Climate Change, and found that sponsor organizations had received over $47 million in funding from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from the Scaife Family of foundations.
2007
Published a paper in Energy & Environment titled “A 2000 Year Global Temperature Reconstruction based on Non-Treering Proxy Data” (PDF) which set out to refute Michael Mann’s “Hockey Stick” data.
The original study, which contained numerous issues, was corrected in a subsequent publication. According to RealClimate, the corrected study still contained inappropriate data selection, or the calibration and validation issues.12“Past reconstructions: problems, pitfalls and progress,” RealClimate, December 7, 2007.
Loehle commented on the corrected study at Anthony Watts’ blog Watts Up With That (WUWT).
Affiliations
- The Heartland Institute — “Expert.”13“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
Publications
According to his profile at the Heartland Institute, Loehle has written more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in forestry, ecology, geophysics, modeling, and other fields.
Horizon Research
Craig Loehle published a 2015 paper titled “Global Temperature Trends Adjusted for Unforced Variability” in the Universal Journal of Geoscience, published by Horizon Research Publishing Corporation.
Horizon Research is included academic librarian Jeffrey Beall’s list of “Potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publishers.” According to Beall, while the journal describes itself as a USA entity, the publisher uses the URL http://zj.nkwww.com/, which is registered to Wanlun Guo in Linyi, Shandong, China.14“LIST OF PUBLISHERS: Beall’s List,” Scholarly Open Access. Archived December 30, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6e9S9OnSn 15“New Open-Access Publisher Launches with 66 Journal Titles,” Scholarly Open Access. Archived December 30, 2015.
“Apparently this is a Chinese operation and the spam email is misrepresenting the publisher’s true location,” Beall writes.16“New Open-Access Publisher Launches with 66 Journal Titles,” Scholarly Open Access. Archived December 30, 2015.
Energy and Environment journal
Craig Loehle has published numerous papers related to climate change in the journal Energy and Environment (E&E). Energy and Environment often publishes the work of climate change skeptics and has been criticized for its peer-review process and publication of sub-standard articles. The current editor of the journal is climate change skeptic Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen.17 Paul D. Thacker, “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science & Technology, August 31, 2005. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Here are some examples of Loehle’s publications in E&E:
- Craig Loehle. “Cooling of the Global Ocean Since 2003.” Energy & Environment, Jan 2009, Vol. 20, Issue 1, pp. 101-104.
- Craig Loehle.”Trend Analysis of Satellite Global Temperature Data.” Energy & Environment. Nov 2009, Vol. 20, Issue 7, pp. 1087-1098.
- Craig Loehle. “Climate Change is Unlikely to Cause a Biodiversity Crisis: Evidence from Northen Latitude Tree Responses to Warming.” Energy & Environment. Feb 2014, Vol. 25, Issue 1, pp. 147-154.
- Craig Loehle, J. Huston McCulloch. “Correction to: A 2000-Year Global Temperature Reconstruction Based on Non-Tree Ring Proxies.” Energy & Environment. Jan 2008, Vol. 19, Issue 1, pp. 93-100.
- Craig Loehle. Reply To: Comments on Loehle, “correction To: A 2000-Year Global Temperature Reconstruction Based on Non-Tree Ring Proxies.” Energy & Environment. Sep 2008, Vol. 19, Issue 5, pp. 775-776.
- Craig Loehle. “A 2000-Year Global Temperature Reconstruction Based on Non-Treering Proxies.” Energy & Environment. Dec 2007, Vol. 18, Issue 7, pp. 1049-1058.
- Craig Loehle. “Using Historical Climate Data to Evaluate Climate Trends: Issues of Statistical Inference.” Energy & Environment Jan 2004, Vol. 15, Issue 1, pp. 1-10
Other Resources
Resources
- 1“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
- 2“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
- 3“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
- 4“About Us,” National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. September 29, 2008. Accessed March 2, 2012.
- 5Craig Loehle. “Scientist’s rebuttal of Michael Mann’s ‘denier’ and other unsavory labels in his book,” April 17, 2012.
- 6Craig Loehle. “Climate Change and the Biodiversity Crisis,” Watts Up With That, March 16, 2014. Archived June 27, 2014.
- 7Craig Loehle. “Scientist’s rebuttal of Michael Mann’s ‘denier’ and other unsavory labels in his book,” April 17, 2012.
- 8Craig Loehle. “Climate Change Impacts In The USA are Already (NOT) Happening,” Watts Up With That, March 8, 2012.
- 9“Return of Climate Denial-a-Palooza: Heartland Institute Hitches Anti-Science Wagon to Vegas FreedomFest,” DeSmog, July 7, 2014. Archived July 14, 2014.
- 10Craig Loehle and Nicola Scafetta. “Climate Change Attribution Using Empirical Decomposition of Climatic Data” (PDF), The Open Atmospheric Science Journal, 2011, 5, 74-86.
- 11“1,500-Year Climate Cycles, Broken Hockey Sticks, and Ocean Cooling,” Speech at the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. Viddler video uploaded by “Heartland,” June 15, 2011.
- 12“Past reconstructions: problems, pitfalls and progress,” RealClimate, December 7, 2007.
- 13“Heartland Experts: Craig Loehle,” The Heartland Institute. Archived May 8, 2019.
- 14“LIST OF PUBLISHERS: Beall’s List,” Scholarly Open Access. Archived December 30, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6e9S9OnSn
- 15“New Open-Access Publisher Launches with 66 Journal Titles,” Scholarly Open Access. Archived December 30, 2015.
- 16“New Open-Access Publisher Launches with 66 Journal Titles,” Scholarly Open Access. Archived December 30, 2015.
- 17Paul D. Thacker, “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science & Technology, August 31, 2005. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
