John T. Houghton

Sir John Theodore Houghton FRS CBE is the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) working group. He was the lead editor of first three IPCC reports. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, former Chief Executive at the Met Office and founder of the Hadley Centre.

He is the chairman of the John Ray Initiative, an organisation "connecting Environment, Science and Christianity", [" [http://www.jri.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=83 DSc for JRI Chairman] " at The John Ray Initiative website] where he has compared the stewardship of the Earth, to the stewardship of the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. [" [http://www.jri.org.uk/brief/christianchallenge.htm The Christian Challenge of Caring for the Earth] " at The John Ray Initiative website] He is a founder member of the International Society for Science and Religion. He is also the current president of the Victoria Institute.

Quotes

In 2003 he wrote:

cquote|As a climate scientist who has worked on this issue for several decades, first as head of the Met Office, and then as co-chair of scientific assessment for the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change, the impacts of global warming are such that I have no hesitation in describing it as a "weapon of mass destruction". [cite web
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1007042,00.html
title=Global warming is now a weapon of mass destruction
author=John Houghton
date=2003-07-28
accessdate=2008-03-23
publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited]

As co-chair of the IPCC, he defends the IPCC process, in particular against charges of failure to consider non-CO₂ explanations of climate change. In evidence to, the Select Committee on Science and Technology in 2000 he said:

cquote|We do try, in the IPCC, to look very hard at alternative explanations, and spend, actually, probably more time than we should on some of them, because they get so much publicity. We actually spend more time, for instance, on the solar variations, about which we have very little real scientific evidence but which some people have exploited in the media a great deal...cite web
url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmsctech/285/0031504.htm
title=House of Commons - Science and Technology - Minutes of Evidence (Questions 20-39)
publisher=H.M. Government
date=2000-03-15
accessdate=2008-03-23]

He has accused countries such as Saudi Arabia, fed information by American coal and oil lobbyists, of attempting to subvert the IPCC process:

In further evidence, he agreed with the statement that "most of the scientific objection to the consensus is actually from vested interests within the oil/coal lobby, rather than from scientists".cite web
url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmsctech/285/0031505.htm
title=House of Commons - Science and Technology - Minutes of Evidence (Questions 40-59)
publisher=H.M. Government
date=2000-03-15
accessdate=2008-03-23] When asked his view of green groups such as Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, as to whether they have they been generally responsible, or have they exaggerated the argument for their own purposes, he replied that cquote|They vary from one green group to another, but some of the green groups are really very responsible. They do tend to emphasise, of course, the larger effects. On the other hand, some green groups have produced documents which are really exaggerations...

John Houghton also applies a Christian perspective to his views, to emphasise the need for long term thinking. In 25 May 2001, in the Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College, Cambridge, he said:

cquote|...why we should be concerned about climate change. It is a problem that is well downstream; many of us will not be much affected ourselves but it is going to affect our children and our grandchildren... It is our children and our grandchildren who will experience the impacts of climate change. I remember in 1990 when the first IPCC report came out, the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher showed a lot of interest... one of the cabinet ministers asked me, "When's all this going to happen?" I replied that in 20 or 30 years we can expect to see some large effects. "Oh" he said, "that's OK, it'll see me out". But it won't see his children or grandchildren out. Christians and other religious people believe that we've been put on the earth to look after it. Creation is not just important to us, we believe also it is important to God and that the rest of creation has an importance of its own... we are destroying forests, important forests. When I say "we" I mean "we" the human race of which we are part. We are party to the destruction, we allow it to happen, in fact it helps to make us richer. We really need to take our responsibility as ‘gardeners' more seriously. [cite web
url=http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/cis/houghton/lecture4.html
title=St. Edmunds College Lecture Series: International Action about Global Warming
publisher=Christians in Science
date=2001-05-25
accessdate=2008-03-23]

In 1997, an aritcle in Science quotes him as saying [ Science 15 August 1997: Vol. 277. no. 5328, pp. 890 - 893; "SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY: Science and God: A Warming Trend?" Gregg Easterbrook, p.891 lower page, center column ]

Biographical

* Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Deputy Director: 1981-1983
* Appleton Laboratory, Director: 1979-1983
* University of Oxford, Atmospheric Physics Department, Lecturer, 1958-1963, Reader, 1963-1973, Professor: 1973-1983
* UK Meteorological Office, Director General and Chief Executive: 1983-1991

Service

* UK Government Panel on Sustainable Development, Member: 1994-2000
* UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Chairman: 1992-1998
* Scientific Assessment for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Chairman and Co-Chairman: 1988-2002.
* European Space Agency, Earth Observation Advisory Committee: 1980
* Royal Meteorological Society, President: 1976-1978

Awards

* Japan Prize (2006)
* Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal
* International Meteorological Organization Prize (1999)
* American Meteorological Society, Honorary Member (1998)
* Global 500 Award, under the United Nations Environmental Programme (1994)
* Symons Memorial Medal, Royal Meteorological Society (1991)
* Honorary Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford
* Honorary Fellow, University of Wales, Lampeter

Books

* Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, Cambridge University Press (1994) ISBN 0-521-52874-7
* The Physics of Atmospheres, Cambridge University Press (2001) ISBN 0-521-01122-1
* Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, 3rd ed, Cambridge University Press (2004) ISBN 0-521-52874-7

References

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/opinion/story/0,,1284281,00.html "Global warming is getting worse - but the message is getting through"] (August, 2004) and [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/comment/0,9236,1007302,00.html "Global warming is now a weapon of mass destruction"] (July, 2003) from "The Guardian"
* [http://www.jri.org.uk/resource/climatechangeoverview.htm Overview of Climate Change, 2002]
* [http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/cis/houghton/ Global warming - science, impacts and politics, lecture 2001]
* [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmsctech/285/0031504.htm Evidence to Select Committee on Science and Technology, 2000]
* [http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/fellows/houghton.html Biography; publications list]