Interview With Freeman Dyson, Reluctant Global Warming Skeptic

Freeman Dyson is a renowned theoretical physicist at Princeton University, but since the New York Times Magazine published a controversial profile of him in March, the 85-year-old scientist has become a reluctant symbol of global warming skeptics. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, the first since the Times article appeared, Dyson lays out his iconoclastic views: that there is scant evidence that human activity is causing global temperatures to rise, that climate models projecting dire consequences in the coming centuries are unreliable, and that even if temperatures do increase significantly, it could actually be a benefit to humanity. Most climate scientists say that Dyson’s views are flat-out wrong. But Dyson, who readily admits that he is not a climate expert, remains undaunted, insisting that his skeptical point of view needs to be heard. One of the chief reasons, he says, is that unfounded action to slash greenhouse gas emissions by cutting coal use could prevent China and India from bringing their populations into the middle class, a phenomenon Dyson calls “the most important thing that’s going on in the world at present.”

Click here to read the full interview.