Timothy F. Ball

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Timothy Francis Ball, Ph.D., is a retired university professor and global warming skeptic. He heads the Natural Resources Stewardship Project and formerly headed the activist organization Friends of Science, which was funded by energy industries.[1]

Contents

[edit] Academic background

Ball has a B.A. from the University of Winnipeg, an M.A. from the University of Manitoba in 1970 in Geography[2], and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of London, England in 1983, writing a thesis analyzing historical weather records from Canada's north.[3] Ball taught at the University of Winnipeg from 1973 to 1996, starting as a Sessional Lecturer and retiring as a Professor.

Google Scholar [1] lists seven research publications by Ball, of which the most cited has received six citations. The associated h index is four, meaning that four of his publications have been cited four times or more in peer-reviewed, academic journals.

[edit] Views on environmental change

Some of Ball's statements on climate change include:

  • "Believe it or not, Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This in fact is the greatest deception in the history of science. We are wasting time, energy and trillions of dollars while creating unnecessary fear and consternation over an issue with no scientific justification."[4]
  • "The entire Kyoto issue is based on the theory of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas...There are 2 major problems. First, [it] is not the most important greenhouse gas. Second, evidence now shows that temperatures rise before carbon dioxide increases - not the other way round." [5]
  • "Water vapor is effectively ignored in the computer models. Yes, that's right. The climate models used as the basis for the entire global warming argument do not include the effect of clouds."[5]
  • "Since 1940 and from 1940 until 1980, even the surface record shows cooling. The argument is that there has been warming since then but, in fact, almost all of that is due to what is called the “urban heat island” effect – that is, that the weather stations are around the edge of cities and the cities expanded out and distorted the record."[6]
  • "The plain fact is there was never any evidence of CFCs affecting the ozone layer."[7]
  • " Scientists put CFCs in a chamber in a lab with ozone and assumed because the chlorine part of the CFC was destroying ozone this would happen in the ozone layer. Of course what they didn't tell you was that the ozone was varying to different degrees at different levels in the ozone layer which extends over several kilometers. There is a self correcting mechanism because as the ultraviolet penetrates further into the atmosphere it contacts more O2 and therefore more O is produced and more O3."[8]
  • "...The majority of the scientists who are on the Kyoto and global warming bandwagon know nothing about the science...The other problem is that so many of the scientists who are quoted as being on side with global warming are actually doing studies on the impact of global warming and climate changes and their studies then are listed as evidence for support of it. They are not, they are just starting with the assumption that global warming is going to occur, and what effect that would have. That is not support or proof at all."[9]
  • "I can tolerate being called a sceptic because all scientists should be sceptics, but then they started calling us deniers, with all the connotations of the Holocaust. That is an obscenity. It has got really nasty and personal."[10]

[edit] Dispute over qualifications to comment on global warming

  • Dan Johnson, a professor of environmental science at the University of Lethbridge, wrote in an April 23, 2006 letter to the editor of the The Calgary Herald in reply to an editorial by Dr. Ball: "... he does not have the academic background and qualifications to make serious comments on global warming". The newspaper had credited Ball as "the first climatology PhD in Canada and worked as a professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg for 28 years."[11]. His biography for the George C. Marshall Institute also cites his being "a professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg for 28 years".[12], and he has repeated "the fact that I was the first Canadian Ph.D. in Climatology" [13]
  • Ball could not have been a professor before receiving his PhD in 1983, only 23 years before the article.
  • Ball has also stated that "for 32 years I was a Professor of Climatology at the University of Winnipeg."[13]
  • Ball's resume shows that at the University of Winnipeg he was Associate Professor from 1984 to 1988, then Professor from 1988 to 1996, a total of 8 years.[14]
  • Ball was not "the first climatology PhD in Canada", but was in fact preceded by many well known Canadian PhD climatologists: e.g. Dr. Kenneth Hare, PhD in arctic climatology, 1950 [15], Dr. André Robert, PhD, 1965, [16], or Dr. Timothy Oke, PhD 1967 [17].
  • In September, 2006, Ball filed suit against Johnson and four editors at the Calgary Herald newspaper for $325,000 for, among other things, “damages to his income earning capacity as a sought after speaker with respect to global warming”.[18]. In its response (point 50(d), p12), the Calgary Herald stated that “The Plaintiff (Dr. Ball) is viewed as a paid promoter of the agenda of the oil and gas industry rather than as a practicing scientist.”(Original statement of claim, Defendant Johnson's answer, Defendant Calgary Herald's answer). In June 2007, Ball abandoned the suit.

[edit] Public appearances

Ball was featured in The Great Global Warming Swindle, a controversial documentary film produced by Martin Durkin that was first aired in March 2007. The film showcased scientists, economists, politicians, writers, and others who disagree with the scientific consensus on global warming. In the film, Ball was misattributed as a professor in the Department of Climatology at the University of Winnipeg (the University of Winnipeg has never had a Department of Climatology and Ball retired more than ten years before the show aired).[19]

[edit] Selected publications

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peter Gorrie (January 28, 2007). Who's still cool on global warming?. Toronto Star. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  2. ^ Ball, Timothy. The significance of grain-size and heavy minerals volume percentage as indicators of environmental character, Grand Beach Manitoba : a case study. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  3. ^ Ph.D. thesis titled "Climatic change in central Canada : a preliminary analysis of weather information from the Hudson's Bay Company Forts at York Factory and Churchill Factory, 1714-1850"
  4. ^ Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts?. Canada Free Press (02 2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  5. ^ a b Junk Science continued. Natural Resources Stewardship Project (04 2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
  6. ^ FCPP Publications :: Dr. Tim Ball, Historical Climatologist
  7. ^ Interview With Dr. Timothy Ball- The Myth of Global Warming?. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  8. ^ Interview With Dr. Timothy Ball- The Myth of Global Warming?. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  9. ^ FCPP Publications :: Dr. Tim Ball, Historical Climatologist
  10. ^ Harper, Tom (2007-03-11). Scientists threatened for 'climate denial'. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  11. ^ Ball, Tim (2006-04-19). Aussies' Suzuki heavier on rhetoric than on science. National Post. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
  12. ^ "Dr. Timothy Ball", the George C. Marshall Institute
  13. ^ a b Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts?
  14. ^ "Deerwood 20th Anniversary Celebration Dinner Press Release", Deerwood Soil and Water Management Association, November, 2004
  15. ^ "F. Kenneth Hare", science.ca
  16. ^ "André Robert", science.ca
  17. ^ "OKE, TIMOTHY", McMaster University Alumni Association
  18. ^ Anderson, Mitchell (2007-01-25). Trust us, we're the media. Straight.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  19. ^ Hughes, Juliette (2007-07-02). The truth is downright dirty. The Age. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.

[edit] External links

  • NSRP A professional biography
  • Tim Ball SourceWatch article
  • February 10, 2007 Interview of Ball in the Pittsburgh Tribune: The politics of global warming
  • February 5, 2007 Ball's opinion piece Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? at canadafreepress.com
  • January 25, 2007 Trust us, we're the media, Georgia Straight
  • August 6, 2006 article from The Globe and Mail "Focus" section: Mr. Cool
  • June 15, 2006 National Post article for the Financial Post: Warmer is Better: Junk Science Week
  • October 3, 2007 AllPoliticsNow news report Winnipeg bred global warming denier Tim Ball avoids embarrassment at Peoples Court w/ links to court documents.