Roger A. Pielke, Sr.

Not to be confused with his son, climate science policy writer Roger Pielke, Jr., also at University of Colorado in Boulder.

Roger A. Pielke, Sr. has been Senior Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) of the University of Colorado in Boulder since November 2005, and has a five-year appointment (to March 2012) on the Graduate Faculty of Purdue University.

Controversy
He has been characterized as a global warming skeptic, but Pielke does not disagree that man has an effect on the Earth's climate. (The sources used to establish Pielke Sr. as a global warming skeptic confuse Pielke Sr. with his son. Therefore, there are no substantiating sources for such a description in this article.). Rather, in a more nuanced view, he argues, for example, that global warming is different than climate change. Pielke also argues that there are factors other than man-made carbon dioxide that have an even greater effect on climate change, for example land-use changes like deforestation, and human input of aerosols into the environment. Pielke argued in a 2008 article in Mother Jones, for example, that "Energy policy and climate policy should be disconnected from each other. There are overlaps between the two, and the trouble is that people are using climate, mainly CO2, to invoke energy policy. I think that's a very bad way to go about it. In terms of energy policy, which I'm not an expert on, you have to consider each energy source in terms of its pros and cons. The way it's being done now, it's just sort of one dimensional—it's just assuming that carbon dioxide is the biggest threat to mankind, and I think that's really an absurd oversimplification of the complexity of the issue."

Education
Dr. Pielke's degrees:
 * B.A., Mathematics, Towson State College, 1968
 * M.S., Ph.D., Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, 1969, 1973

Career
"'Dr. Pielke has worked for NOAA's Experimental Meteorology Lab (1971-1974), The University of Virginia (1974-1981), and Colorado State University (1981-2006). He served as Colorado State Climatologist from 1999-2006. He was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (July 2003-2006). He was a visiting Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona from October to December 2004.'"

Actions
In August 2005 Pielke resigned from a U.S. government committee reviewing the issue of the differences between ground level and upper atmospheric measurements of temperatures. 

Former contact details
When he was at Colorado State, Pielke Sr.'s address was: Department of Atmospheric Science Room 206, Annex A Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Phone: 970-491-8293 Fax: 970-491-3314 E-Mail: pielke AT atmos.colostate.edu (Former)Blog: http://climatesci.atmos.colostate.edu/

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Roger Pielke Jr., son
 * William Cotton (co-author with Dr. Pielke Sr. on the hurricane theory)

External resources

 * Pielke's weblog
 * Pielke CV (pdf)
 * "Roger A. Pielke Sr.", accessed August 2005.

External articles

 * "Comment on My Resignation from the CCSP Committee "Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere- Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences”", Climate Science, August 22, 2005.
 * Andrew C. Revkin, "Panelist Who Dissents on Climate Change Quits", New York Times, August 23, 2005.
 * "Open Comment to Andy Revkin with Respect to your 23 August 2005 Article in the New York Times Regarding my Resignation from the CCSP Committee", Climate Science, August 23, 2005.
 * Steve Outing, "The Source Strikes Back", Poynter Online, August 26, 2005.