Thomas Wysmuller

Credentials

B.A. with a dual major in sociology and political science, and a concentration in meteorology at NYU.¹

Background

Thomas Wysmuller is the owner of Colderside.com which he describes as part of the “Public Policy industry.” He gives regular speeches on “The Colder Side of Global Warming.”

Wysmuller has worked as a meteorologist for the Royal Dutch Weather Bureau in Amsterdam and was an intern at NASA.²

Wysmuller gives regular lectures on Global Warming to universities, high schools, and public/private organizations.

Stance on Climate Change

“There has been a stunning disconnect involving land temperatures globally and CO2, whether man-made or naturally sourced. The oceans continue to warm, while the surface record flatlines. […] It is obvious that the surface records are NOT going up – they are basically in a 0.2C flatline […]”³

Key Quotes

“If CO2 is to be considered a major driver of temperatures, it is doing a counterintuitive dance around the numbers.”⁴

Key Deeds

September 24, 2020

Appearing in Marc Morano’s 2020 film Climate Hustle 2: Rise of the Climate Monarchy, produced by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), Wysmuller disputed that climate change had caused more extreme weather, stating:

“all these claims about more hurricanes, more intense hurricanes, they are false.”⁵

October 2019

Wysmuller signed the “Realist Catholic Climate Declaration,” drafted by Heartland Institute policy analyst William Briggs, which stated, “the earth’s climate has always changed, is changing now, and will never cease changing. The extent to which man is responsible for climate change is not known, only surmised. There is no earthly force capable of stopping climate change,” and that, “the salvation of souls is of more pressing concern than the air temperature. Pray to God and pray for your neighbor, not to the planet.”⁶ ⁷

The declaration was endorsed by Anthony Watts’ blog Watts Up With That, in a post by Charles Rotter, which stated, “please share this as widely as possible. With the concept of ‘eco-sins’ being bruited, and the return of paganism, this declaration is timely and important.”⁸

According to a post at William Briggs’s website: “This statement is to be in contradistinction to the hyperbolic and inaccurate ‘U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration’,” Briggs wrote of the draft. “The goal is to have something short, sweet, certain, and Catholic.”⁹

May 14, 2019

Wysmuller appeared at a climate change denial symposium staged in the German parliament by the far right AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) party. Other featured speakers at the event included C hristopher Monckton, Gernot Patzelt, and Henrik Svensmark.¹⁰

The European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE) promoted the event on its website to “set facts against CO2 hysteria and climate activism.”¹¹

Germany’s AfD accelerated its promotion of climate change denial since the emergence of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg in August 2018. A smear campaign against Thunberg mocked her autism as a form of “psychosis” and compared her to a cult leader and a member of a Nazi youth organization. AfD attributed Thunberg’s popularity to the work of “PRprofessionals seeking to bedevil the plant-nutrient carbon dioxide.”¹² ¹³

Speaking to the Guardian, a representative of Greenpeace Germany said of the event:

“The AfD is using the Bundestag as a stage for its dissemination of climate lies. They invite fake experts to a so-called symposium on climate change to generate content for mass dissemination via social media channels and stir up hatred and anger on the internet. We are experiencing a shift to the right on social media and in society. In a short period of time, the new right has established its own counter-society on climate issues. With troll armies, agitating magazines and the support of climate skeptics like EIKE, it has created its own sphere that is massively underestimated.”¹⁴

November 23–24, 2018

Wysmuller was listed on the program for the 12th conference of the European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE), also billed as the Heartland Institute‘s 13th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC13). According to a translation of the agenda, he spoke alongside Nils-Axel Morner on “The Kattegat and the Baltic as test areas for absolute sea-level changes” on November 23.¹⁵

February 4, 2018

In January 2018, more than 200 scientists endorsed an open letter calling on the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to remove climate change denier Rebekah Mercer from its board and to “end ties to anti-science propagandists and funders of climate science misinformation.” The New York Times reported that those among the AMNH letter calling for Mercer to step down were Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, and Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University.¹⁶

Wysmuller was among a group of climate change deniers who responded with their own open letter, calling for the AMNH “not to cave in to this pressure.” The letter was signed by numerous individuals with ties to groups funded by the Mercer Family Foundation such as Will Happer of the CO2 CoalitionRichard Lindzen, a fellow at the Cato InstituteCraig Idso, the chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change. There are a number of signatories affiliated with the Heartland Institute, which has received over $5.78 million from the Mercer Family Foundation since 2008.¹⁷

The letter reads:¹⁸

“The Earth has supported abundant life many times in the geological past when there were much higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is quite likely that future generations will benefit from the enrichment of Earth’s atmosphere with more carbon dioxide.

“Make no mistake, the agitators are not defending science from quackery — quite the contrary!”

October 2017

Thomas Wysmuller was a presenter at the “4th World Conference on Climate Change” in Rome.¹⁹

A DeSmog investigation of the conference found that the event had been hijacked by climate science deniers who had previously called for climate scientists to be investigated for fraud. The conference was organized by ConferenceSeries, also known as OMICS, which promotes hundreds of meetings around the world.²⁰

The U.S. government’s Federal Trade Commission launched a court action against the group in August 2016 that alleged deceptive marketing practices. Nils-Axel Morner is listed as one of the Chairs/Co-chairs of the conference, and also helped organize another climate change denial conference in London in September 2016.²¹ ²²

After being contacted by DeSmog, several presenters said that their names “should not be on the program” of the conference in Italy. OMICS, who was also contacted, said it would “investigate” the line-up for its conference and if it found “unnecessary science,” it would contact attendees to inform them “about the real faces of those who are looking to make a platform for spreading the nonsense through our forum.”²³

On the conference program, Wysmuller was listed as affiliated with “NASA TRCS Climate Group,” which DeSmog‘s Graham Readfearn noted “ could be easily mistaken as a legitimate group at the U.S. space agency,” but rather is a group of retired NASA employees who deny the existence of man-made climate change.²⁴

February 23, 2017

Wysmuller was a signatory of a petition (PDF) organized by Richard Lindzen of the Cato Institute urging President Donald Trump to pull the United States out of the United Nations international convention on climate change (UNFCCC).²⁵

“In just a few weeks, more than 300 eminent scientists and other qualified individuals from around the world have signed the petition below,” Lindzen wrote in the letter.²⁶

DeSmog investigated the list, and found that only a small handful of the signatories could be considered “even remotely ‘qualified’ or ‘eminent’ — but not in the field of climate science.” The list included individuals “interested in climate,” and one signatory who only identified as an “emailer who wished to sign the petition” while some signers provided no affiliation or address whatsoever.²⁷

January 5, 2017

Thomas Wysmuller was a signatory to a Cornwall Alliance open letter supporting Scott Pruitt for EPA Administrator under the Trump administration.²⁸

“Mr. Pruitt has also demonstrated understanding of and open-mindedness toward scientific insights crucial to the formulation and implementation of environmental regulation. He is prepared to hear all sides in debates over the risks and benefits of various activities that come under the purview of the EPA,” reads the letter.

On January 12, 2017, Senate Democrats raised conflict of interest concerns regarding Scott Prutt’s fossil fuel ties. Pruitt had spent years working to combat the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan.²⁹

In an open letter to the Office of Government Ethics, members of the Senate’s environmental panel commented:

“During his tenure as Attorney General of Oklahoma, Mr. Pruitt has blurred the distinction between official and political actions, often at the behest of corporations he will regulate if confirmed to lead EPA,” the letter said. “Public reporting based on documents produced by Freedom of Information Act requests illustrate how Mr. Pruitt and members of his staff have worked closely with fossil fuel lobbyists to craft his office’s official positions.”

Pruitt was further grilled on his fossil fuel ties at his confirmation hearing on January 18.³⁰

Some notable signatories of the Cornwall Alliance letter, as of January 5, 2017, included:

June 11–12, 2015

Thomas Wysmuller was a speaker on Panel 13: “The Right Climate Stuff,” at the Heartland Institute’s Tenth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC10) in Washington, D.C., with Hal Doiron and Walter Cunningham.³¹

View Thomas Wysmuller’s Panel 13 presentation at the Heartland Institute’s ICCC10, below:³²

July 7–9, 2014

Thomas Wysmuller was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC9) in Las Vegas, Nevada.³³ His speech, titled “Tide Gauges/Satellites; Different Measures – Same Ocean! Will the REAL Sea-Level Please Rise???” can be viewed below.

DeSmogBlog has done in-depth research on the other speakers and sponsors from Heartland’s ICCC9, which can be found here.

March, 2013

On March 15, 2013, Thomas Wysmuller, alongside Walter Cunningham, Harold Doiron, and Heartland President Joseph Bast spoke at a panel discussion where they explain “why they are urging government agencies to cease their ‘unbridled advocacy’ of Anthropogenic Global Warming & Return Integrity to the Scientific Method.”³⁴

In January 2013, TRCS issued a summary of its findings as follows (according to a press release issued by The Heartland Institute):

The science that predicts the extent of anthropogenic global warming is not settled science.
There is no convincing physical evidence of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.
Computer models need to be validated before being used in critical decision-making.
Because there is no immediate threat of global warming requiring swift corrective action, we have time to study global climate changes and improve our prediction accuracy.
The U.S. government is over-reacting to concerns about anthropogenic global warming.
A wider range of solution options should be studied for global warming or cooling threats from any credible cause.

May 21–23, 2012

Wysmuller was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7). A Heartland press release implies that he was a “Former NASA scientist,” although according to his website, his highest position was as an intern.³⁵ He spoke on the Nasa Letter Writers Panel, along with Harrison Schmitt, Harold Doiron, Walter Cunningham, and Leighton Steward. Video footage can be viewed below.

DeSmogBlog 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.

March 28, 2012

Wysmuller was one of 49 former “NASA scientists” to sign an open letter to NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) to cease they describe as “unbridled advocacy of CO2 being the major cause of climate change.”³⁶

“We believe the claims by NASA and GISS, that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated,” the letter stated.

SkepticalScience published a critique of the letter which was republished in The Guardian.³⁷ ³⁸

Affiliations

Colderside.com — Owner, 1999 to Present.³⁹
NAL JSC Climate Group — Member, 2011 – 2012.⁴⁰
Walt Whitman Birthplace Association — Vice-President, 2008 – 2011.⁴¹
Delta Dental of New York — Member, Board of Directors (1998 – 2011).⁴²
New Netherland Museum — Vice Chair, 1986 – 2011.⁴³
NYU Alumni Association — Former president, 1990 – 1992.⁴⁴

@colderside on Twitter.
“Tom Wysmuller” on LinkedIn.

Publications

According to a search of Google Scholar, Thomas Wysmuller has not published any articles in peer-reviewed journals on any subject.

Other Resources

Resources

1
“Sci-Tech Track: Thomas Wysmuller,” iconsf.org. Accessed May 7, 2012.
3
“The Recent Temperature and CO2 Disconnect,” The Colder Side of Global Warming. Accessed May 7, 2012.
4
“The Recent Temperature and CO2 Disconnect,” The Colder Side of Global Warming. Accessed May 7, 2012.
5
Climate Hustle 2: Rise of the Climate Monarchy. CFACT/ CDR Communications, Inc., 2020
6
”The Declaration,” Realist Catholic Climate Declaration, Archived October 29, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.is/O2m5D
7
”William Briggs,”The Heartland Institute, Archived October 26, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/bDHXU
8
Charles Rotter,“Realist Catholic Climate Change Declaration,” Watts Up with That, October 13, 2019. Archived October 23, 2020. Archive. URL: https://archive.vn/aieXw
9
“Draft Realist Catholic Climate Declaration: Please Share!” William M. Briggs, October 7, 2019. Archived October 8, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/yveCN
10
Kate Connolly. “Germany’s AfD turns on Greta Thunberg as it embraces climate denial,” The Guardian, May 14, 2019. Archived May 16, 2019. Archive.is URL: http://archive.is/GM8XL
11
Von Edgar L. Gärtner. “14. Mai 2019 – Bundestagsabgeordnete setzen Fakten gegen CO2-Hysterie und Klima-Aktionismus,” eike-klima-energie.eu, May 4, 2019. Archived May 9, 2019. Archive.is URL: http://archive.fo/LrXgy
12
Kate Connolly. “Germany’s AfD turns on Greta Thunberg as it embraces climate denial,” The Guardian, May 14, 2019. Archived May 16, 2019. Archive.is URL: http://archive.is/GM8XL
13
Jonathan Watts. “Great Thunberg, schoolgirl climate change warrior: ‘Some people can let things go. I can’t’,” The Guardian, March 11, 2019. Archived May 16, 2019. Archive.is URL: http://archive.fo/PItiG
14
Kate Connolly. “Germany’s AfD turns on Greta Thunberg as it embraces climate denial,” The Guardian, May 14, 2019. Archived May 16, 2019. Archive.is URL: http://archive.is/GM8XL
15
“Program – 12th International Climate and Energy Conference” EIKE. Translated via Google Translate. Archived November 23, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/NndcT
16
Robin Pogrebin and Somini Sengupta. “A Science Denier at the Natural History Museum? Scientists Rebel,” The New York Times, January 25, 2018. Archived February 13, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tAIv4
17
Graham Readfearn. “Climate Science Deniers Defend New York’s American Museum of Natural History From Calls to Drop Trustee Rebekah Mercer,” DeSmog, February 6, 2018.
18
mnh18-feb4-petitionletter (PDF – Untitled). Retrieved from Watts Up With That.
19
Past Conferences Photo Gallery, Conferenceseries.com. Archived January 4, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wMxqW
20
“Exclusive: UN, EU Agencies Reject Ties to Conference Hijacked by Climate Science Deniers,” DeSmog, May 31, 2017.
21
“Climate Change 2017 Report,” Conferenceseries.com. Archived January 4, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/6XxPC
22
“FTC Charges Academic Journal Publisher OMICS Group Deceived Researchers,” Federal Trade Commission, August 26, 2016. Archived January 4, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/1i1Ua
23
Past Conferences Photo Gallery, Conferenceseries.com. Archived January 4, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wMxqW
24
Past Conferences Photo Gallery, Conferenceseries.com. Archived January 4, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wMxqW
25
“PETITION” (PDF), February 23, 2017. Richard Lindzen. PDF Archived at DeSmog.
26
“PETITION” (PDF), February 23, 2017. Richard Lindzen. PDF Archived at DeSmog.
27
Graham Readfearn. “Climate Science Denier Richard Lindzen’s List of 300 “Scientists” Sent to Trump Is the Usual Parade of Non-Experts,” DeSmog, February 27, 2017.
28
“Open Letter Supporting Scott Pruitt for EPA Administrator,” Cornwall Alliance, January 5, 2017. Archived January 19, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/xMash
29
Ben Jervey. “Mapping EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt’s Many Fossil Fuel Ties,” DeSmog, January 13, 2017.
30
Ben Jervey and Steve Horn. “EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt Gets Grilled on Fossil Fuel Ties at Confirmation Hearing,” DeSmog, January 18, 2017.
31
“Speakers,” Heartland Institute. Archived June 30, 2015.
32
“Panel 13: The Right Climate Stuff with Walter Cunningham, Tom Wysmuller, and Hal Doiron,” Heartland Institute, June 12, 2015. Archived July 15, 2015.
33
“Return of Climate Denial-a-Palooza: Heartland Institute Hitches Anti-Science Wagon to Vegas FreedomFest,” DeSmogBlog, July 7, 2014. Archived July 14, 2014.
34
Jim Lakely. “Apollo 7 Astronaut Walter Cunningham to Headline ‘Right Climate Stuff’ Event at CPAC 2013,” The Heartland Institute, March 8, 2013.
35
“Former NASA Scientists, Astronauts to Attend Heartland Institute Climate Conference, May 21 – 23 in Chicago,” PRWeb, April 19, 2012.
36
Gus Lubin. “49 Former NASA Scientists Send A Letter Disputing Climate Change,” Business Insider, April 11, 2012.
37
“NASA Climate ‘Skeptics’ Respond with Science! Just Kidding,” SkepticalScience, April 12, 2012.
38
“Attacks on climate science by former NASA staff shouldn’t be taken seriously,” The Guardian, April 12, 2012.
39
“Tom Wysmuller,” Profile at LinkedIn. Accessed May, 2012.
40
“Tom Wysmuller,” Profile at LinkedIn. Accessed May, 2012.
41
“Tom Wysmuller,” Profile at LinkedIn. Accessed May, 2012.
42
“Tom Wysmuller,” Profile at LinkedIn. Accessed May, 2012.
43
“Tom Wysmuller,” Profile at LinkedIn. Accessed May, 2012.
44
“Tom Wysmuller,” Profile at LinkedIn. Accessed May, 2012.

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