Robert E. Davis
Credentials
- Ph.D., climatology, University of Delaware (1988).1“Robert E. Davis.” Independent Institute profile. 2Robert E. Davis speaker profile at the Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, University of Virginia.
- B.S., meteorology, Pennsylvania State University (1982).3“Robert E. Davis.” Independent Institute profile. 4Robert E. Davis speaker profile at the Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, University of Virginia.
- Masters of Science in climatology, Pennsylvania State University (1985).5“Robert E. Davis.” Independent Institute profile. 6Robert E. Davis speaker profile at the Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, University of Virginia.
Background
Robert. E. Davis is a professor at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D in climatology from the University of Delaware.
According to his profile at the Independent Institute, Davis was a Member of the Expert Panel on Global Change Research Strategy for the Environmental Protection Agency, Member of the Data Management Advisory Panel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a contributor to the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has testified on climate change before the House Science Committee. He is also listed as an editor of Climate Research journal.7“Person Detail: Robert E. Davis,” The Independent Institute. Accessed December 6, 2011.
Tech Central Station lists him as past president of the climatology specialty group of the Association of American Geographers and past-chair of the American Meteorological Society’s Committee on Biometeorology and Aerobiology.8“Dr. Robert E. Davis,” Tech Central Station. Archived December 13, 2005.
Stance on Climate Change
“The question everyone should ask is not ‘Is the earth warming,’ but, ‘How is the warming being felt across the planet? Where is it warming? When? And by how much?’
It turns out that most of the warming is occurring in the high latitudes, in the winter, and across the planet, at night.”9Transcript of “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century and Beyond.”
Key Quotes
“…the temperature record at the surface is a contaminated record and urbanization needs to be factored out of that if we’re going to get any kind of accurate representation of how surface temperatures have changed over the last hundred years.”10Transcript of “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century and Beyond.”
Key Deeds
July 28, 2003
Was a co-author of the Independent Institute report “New Perspectives in Climate Change: What the EPA Isn’t Telling Us” criticizing the EPA’s 2001 Climate Action Report.11“New Perspectives in Climate Change: What the EPA Isn’t Telling Us,” The Independent Institute, July 28, 2003.
The other authors of New Perspectives included prominent skeptics S. Fred Singer, John R. Christy, and David R. Legates. A 2003 press release summarized the report’s findings, which concluded that “Annual satellite records show no significant change whatsoever [in climate].”
November 1998
Appeared in a video by the Greening Earth Society titled “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century and Beyond.”
According to the video description, “Fourteen experts present evidence to show how current CO2 levels, which are 30 percent higher than in the pre-industrial era, have greatly enhanced the growth of trees and other plants. Results from controlled studies around the world show how a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere, which is expected to occur over the next century, will increase crop yields by 30 to 40 percent, double the water-use efficiency of most of earth’s vegetation and could triple the productivity of forests.”
The video was sponsored by the Western Fuels Association. Fred Palmer, the President of the Greening Earth Society had this to say after a showing of the premier of the video:
If you’re going to reduce CO2 emissions from people in the United States, you have to go to the richest source first. And that is the power plants that we all are involved with. This is why this is so alarming to us, because we rely on them.
I say to my Board [of Directors of Western Fuels Association] when we have these discussions, “We have coal plants and we have debt in these institutions. That’s what we have.” When someone starts talking about raising our costs by charging us money to burn our own coal in our own power plants – or to burn American coal in American power plants – to pay money to people in Russia or China, it’s going to come from here first. It has to be, by definition, devastating.
Finding a common ground under these circumstances, given the issues, as they have been defined, not by us… [Well…] We are reacting. We are protecting. We are defending something we think is worthwhile from onslaughts coming from others. [This] requires [that] we engage in this activity in an educational campaign. Not just with respect to the science – that’s what this is about – but also with respect to the benefits of what it is that you do for people. Because you do provide benefits for people.
Affiliations
- The Independent Institute — Author.12“Person Detail: Robert E. Davis,” The Independent Institute. Accessed December 6, 2011.
- World Climate Report (blog) — Contributing Editor.13“Staff,” World Climate Report, March 15, 2005.
- Tech Central Station (TCS) — Contributor.14Dr. Robert E. Davis. “Climate Cycle or Climate Psychic?”, Tech Central Station, May 12, 2005. Archived October 13, 2005. 15“Dr. Robert E. Davis,” Tech Central Station. Archived December 13, 2005.
- Department of Environmental Studies, University of Virginia — Professor.16“Robert E. Davis,” Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. Accessed March, 2012.
- The Greening Earth Society — Featured in video.
- Environment and Climate News — Contributor.
Publications
April 18, 2011
Contributed a chapter to the Cato Institute book, Climate Coup: Global Warming’s Invasion of Our Government and Our Lives which was edited by the prominent climate skeptic Patrick J. Michaels.
Cato describes the book as confronting “the exaggerations, opportunism, and myths about global warming that are all too pervasively altering the shape of our lives and provides the tools and insights necessary to push back against the takeover.
May 12, 2005
Wrote “Climate Cycle or Climate Psychic?” for Tech Central Station. The article claims that climate variations are due to natural causes.
July 28, 2003
Contributed to the Independent Institute’s Policy Report titled “New Perspectives in Climate Change: What the EPA Isn’t Telling Us.” Other authors included prominent skeptics S. Fred Singer, John R. Christy and David R. Legates.
September 2000
Wrote “Why Regional Climate Forecasts are Meaningless” for the Heartland Institute’s Environment and Climate News.
Fall 2000
Co-wrote a paper with skeptical scientists Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. Knappenberger titled “The Way of Warming” in Regulation Magazine, a publication of the Cato Institute.
July 2000
Wrote “Playing the numbers with climate model accuracy” for the Heartland Institute’s Environment and Climate News.
July 2000
Wrote “Jimmying the Truth about Climate Change” for the Heartland Institute’s Environment and Climate News.
A complete list of Davis’s publications is available at his profile at the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia.
Other Resources
Resources
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- 2Robert E. Davis speaker profile at the Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, University of Virginia.
- 3
- 4Robert E. Davis speaker profile at the Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, University of Virginia.
- 5
- 6Robert E. Davis speaker profile at the Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, University of Virginia.
- 7“Person Detail: Robert E. Davis,” The Independent Institute. Accessed December 6, 2011.
- 8“Dr. Robert E. Davis,” Tech Central Station. Archived December 13, 2005.
- 9Transcript of “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century and Beyond.”
- 10Transcript of “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century and Beyond.”
- 11“New Perspectives in Climate Change: What the EPA Isn’t Telling Us,” The Independent Institute, July 28, 2003.
- 12“Person Detail: Robert E. Davis,” The Independent Institute. Accessed December 6, 2011.
- 13“Staff,” World Climate Report, March 15, 2005.
- 14Dr. Robert E. Davis. “Climate Cycle or Climate Psychic?”, Tech Central Station, May 12, 2005. Archived October 13, 2005.
- 15“Dr. Robert E. Davis,” Tech Central Station. Archived December 13, 2005.
- 16“Robert E. Davis,” Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. Accessed March, 2012.
