Benny Peiser

Benny (Josef) Peiser, born 1957 in Haifa, is a senior lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool's John Moores University. [ [http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/sportandexercisesciences/76407.htm Department staff page] ] . Peiser was educated in West Germany and studied Political science, English studies and Sports science in Frankfurt [Peiser, Benny J., Trevor Palmer, and Mark E. Bailey (editors) (1998). "Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilizations", BAR International Series 728. ISBN 0 86054 916 X. p. 251.] and previously was an historian of ancient sport at the University of Frankfort/M. [Conference Schedule: "Reconsidering Velikovsky: The Role of Catastrophism in the Earth Sciences and the History of Mankind," University of Toronto, August 17-19, 1990.] He is a social anthropologist with particular research interest in human and cultural evolution. His research focuses on the effects of environmental change and catastrophic events on contemporary thought and societal evolution. [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/ Liverpool John Moores University] ]

Peiser is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of Spaceguard UK. He has written extensively on neo-catastrophism and the potential risk posed by near-Earth objects. He is the editor of CCNet, an electronic science and science policy network with more than 6,000 subscribers from around the world as of 2008 [ [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/CCNet-homepage.htm CCNet homepage] ] . It is in this capacity that a 10km-wide asteroid, Minor Planet (7107) Peiser, was named in his honour by the International Astronomical Union.

Peiser is a member of the editorial board of "Energy and Environment" and a scientific advisor to the Lifeboat Foundation.

Objections to Oreskes Essay

Peiser examined an essay by Naomi Oreskes published in the academic journal "Science" which showed the lack of dissenting opinions in a sample of 928 peer reviewed articles on global climate change.Oreskes, N. " [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/306/5702/1686.pdf Beyond the Ivory Tower, The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change (including corrections)] ", date|2005-01-21, (Retrieved date|2008-04-24).]

Peiser tried to repeat the study, but failed to reconstruct the article set with the specified search key words 'climate change'. Oreskes sent in a correction to "Science" explaining that the keywords used in the ISI database search were in fact 'global climate change' and not 'climate change' as originally stated.

Peiser then performed a similar survey with the keywords 'climate change' and searched for 'all document types' (which would include non-scientific, non-peer reviewed publications) rather than limiting the search to 'articles' (i.e., peer-reviewed publications) as in Oreskes' study.

In a letter to "Science" Peiser claimed that only 29% of such papers agreed with the consensus viewpoint, while 3% explicitly disagreed. "Science" choose not to publish Peiser's letter for a variety of reasons and indicated that the information had already been "widely dispersed on the internet".Matthews, R. " [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1489105/Leading-scientific-journals-%27are-censoring-debate-on-global-warming%27.html Leading scientific journals 'are censoring debate on global warming'] ", The Telegraph, date|01-05-2005, (retrieved date|21-04-2008).] Peiser felt that "Science" had made the wrong decision and published the correspondence on his webpage. [ [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/Scienceletter.htm Benny Peiser's correspondence with "Science"] , (Retrieved date|2008-04-24).] This led some to question whether "Science" were censoring the debate on global warming.

One of his main points of criticism is his claim that the vast majority of the abstracts referred to in the study do not mention anthropogenic climate change, and only 13 of the 928 abstracts explicitly endorse what Oreskes called the "consensus view". [ [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/Oreskes-abstracts.htm Peiser's analysis of Oreskes's abstracts]

Peiser later admitted that it was a mistake to include one of the papers in his survey and said that his main criticism of Oreskes' essay was "that [Oreskes] claim of a unanimous consensus on [anthropogenic global warming] (as opposed to a majority consensus) is tenuous" and that it still was valid. [Peiser: "I accept that it was a mistake to include the abstract you mentioned" - [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/politicization-101-segregating-scientists-according-to-political-orientation-3764 Politicization 101: Segregating Scientists According to Political Orientation] date|17-03-2006] [ [http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/03/peiser_admits_to_making_a_mist.php Deltoid: Peiser Admits to Making a Mistake] ]

In a letter that Peiser submitted to the Australian "Media Watch" Peiser explained that he had retracted some of his original critique and elaborated on some of his comments: "I do not think anyone is questioning that we are in a period of global warming. Neither do I doubt that the overwhelming majority of climatologists is agreed that the current warming period is mostly due to human impact. However, this majority consensus is far from unanimous".Peiser, B. " [http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1777013.htm e-mail from Benny Peiser] ", Media Watch on Australian ABC Television, date|2006-10-12, (Retrieved date|2008-04-24).] Media Watch, " [http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1777013.htm Bolt's Minority View] ", Australian ABC Television, date|2006-10-30, (Retrieved date|2008-04-24).]

Viewpoint

In an interview in Local Transport Today in 2006 [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/LTT-interviewNo06.pdf] , Peiser argued that environmental concerns have reached a level of "near hysteria" that is "poisonous for rational policy making". Stating the opinion that climate alarmism is undermining science, and that the dangers of mild warming are being magnified, whereas the potential benefits are being ignored. He stated in a 2005 Oxford Union debate: "The lack of a balanced approach to the issue of global warming has led to an extremely one-sided and alarmist perception of risk." [ [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/OxfordUnionDebate.htm “This House believes that alarmism has replaced science in the global warming debate”] ]

Peiser is a member of a German libertarian blog called "Achse des Guten" ("Axis of Good") and is a regular commentator for the Toronto-based newspaper Financial Post.

elected Publications by Peiser

* ("The dark age of Olympia, critical investigation of the historical, archeological and natural science problems of the Axial age of Greece with reference to the Ancient Olympic Games")
*
*B. Peiser (2003) Climate Change and Civilisation Collapse, in cite book |author=Okonski, Kendra |title=Adapt or die: the science, politics and economics of climate change |publisher=Profile |location=London |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=1-86197-795-6 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=
*M. Paine and B. Peiser (2004) The frequency and consequences of cosmic impacts since the demise of the dinosaurs, in: Bioastronomy 2002: Life among the Stars, eds. R. Norris & F. Stootman, (Sydney), 214-226
*B. Peiser and T. Reilly (2004) Environmental factors in the summer Olympics in historical perspective. Journal of Sports Science 22(10) 981-1002
*B. Peiser (2005) From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui. Energy & Environment 16:3&4, pp. 513-539
*B. Peiser (2005) Cultural aspects of neo-catastrophism: Implications for archaeoastronomy. In: Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy (J Fountain and R Sinclair, eds). The Carolina Academic Press Press, Durham, North Carolina, pp. 25-37
*T. Reilly and B. Peiser (2006) Seasonal variations in health-related human physical activity, Sports Medicine 36:6, 473-485
*A. Ball, S. Kelley and B. Peiser (2006) Near Earth Objects and the Impact Hazard. (Milton Keynes: Open University)
*B Peiser, T Reilly, G Atkinson, B Drust, J Waterhouse (2006). Seasonal changes and physiological responses: Their impact on activity, health, exercise and athletic performance. (The extreme environment and sports medicine) International SportMed Journal 7(1), 16-32 [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/]
*Barry W. Brook et al. (2007) Would the Australian megafauna have become extinct if humans had never colonised the continent? Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 26, Issues 1-2, January 2007.

External links

* [http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/sportandexercisesciences/76407.htm Faculty page at Liverpool John Moores University]
* [http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/CCNet-homepage.htm Current CCNet web page]
* [http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?f0323e61-cfca-4aff-97ce-37467d8abb2d Blair Deserts Kyoto]
* [http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2490.jsp The politics of climate change]
* [http://atlas-conferences.com/cgi-bin/abstract/caiq-57 Sub-Critical Impacts during the Holocene]
* [http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/the_new_age_of_apocalypticism John Reppion interviews Benny Peiser for End Is Nigh Magazine, March 2007]

References