A change of heart for a global warming skeptic

This is an ICYMI column. Actually, I’m not saying you missed, I missed it.

While worrying over the transformation of "Neil the Silent" into Gov. Neil Abercrombie, "The Great Communicator," I missed the interesting news from Richard A. Muller.

Muller is a genuinely smart fellow. He is a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" winner and revered among the "alternate reality" folks who don’t believe the legions of scientists who say the Earth is getting hotter.

The professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of "Physicists for Future Presidents" said he had much doubt about the scientific work behind the global warming debate.

In a recent Wall Street Journal piece, Muller presented a laundry list of reasons why skeptics should be skeptical of the studies. He had noted that those driving a political or economic agenda are also the ones paying for the studies.

Two years ago, Muller formed his own research group, dubbed the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project (www.BerkeleyEarth.org) to reexamine the scientific findings. The Charles G. Koch Foundation gave him $150,000.

The Koch family’s money comes from Koch Industries, an oil, gas and chemical conglomerate, which is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. Guess what it hoped Muller would find?

Despite being partially funded by a charity belonging to a firm with annual revenues of $110 billion, Muller’s research showed that global warming is both real and man-made.

Before his study, Muller pointed to temperatures recorded from some questionably located weather stations. He also noted that since 1800, both extreme hurricanes and tornados that touch down and cause damage have been decreasing slightly, suggesting a more stable climate.

"Without good answers to all these complaints, global-warming skepticism seems sensible," Muller had written.

So Muller and his team spent two years reviewing billions of pieces of information and all the research.

"When we began our study, we felt that skeptics had raised legitimate issues, and we didn’t know what we’d find," he said.

As reported last week, Muller’s study agrees or closely matches most of the previously published scientific articles saying the Earth’s temperature has indeed risen. "Global warming is real," Muller says.

This news should worry Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Two months ago, Perry told his presidential campaign supporters that global warming was an unproven scientific theory, advanced by scientists who have fudged the data.

"There are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated the data so that they will have dollars rollings into their projects," Perry said.

So now comes a scientist who took the money, did the research and concluded that global warming has arrived.

For some, this should be of great concern. Global warming contributes to increases in sea levels. Simply put, what used to be beach is now under water.

In Hollywood, Fla., city commissioners say their sewage treatment plants have about 25 years until the projected sea level changes render them useless.

Because sewage flows downhill, our city fathers in Honolulu have located most sewage treatment plants along the water’s edge. While Honolulu tidal variations are much different from Florida’s, there is much more work that needs to be done here to prepare.

As the folks in Florida are worrying, a rising tide lifts more than boats.