Indur M. Goklany

Indur M. Goklany
Education	B.Tech. (1968), M.S. (1969), PhD (1973)
Alma mater	Indian Institutes of Technology, Michigan State University
Occupation(s)	Science and technology policy analyst
Employer	United States Department of the Interior
Notable work	The Improving State of the World
Website	goklany.org

Indur M. Goklany is a science and technology policy analyst for the United States Department of the Interior, where he holds the position of Assistant Director of Programs, Science and Technology Policy.

He has represented the United States at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and during the negotiations that led to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He was a rapporteur for the Resource Use and Management Subgroup of Working Group III of the IPCC First Assessment Report in 1990, and is the author of Clearing the Air (1999), The Precautionary Principle (2001), and The Improving State of the World (2007).

Education

Goklany has a B. Tech degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institutes of Technology and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, also in electrical engineering, from Michigan State University.

Views on climate change

Goklany has spoken against the use of biofuels and ethanol, as he believes it drives the price of food beyond the reach of the poor. In an op-ed for The New York Times, he wrote, "Ironically, much of the hysteria over global warming is itself fueled by concerns that it may drive numerous species to extinction and increase hunger worldwide, especially in developing countries. Yet the biofuel solution would only make bad matters worse on both counts".

He took part in the making of Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies are More Dangerous than Global Warming Itself, a film created by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank engaged in manufacturing climate change denialism.

He has also been critical of the World Wide Fund for Nature and the United Nations Population Fund over their stance on population growth saying, "For many groups like the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), World Population Day, which fell on July 11, is another chance to bemoan 'the relentless growth in human population,' while the United Nations Population Fund says 'stabilizing population would help sustain the planet.' The problem, however, is not population but poverty."

He was nominated to the position of Assistant Director of Programs, Science and Technology Policy in the U.S. Department of Interior in 2017, ten days after President Donald Trump took office, where his initial priority was to revise the priorities of the Department of Interior websites to de-emphasize climate change. In his new position, Mr. Goklany "...embarked on a campaign that has inserted misleading language about climate change — including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial — into the agency’s scientific reports..." The "Goks Uncertainty Language", which was directly edited by Mr. Goklany, is being used to sow doubt and misinformation regarding the effects of climate change. It has specifically been inserted, against the wishes of top Interior Department Scientists, "...into nine reports, including environmental studies and impact statements on major watersheds in the American West that could be used to justify allocating increasingly scarce water to farmers at the expense of wildlife conservation and fisheries."

Publications

Books

• Goklany, Indur M. (2006). The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet. The Cato Institute. ISBN 978-1-930865-98-3.
• Goklany, Indur M. (November 2002). The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal of Environmental Risk. The Cato Institute. ISBN 978-1-930865-16-7.
• Goklany, Indur M. (November 26, 1999). Clearing the Air: The Real Story of the War on Air Pollution. The Cato Institute. ISBN 978-1-882577-83-5.

Papers

• Goklany, Indur M. (September 19, 2009). "Climate change is not the biggest global health threat". The Lancet. 374 (9694): 973–974. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61655-X. PMID 19766873.
• Goklany, Indur M. (July 29, 2009). "Is Climate Change the "Defining Challenge of Our Age"?". Energy & Environment. 20 (3): 279–302. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.167.767. doi:10.1260/095830509788066439.
• Goklany, Indur M. (November 2002). "From precautionary principle to risk–risk analysis". Nature. 20 (1075): 1075. doi:10.1038/nbt1102-1075. PMID 12410243.