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Benny Peiser

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Benny Peiser is a member of the Faculty of Science at Liverpool's John Moores University. He was born in Israel and educated in West Germany[1] and previously was an historian of ancient sport at the Univerity of Frankfort/M.[2] 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.[3]

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 3,000 subscribers from around the world. It is in this capacity that a 10km-wide asteroid, Minor Planet (7107) Peiser, was named in his honour by the International Astronomical Union.[3]

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

Objections to Oreskes Essay

Peiser examined the essay by Naomi Oreskes published in the science and society section of Science which claimed the lack of dissenting opinions in a sample of 928 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles on global warming.

Peiser noted that Oreskes' original characterization of her survey was incorrect: the articles were drawn from the ISI database using the search terms "global climate change", though she originally claimed to have used the term "climate change". She also did not clearly specify that she had limited her search to just "articles" (i.e., peer-reviewed publications) rather than "all document types" (which would include non-scientific, non-peer reviewed publications). Oreskes later indicated that this was correct.[citation needed]

In a letter to the journal Science, Peiser performed a similar survey, in which he claimed a different results: only 29% of such papers agreed with the 'consensus' viewpoint, while 3% explicitly disagreed. Science did not to publish Peiser's letter for a variety of reasons, including that the information "was already widely disseminated on the Internet".[4]

Peiser later stated that some of the papers included in his survey were ambiguous while reiterating that his main criticism of Oreskes' essay was valid "i.e. that [Oreskes] claim of a unanimous consensus on [antropogenic global warming] (as opposed to a majority consensus) is tenuous".[5][6]

In a letter that Peiser submitted to the Australian Media Watch Peiser explained and elaborated on some of his comments and indicated that he does not doubt that "the overwhelming majority of climatologists is agreed that the current warming period is mostly due to human impact" while maintaining that the consensus is far from unanimous.[7]

Bibliography of published works

  • B. Peiser (2003) Climate Change and Civilisation Collapse, in K. Okonski (ed), Adapt or Die: The science, politics and economics of climate change, London: Profile Books, 191-201
  • 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 [1]
  • 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.

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Conference Schedule: "Reconsidering Velikovsky: The Role of Catastrophism in the Earth Sciences and the History of Mankind," University of Toronto, August 17-19, 1990.
  3. ^ a b Liverpool John Moores University
  4. ^ Matthews, R. Leading scientific journals 'are censoring debate on global warming', The Telegraph, 1 May 2005, (retrieved 21 April 2008).
  5. ^ Politicization 101: Segregating Scientists According to Political Orientation 17 March 2006
  6. ^ Deltoid: Peiser Admits to Making a Mistake
  7. ^ Mediawatch: Peiser
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