Irrational Global-Warming Leader

The leading organization preaching that global warming is man-caused and a disaster-in-the-making is the U.N.'s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the head of that organization is Dr. Rajendra Pachauri. Pachauri is also the head of the The Energy Research Institute (TERI) (formerly the Tata Energy Research Institute).

His degrees are in engineering, so he should be familiar with rational thought. However, he's been quoted by the Financial Times as making the following statement:

"[Climate change skeptics] are people who deny the link between smoking and cancer; they are people who say that asbestos is as good as talcum powder. I hope that they apply it [asbestos] to their faces every day."

For the record, I am currently a climate change skeptic, and I do not deny the link between smoking and cancer, nor do I say that asbestos is as good as talcum powder. And despite his stated desire, I do not apply asbestos to myself or anyone else.

As head of the IPCC and TERI, Dr. Pachauri has been subject to much criticism, some for possible conflicts of interest from running both organizations. In his recent interview with the Financial Times, he also was quoted as saying, "[There are] nefarious designs behind people trying to attack me with lies, falsehoods." I don't why anyone would lie about him... the direct quotes above are enough to ruin his credibility as a rational scientist.

UPDATE:The week of March 21, 2010, Dr. Pachauri was quoted in the London Times as saying, "It is not correct to say there are people who don’t trust me." If that is an accurate quote, it is conclusive evidence that he does not exhibit a scientific mind. He has also been apologizing for the factual errors in the IPCC reports, but I have not heard him address the issue of bias. Bias is not only a significant factor in facilitating factual errors that favor a pre-determined view, it is also a critical factor in errors of omission -- the fact that the IPCC reports intentionally exclude metrics that are inconsistent with their favored Earth-is-getting-too-warm-and-people-are-to-blame beliefs.