Jennifer Marohasy

Jennifer Marohasy (born 1963) is an Australian biologist, columnist and blogger. She was a senior fellow at the free-market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs between 2004 and 2009 and director of the Australian Environment Foundation until 2008.[1] She holds a PhD in biology from the University of Queensland. She is sceptical of anthropogenic global warming and co-authored a peer-reviewed paper in GeoResJ suggesting that most of the recent warming is attributable to natural variations, a view disputed by climate scientists.[2][3]

External image
Jennifer Marohasy portrait, 2008

Career

Marohasy worked as a field biologist in Africa and Madagascar during the 1980s and 1990s,[4] and has a number of published papers in science journals.[5]

In 1997 she switched from researcher to environment manager with the Queensland sugar industry. In 2001, she started to develop an interest in environmental campaigns and, in particular, claiming that there are anomalies between fact and perception regarding the health of coastal river systems and the Great Barrier Reef.[6]

In July 2003, she became director of the environment unit at the Institute of Public Affairs.

Her work at the Institute of Public Affairs

While head of the Environment Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs, Marohasy compiled a backgrounder titled Myth and the Murray - measuring the real state of the river environment[7] which was published by the Institute in December 2003. The Institute received a $40,000 donation from Murray Irrigation Limited at that time.[8] This paper is quoted in the Interim Report of the Inquiry into future water supplies for Australia’s rural industries and communities of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, March 2004. At a science round table of the committee, when asked for her views on how much water should be returned to the River Murray, Marohasy argued that there was no need for additional flows at that time and that we should test the results of current environmental measures before committing to more.[9]

Marohasy was instrumental in establishing a joint programme with the Institute of Public Affairs and the University of Queensland, funded by Western Australian philanthropist, Bryant Macfie (A top 20 Shareholder in Strike Resources Limited ).[10][11]

Public position on global warming

In an Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview she stated that... "[i]t's not clear that climate change is being driven by carbon dioxide levels...whether or not we can reduce carbon dioxide levels, there will be climate change".[12]

On the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National program, Ockham's Razor, Marohasy said in 2005... "I agree with Professor Flannery that we need to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels".[13]

In an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National program, Counterpoint, she claimed recent cooling by starting with the extreme temperature peak of the 1998 El Niño[14] event. She said that... "there has been cooling if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last ten years. ...very unexpected not something that is being discussed. It should though be being discussed because it is very significant".[15]

2017 GeoResJ manuscript

A paper that Marohasy co-authored with her Institute of Public Affairs colleague John Abbot, titled "The application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change," was made available online on 5 August 2017.[2] It was published in GeoResJ, a quarterly peer-reviewed journal in Earth Sciences[16][17] that began publishing in 2014[17][18] and is to be discontinued from January 2018.[19] Marohasy wrote about her findings in The Spectator Australia[20] and in her blog,[21] declaring that most of the warming that has occurred could be natural. "[E]ven if there had been no industrial revolution and burning of fossil fuels, there would have still been warming through the twentieth century – to at least 1980, and of almost 1 °C," she wrote.[20] The paper also questions the equilibrium climate sensitivity, which relates to the extent of warming associated with a doubling of atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. Abbot and Marohasy estimate a 0.6 °C temperature rise would result,[2] well below the range of 1.5 to 4.0 °C estimated in reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).[3]

References
  1. Melissa Fyfe, "Cool reception for new green group", The Age, 8 June 2005.
  2. Abbot, John; Marohasy, Jennifer (2017). "The application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change". GeoResJ. 14: 36–46. doi:10.1016/j.grj.2017.08.001.
  3. Readfearn, Graham (26 August 2017). "Why the IPA's claim global warming is natural is junk science". The Guardian Australia. Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  4. Walton, Craig (2005). Reclaiming Lost Provinces: A Century of Weed Biological Control in Queensland. Department of Natural Resources & Mines, Queensland. Reviewed here
  5. Early Scientific Publications :: Publications
  6. http://www.ipa.org.au/publications/547/wwf-says-%27jump%21%27-governments-ask-%27how-high-%27/pg/4
  7. Jennifer Marohasy, IPA Backgrounder Vol 15/5, December 2003,Myth and the Murray - measuring the real state of the river environment
  8. ABC Local Radio, VIC Country Hour, 04/06/2004, Institute of Public Affairs accepts irrigation funds.
  9. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry,2004, Inquiry into future water supplies for Australia’s rural industries and communities
  10. AAP MediaNet Press Releases, Media Release: Institute of Public Affairs, 30 April 2008; Andrew Trounson, Greg Roberts,"Climate sceptic's $350,000 grant to uni has 'no strings attached'", The Australian, 7 May 2008
  11. The Australian, 7 May 2008. Dispute over climate sceptic uni grant
  12. Report released on climate change - Broadcast 7/26/05
  13. Ockham's Razor - Broadcast 11/20/05
  14. 1997-1998 El Nino: the most recent event, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Illinois
  15. Interview on Counterpoint - Broadcast 3/17/2008
  16. Wesselius, Tobias (19 June 2013). "Elsevier Launches Open Access Journal: GeoResJ" (Press release). Elsevier. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  17. Wesselius, Tobias; Lehane, Clare (19 June 2013). "New GeoResJ is Elsevier's first open-access journal in earth science". Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  18. King, Scott; Donovan, Steve; George, Simon; Jaeglé, Lyatt; Pyle, David; van Gasselt, Stephan; Ersek, Vasile (2014). "Beginnings". GeoResJ. 1–2: ii. doi:10.1016/j.grj.2013.11.001. Available online 3 December 2013.
  19. "GeoResJ". Elsevier. 2017. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017. GeoResJ will be discontinued from January 2018 and is closed to new submissions. ... All published papers will remain available on ScienceDirect.
  20. Marohasy, Jennifer (21 August 2017). "Big data finds the Medieval Warm Period – no denial here". The Spectator Australia. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  21. Marohasy, Jennifer (21 August 2017). "Most of the Recent Warming Could be Natural". jennifermarohasy.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
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