Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen (born 1942) is an Emeritus Reader in the Department of Geography at the University of Hull in Kingston upon Hull England, where she taught environmental policy, management and politics.[1][2][3][4] She was editor of the journal Energy & Environment from 1998 to 2017.[5][6]

Early life and education

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen was born in Dresden, East Germany.[2][5] In 1956, she moved to Adelaide, South Australia, where she obtained a BA with Honours in Geomorphology from the University of Adelaide while also studying climatology, geology, physical geography and German literature.[5][7][8][9] She moved again to England in 1969 and later attended the University of Sussex where she first obtained an MA followed by a DPhil in International Relations in 1981.[2][7][10] Her doctoral thesis was titled, Limits to the international control of marine pollution.[11]

Career

Boehmer-Christiansen joined the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex in 1985, working for a decade as a Research Fellow and then later as a visiting fellow.[2][8][12] Since the mid-1990s she had taught environmental policy, management and politics in the Geography Department at the University of Hull.[3][9] As an Emeritus Reader she still works from the University of Hull's Geography Department.[1][8]

She is a past member of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future.[2][13]

Views on climate change

When asked about the publication in the Spring of 2003 of a revised version of the paper at the center of the Soon and Baliunas controversy, Boehmer-Christiansen said, "I'm following my political agenda -- a bit, anyway. But isn't that the right of the editor?"[14]

Boehmer-Christiansen has been a critic of climate models saying they are based on data that cannot be verified.[15] In 2006, she signed an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to open the Kyoto Protocol to debate by holding balanced, comprehensive public-consultation sessions on the Canadian government's climate change plans.[16]

She describes herself as agnostic on whether humans are causing global warming, and believes its negative aspects to be politically exaggerated.[17]

Third-party views

According to Fred Pearce, Boehmer-Christiansen is a sceptic about acid rain and global warming and calls the science reports produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "political constructs."[18]

The Guardian reported that Boehmer-Christiansen published – against the recommendations of a reviewer – a paper in Energy & Environment claiming that the Sun is made of iron.[19][20]

Selected publications

Books
Journal articles

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Geography Department: Academic Staff". University of Hull. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Dr Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen". University of Hull. Archived from the original on 6 December 2003. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Enlightening the Future 2024 Survey – Dr Sonja A Boehmer-Christiansen". Spiked. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  4. ^ "Scientific Advisory Forum". The Scientific Alliance. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Dr. Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen". OGEL. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Editorial". Energy & Environment. 28 (5–6): 543. 15 September 2017. doi:10.1177/0958305X17733089.
  7. ^ a b Boehmer-Christiansen, Sonja (January 1982). "The scientific basis of marine pollution control". Marine Policy. 6 (1): 2–10. doi:10.1016/0308-597X(82)90038-0.
  8. ^ a b c Boehmer-Christiansen, Sonja (February 2010). "Memorandum submitted by Dr Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen (CRU 26)". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  9. ^ a b "The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia" (PDF). House of Commons. 24 March 2010. p. 124. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  10. ^ Boehmer-Christiansen, Sonja A. (1990). "Emerging international principles of environmental protection and their impact on Britain". The Environmentalist. 10 (2): 95. doi:10.1007/bf02244387. S2CID 153996433.
  11. ^ Boehmer-Christiansen, S.A. (1981). "Limits to the international control of marine pollution". University of Sussex. OCLC 53601092. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ "SPRU Annual Report – SPRU Staff: Associate Staff – Visiting Fellows and Professors" (PDF). University of Sussex. 1998. p. 39. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  13. ^ "Stakeholder Forum – Annual Report 2001–2002" (PDF). Stakeholder Forum. 2002. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  14. ^ Monastersky, Richard (5 September 2003). "Storm Brews Over Global Warming". Chronicle of Higher Education.
  15. ^ "Tuvalu's tides divide scientists". The Age. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  16. ^ "Open Kyoto to debate – An open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper". National Post. 11 April 2006. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  17. ^ "Conversations From the Frotier with Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, Geomorphologist". Frontier Centre for Public Policy. 29 June 2010. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011.
  18. ^ Pearce, Fred, The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming, (2010) Guardian Books, ISBN 978-0-85265-229-9, p. XIV.
  19. ^ Barley, Shanta (25 February 2011). "Real Climate faces libel suit". The Guardian.
  20. ^ Manuel, Oliver K. (2009). "Earth's Heat Source – The Sun". Energy & Environment. 20 (1–2): 131–144. arXiv:0905.0704. doi:10.1260/095830509787689178. S2CID 119304686. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013.

External links