Timothy F. Ball (Tim Ball)

Credentials

Ph.D. (Doctor of Science), University of London, England, 1982. [1], [2]

M.A., University of Manitoba, 1971. [1], [2]

B.A., University of Winnipeg, 1970. [1], [2]

Background

Tim Ball was a professor of geography at the University of Winnipeg from 1988 to 1996. He is a prolific speaker and writer in the skeptical science community. [2]

He has been Chairman to the now-defunct Natural Resources Stewardship Project (NRSP), “Consultant” to the Exxon-funded Friends of Science (FoS), senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP), and has connections to numerous other think tanks and right-wing organizations. [3], [4], [1]

He is now chief science advisor to the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) and a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute. [80]

Tim Ball is member of Climate Exit (Clexit), a climate change denial group formed shortly after the UK’s decision to leave the EU. According to Clexit's founding statement (PDF), “The world must abandon this suicidal Global Warming crusade. Man does not and cannot control the climate.” [5], [6]

NRSP Denier Connections

The NRSP's past list of “scientific advisors” has also included prominent deniers Tim Patterson, Tad Murty and Sallie Baliunas, all of which are also listed as advisors to the FOS. [3], [7]

DeSmog previously noted that two of the three directors on the board of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project were at one time senior executives of the High Park Advocacy Group, a Toronto-based lobby firm that specializes in “energy, environment and ethics.” [8]

First PhD in Climatology?

Ball and the organizations he is affiliated with have repeatedly made the claim that he is the “first Canadian PhD in climatology.” Ball himself claimed he was “one of the first climatology PhD's in the world.” [9], [10]

Many have pointed out that there have been numerous PhD's in the field prior to Ball. [11]

Ball was a former professor of geography at the University of Winnipeg from 1988 to 1996. The University of Winnipeg never had an office of Climatology. His degree was in historical geography and not climatology. [12]

Stance on Climate Change

April 16, 2018

“I knew right from the start how much the climate changes naturally, and what's going on right now is well within natural variability. There's nothing unusual about it at all,” Ball said on an episode of Focus Today, a program at theDove Media. [84]

TheDove Media describes its mission as to “proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ though all media platforms.” [85]

August 5, 2016

“'Climate change is real,' they say. Of course, that is true. Climate has been changing since the origin of the atmosphere billions of years ago, and there is nothing humans can do to stop it from changing.” — Tim Ball & Tom Harris. [54]

July 30, 2016

Tim Ball co-wrote an article with Tom Harris of the ICSC, claiming:

“'Climate change is real,' they say. So what? Gravity and sunrise are also real. That doesn’t mean we cause them or we would be better off without them. Climate has been changing since the origin of the atmosphere billions of years ago.” [53]

2006

“What's wrong with global warming? There are lots of positive benefits to global warming.” [13]

Key Quotes

January 31, 2018

Ball praised President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address. He said in a statement at the Heartland Institute: [68]

“President Trump demonstrated the ability necessary in all leaders, historically known as the 'common touch.' It is the ability to talk to all people without talking down to them. It even worked on many of those adamantly pre-determined not to like or listen to his message.” [68]

July, 2016

In a guest opinion post Watts Up With That, a blog maintained by climate change denier Anthony Watts, Tim Ball declared (Emphasis added):

“The problem is not adequate funding. It is too many people getting too much money for useless projects because there are too many people in universities. It is too many people going to university. The blunt truth is that for the majority of students it is a socially acceptable form of unemployment. Students getting less than a B average should not even be in university; for them, it is simply Grades 13, 14, 15, and (16). Some of this over attendance is because immigrant or newly successful middle-class families want their children to attend university.“ [14]

July 30, 2016

In an article he co-posted with climate change denier Tom Harris of the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), Ball and Harris declare:

“All this would be humorous if it did not have such serious ramifications. In the vain hope of stopping trivial changes in climate, activists and compliant politicians are working hard to force us to switch from coal and other fossil fuels, America's least expensive and most abundant power sources, to unreliable and expensive alternatives such as wind and solar power. The public need to ask them, 'Why are you doing this? Who are you trying to please?'.” [53]

February, 2015

In a guest opinion post at the blog Watts Up With That, Tim Ball said:

“Pope Francis advocates the global warming agenda of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with the help of the Obama White House. Apparently, he doesn’t know their ultimate objective of reducing and controlling population generally contradicts Catholic doctrine.” [15]

May, 2006

In a May, 2006 interview with the Ottawa Citizen's editorial staff, Tim Ball said:

“CFC's were never a problem. […] it's only because the sun is changing.” [13], [64]

Key Deeds

August 2019

In 2011, climate scientist Michael Mann had filed a defamation claim in a British Columbia court against the Frontier Center for Public Policy (FCPP) and Tim Ball, after Ball had suggested in an interview that Mann should be imprisoned. [81]

In June 2019, FCPP issued an apology to Mann for what it described as “certain untrue and disparaging accusations which impugned the character of Dr. Michael Mann.” The letter continued: [82]

“Although The Frontier Center for Public Policy still does not see eye to eye with Dr. Mann on the subject of global warming and climate change, we now accept that it was wrong to publish allegations by others that Dr. Mann did not comply with ethical standards and wrong to suggest that Dr. Mann was guilty of any dishonesty concerning his 1998 and 1999 research which produced the so-called 'hockey-stick' temperature graph.” [82]

“The Frontier Centre hereby unreservedly retracts such allegations and apologizes to Dr. Michael Mann for any embarrassment and distress caused by our previous publications.” [82]

A judge dismissed a case against Tim Ball that had been brought on by Michael Mann, after Ball's lawyers cited their client's poor health and the low ranking of his website. Mann later took to Twitter to counter climate change denial sites' spin of the dismissal. [83], [81]

October 15, 2018

Tim Ball co-wrote an article at The Washington Times with Tom Harris where they criticized the latest U.N. IPCC’s report on climate change. The IPCC report found that drastic and rapid cuts to fossil fuel use would be needed to maintain a 1.5°C target. [79]

“In climate research and modeling, we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore that the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible,” Ball and Harris claimed.

“The supposed threat is a 1.5 to 2C increase, but global temperatures were higher than today by at least that much for most of the last 10,000 years. Yet polar bears and the world survived. No one should take the new IPCC climate report seriously.”

According to SkepticalScience, these blanket statements that modeling is inaccurate and that the earth was warmer in the past are two common climate change myths refuted by the available science.

June 29, 2018

Ball co-wrote an Op-Ed with Tom Harris suggesting that then-EPA-Administrator Scott Pruitt “must ignore the flak and use it only as a guide to drop more bombs.” The Op-Ed suggests media criticism of Scott Pruitt for his spending practices is “a typical example of how technocrats respond to anyone doing things other than their way, they fear Pruitt because he is dismantling unnecessary and expensive environmental policies of the Obama administration.” [78]

“World War II Lancaster bomber pilot Sandy Mutch explained the approach Pruitt should take when he is attacked. 'On bombing raids over Europe, we could tell we were closing in on the target when we started to get the most flak. Anyone who wants to kill the dangerous and unfounded climate scare… should focus on exposing the shaky science behind climate alarm,' said Mutch, who passed away on April 15, 2018 at the age of 98. 'That is the Achilles heel of the whole movement. Shoot it down and you win the war,” Harris and Ball wrote. [78]

May 27, 2020

In a follow-up to the previous libel case against Andrew Weaver, DeSmog reported that a judge made the unanimous decision for the BC Court of Appeal that the prior decision by Justice Skolrood was “taking into account the poor quality of the writing” and “based on evidence known to the Court, but not to the ordinary and reasonable reader.” [87]

Reacting to the new judgment, Dan Johnson, the environmental science professor whom Ball tried to sue in 2006, said it was obvious that some people have been taking Ball seriously, in part because he had so consistently leaned on his overstated academic credentials. Ball’s “phony argument from authority convinced some to ignore the science,” Johnson said. “And we need respect for science more than ever, so it is good to see those who undermine it exposed and disregarded.” [87]

The case would go back to the lower court to go over some unresolved issues. [87]

February 14, 2018

DeSmog reported that a libel claim against an article written by Tim Ball was thrown out due to the letter not being sufficiently credible to cause damage to a professional climate scientist. While Ball's supporters celebrated the outcome as a “A great victory for free speech,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ronald Skolrood was critical of Ball's work: [75], [76]

”[…] despite Dr. Ball’s history as an academic and a scientist, the Article is rife with errors and inaccuracies, which suggests a lack of attention to detail on Dr. Ball’s part, if not an indifference to the truth,” Justice Skolrood wrote. [75]

He added later in the judgement: [75]

“[T]he Article is poorly written and does not advance credible arguments in favour of Dr. Ball’s theory about the corruption of climate science. Simply put, a reasonably thoughtful and informed person who reads the Article is unlikely to place any stock in Dr. Ball’s views, including his views of Dr. Weaver as a supporter of conventional climate science.” [75]

While the judge agreed that Ball's intention with the January 2011 Canada Free Press article (titled “Corruption of Climate Science Has Created 30 Lost Years,” since taken down after an apology from CFP for defamatory content). [77]

“These allegations are directed at Dr. Weaver’s professional competence and are clearly derogatory of him. Indeed, it is quite apparent that this was Dr. Ball’s intent,” the judge wrote, adding, however, that “It is very unlikely that the Article and the opinions expressed therein had an impact on the views of anyone who read it, including their views, if any, of Dr. Weaver as a climate scientist. Rather, the reasonably thoughtful and informed reader would have recognized the Article as simply presenting one side of a highly charged public debate.”

February 4, 2018

In January 2018, more than 200 scientists endorsed an open letter calling on the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to remove climate change denier Rebekah Mercer from its board and to “end ties to anti-science propagandists and funders of climate science misinformation.” The New York Times reported that those among the AMNH letter calling for Mercer to step down were Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, and Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. [72]

Ball was among a group of climate change deniers who responded with their own open letter, calling for the AMNH “not to cave in to this pressure.” The letter was signed by numerous individuals with ties to groups funded by the Mercer Family Foundation such as Will Happer of the CO2 Coalition; Richard Lindzen, a fellow at the Cato Institute; and Craig Idso, the chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change. There are a number of signatories affiliated with the Heartland Institute, which has received over $5.78 million from the Mercer Family Foundation since 2008. [73]

The letter reads: [74]

“The Earth has supported abundant life many times in the geological past when there were much higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is quite likely that future generations will benefit from the enrichment of Earth’s atmosphere with more carbon dioxide. “Make no mistake, the agitators are not defending science from quackery — quite the contrary!”

July 2017

When the American Meteorological Society (AMS) sent an open letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, saying “it is it is critically important that you understand that emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the primary cause [of recent global warming],” Tim Ball responded: [67]

“These are completely false statements,” Ball said, quoted in the Pensacola News Journal (and several other news outlets) by fellow climate change denier Tom Harris. “The only evidence in support of CO2 as the primary cause of global warming are the outputs of the computer models used by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which have been wrong in every forecast or scenario they produced since 1990. If your forecast is wrong then your science is wrong.” [67]

February 23, 2017

Tim Ball was a signatory of a petition (PDF) organized by Richard Lindzen of the Cato Institute urging President Donald Trump to pull the United States out of the United Nations international convention on climate change (UNFCCC). [65]

“In just a few weeks, more than 300 eminent scientists and other qualified individuals from around the world have signed the petition below,” Lindzen wrote in the letter. [65]

DeSmog investigated the list, and found that only a small handful of the signatories could be considered “even remotely ‘qualified’ or ‘eminent’ — but not in the field of climate science.” The list included individuals “interested in climate,” and one signatory who only identified as an “emailer who wished to sign the petition” while some signers provided no affiliation or address whatsoever. [66]

January 2017

Ball wrote at The Rebel that he had been invited to a meeting on Capitol Hill through Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who had been appointed to Donald Trump's transition team shortly before. [86]

“On Capitol Hill, Senator Roberts, Tony Heller and I made presentations, similar but shorter, than those we gave in Australia. The audience included members of the Senate, Congress, and their aides, plus members of the public. A broad question and answer session followed,” Ball wrote. [86]

We then moved to CEI for a question and answer session that lasted about three hours. In addition to Ebell, several members of the Trump transition advisory team on the EPA and climate were present.” (Emphasis in original). [86]

“The major discussion at our meeting involved US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Conference Agreement. Lawyers explained that provisions in the Agreement allow for withdrawal after advance notification. However, their final observation was that there was nothing to prevent the US simply walking away.” [86]

See Ezra Levant 's interview with Ball about the meeting below:

;

January 5, 2017

Timothy F. Ball was a signatory to a Cornwall Alliance open letter supporting Scott Pruitt for EPA Administrator under the Trump administration. [61]

“Mr. Pruitt has also demonstrated understanding of and open-mindedness toward scientific insights crucial to the formulation and implementation of environmental regulation. He is prepared to hear all sides in debates over the risks and benefits of various activities that come under the purview of the EPA,” reads the letter.

On January 12, 2017, Senate Democrats raised conflict of interest concerns regarding Scott Prutt's fossil fuel ties. Pruitt had spent years working to combat the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan. [62]

In an open letter to the Office of Government Ethics, members of the Senate's environmental panel commented:

“During his tenure as Attorney General of Oklahoma, Mr. Pruitt has blurred the distinction between official and political actions, often at the behest of corporations he will regulate if confirmed to lead EPA,” the letter said. “Public reporting based on documents produced by Freedom of Information Act requests illustrate how Mr. Pruitt and members of his staff have worked closely with fossil fuel lobbyists to craft his office's official positions.”

Pruitt was further grilled on his fossil fuel ties at his confirmation hearing on January 18. [63]

Some notable signatories of the Cornwall Alliance letter, as of January 5, 2017, included:

December 12, 2016

Tim Ball was an attendee at a private meeting also attended by Trump's EPA Transition team lead Myron Ebell on Capital Hill. E&E News reported that the event was not open to the public or to the press and Ebell refused to give any details. The event was hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and held in the hearing room of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee. The EPW committee is chaired by Senator James Inhofe who, like Trump, has described human-caused climate change as a hoax. [57]

DeSmog reported that the event featured the “Who's Who of Climate Science Deniers.” Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts, who spoke at the event, also wrote that the meeting was a gathering of the Cooler Heads Coalition and then listed some of the participants on Facebook: [58], [59]

Names mentioned above included:

DeSmog also noted that three of the attendees—Myron Ebell, Randy Randol, and Steve Milloy—had all been part of the Global Climate Science Communications Team in the late 1990s, a group organized by the American Petroleum Institute. According to an early memo, the group said “victory will be achieved when […] Average citizens 'understand' (recognize) uncertainties in climate science; recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the 'conventional wisdom'.” [60]

December 3, 2016

Tim Ball was a speaker at Freedom Force International's “3rd Congress” event titled “Global-Warming; an Inconvenient Lie.” Freedom Force International describes the event as “a gathering of the world’s top experts on this subject who will put an end, once-and-for-all, to the myth of anthropogenic (man-caused) global-warming.” [56]

Ball's speech was titled “Global Warming Is the Biggest Deception in History.”

“This is a a deception. It’s the greatest deception in history because there have been deceptions in the past, but this is the first one on a global scale that affects every single person and every single thing,” Ball began. “The public simply don’t understand the science of climate change; therefore, they are easily fooled. And that’s what’s been going on.”

Ball claimed that schools are “indoctrinating” children:

“We should be teaching things in schools that students need to understand the world, but we’re not doing that. School has become an indoctrination, not an education. […] It’s not that long ago that in the universities, the old professors had the prevailing wisdom and the young professors came in and challenged it. Now the young ones are coming in with the indoctrinated views, and it’s the old people that are saying, ‘hey, hang on a minute.’ People like me, and Fred Singer at 92, and Bill Gray at 86. They’ve completely flipped the whole process of the education approach upside down because of what they’re doing in the schools with the indoctrination,” Ball said.

According to Tim Ball, environmentalism has become a religion:

“Environmentalism has become a religion. It’s taken on all the hard marks of a blind belief, and particularly amongst the young people. Because one of the things a lot of people don’t realize is that science used Darwin to get rid of religion, okay. That left a vacuum. “And when you went to Oxford University in Darwin’s day, there were two or three doors to the library: there was the door to the natural sciences, the door to the humanities, and the door to the library. You go to any university today, the largest door is to the social science. And the social sciences emerged because once you get rid of God you’ve got to have some other explanation for why humans are here and why we’re different than all the other animals. “That’s what the social sciences are doing. I call it human navel gazing.”

Describing a story when Ball put his students on the spot, and they didn't quickly make the connection to a biblical reference, he suggested environmentalism could be part of the problem:

“So you start to see what’s happening with the environment. And of course the environment then fills a moral vacuum for them. Right? The mother Gaia and so on.”

The complete speaker list is below:

Lord Christopher Monckton – Global Warming Is A Monstrous Hoax

– Global Warming Is A Monstrous Hoax William Happer – The Real Inconvenient Truth; More CO2 Benefits the Earth

– The Real Inconvenient Truth; More Benefits the Earth Tim Ball – Global Warming Is the Biggest Deception in History

– Global Warming Is the Biggest Deception in History G. Edward Griffin – Why Do They Deceive?

– Why Do They Deceive? Holly Swanson – They Call It Education; Global Warming and Political Indoctrination

– They Call It Education; Global Warming and Political Indoctrination Dan Happel – They Call It Green; Global Warming and Agenda-21

– They Call It Green; Global Warming and Agenda-21 Patrick Wood – They Call it Science; Global Warming and Technocracy

– They Call it Science; Global Warming and Technocracy Alex Newman – They Call It News; Global Warming and Propaganda

– They Call It News; Global Warming and Propaganda Debbie Bacigalupi – They Call It Smart Growth: Global Warming and The Depopulation of Rural America

– They Call It Smart Growth: Global Warming and The Depopulation of Rural America Elaine Willman – Native Americans – Pawns in the Agenda-21 game

– Native Americans – Pawns in the Agenda-21 game Jim Lee – Geoengineering, Weather Modification, and the Weaponization of Nature

– Geoengineering, Weather Modification, and the Weaponization of Nature Michael Shaw – Agenda-21; Bringing the Soviet System to America

– Agenda-21; Bringing the Soviet System to America Willie Soon – Man vs. Sun; Put Your Money on the Sun

– Man vs. Sun; Put Your Money on the Sun Istvan Marko – CO2 Is Not Pollution. It is Our Friend.

August, 2016

Tim Ball is a member of a group titled Climate Exit (Clexit) founded in the summer of 2016. According to Clexit's founding statement (PDF), “The world must abandon this suicidal Global Warming crusade. Man does not and cannot control the climate.” [5], [6]

As Desmog reports, another key member of Clexit's “60 well-informed science, business and economic leaders” is Hugh Morgan, a former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia and former CEO of Western Mining Corporation with close ties to Australia's Liberal party. [16], [17]

According to Clexit's founding statement:

“If the Paris climate accord is ratified, or enforced locally by compliant governments, it will strangle the leading economies of the world with pointless carbon taxes and costly climate and energy policies, all with no sound basis in evidence or science […]” [6]

July 30, 2016

Tim Ball co-wrote an article with Tom Harris of the ICSC where he claims that “The best answer to most of the claims by climate activists and their political allies is simply: so what?”

“'Climate change is real,' they say. So what? Gravity and sunrise are also real. That doesn’t mean we cause them or we would be better off without them. Climate has been changing since the origin of the atmosphere billions of years ago,” Ball and Harriss write. [53]

July 24, 2016

Writing at Watts Up With That (WUWT), Tim Ball responded to an article in Vox titled “The 7 biggest problems facing science, according to 270 scientists.” [14]

While Ball agrees with some of the points, Daily KOS reports he ultimately blames immigrants and the middle class for pursuing higher education: (emphasis added) [18]

“The problem is not adequate funding,” Ball writes at WUWT. “It is too many people getting too much money for useless projects because there are too many people in universities. It is too many people going to university. The blunt truth is that for the majority of students it is a socially acceptable form of unemployment. Students getting less than a B average should not even be in university; for them, it is simply Grades 13, 14, 15, and (16). Some of this over attendance is because immigrant or newly successful middle-class families want their children to attend university.” [14]

Ball concludes that ““We can solve many of our problems quickly by closing down 75 percent of our universities.” Ball's other complaints include the “the use of science for political agendas,” and that “some scientists exploit” the bias of the media. [14]

March 3, 2016



Tim Ball produced a list of “handy CO2 talking points” to helpo “defeat global warming alarmists.” [19]

“The 'green' activists' focus on CO2 was premeditated and designed to demonize it as the toxic byproduct of fossil-fuel driven industries that was causing runaway global warming,” Ball writes.



In fact, C02 is a gas essential to plant life, and thereby all life, because plants produce oxygen.” [19]

Ball's list includes a number of common myths that Skeptical Science has previously debunked. Some examples below, with information from Skeptical Science below: [19]

Tim Ball: “The IPCC assume an increase in CO2 causes a temperature increase. It doesn’t. Every record for any period shows temperature increases before CO2.” [19]

SkepticalScience: CO2 does not cause the warming, but rather amplifies it: “When the Earth comes out of an ice age, the warming is not initiated by CO2 but by changes in the Earth's orbit. The warming causes the oceans to release CO2. The CO2 amplifies the warming and mixes through the atmosphere, spreading warming throughout the planet. So CO2 causes warming AND rising temperature causes CO2 rise. Overall, about 90% of the global warming occurs after the CO2 increase.” [20]

Tim Ball: “Let’s assume CO2 IS causing warming. Then, when its density reaches a certain level, the warming ability is maximized. But it IS currently maximized – so how will the addition of more CO2 have much effect?” [19]

SkepticalScience: “If the CO2 effect was saturated, adding more CO2 should add no additional greenhouse effect. However, satellite and surface measurements observe an enhanced greenhouse effect at the wavelengths that CO2 absorb energy. This is empirical proof that the CO2 effect is not saturated.” [21]

Tim Ball: “CO2 is only approximately 0.0397% of the total atmospheric gases. Figure 2 shows the proportional relationship between atmospheric gases and GHGs.” [19]

SkepticalScience: “Saying that CO2 is 'only a trace gas' is like saying that arsenic is 'only' a trace water contaminant. Small amounts of very active substances can cause large effects.” [22]

June 11-12, 2015

Tim Ball was a speaker on Panel 11: “Attacks on Scientists and the Corruption of Science,” at the Heartland Institute’s Tenth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC10) in Washington, D.C., with Bob Carter, William Briggs, and Christopher Monckton. [23]

View Tim Ball’s Panel 11 presentation at the Heartland Institute’s ICCC10, below: [24]

May 12, 2015

Timothy F. Ball is a signatory to an open letter to Pope Francis on climate change. The letter invites the Pope to reconsider his views on climate change before his upcoming encyclical letter on the environment, which is widely expected to call for measures to prevent climate change in the interests of the world's poor. [25]

The open letter was coordinated and signed by Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance. According to the letter, “Good climate policy must recognize human exceptionalism, the God-given call for human persons to 'have dominion' in the natural world (Genesis 1:28), and the need to protect the poor from harm, including actions that hinder their ascent out of poverty.” [25]

Another excerpt below:

”[…] the [climate] models are wrong. They therefore provide no rational basis to forecast dangerous human-induced global warming, and therefore no rational basis for efforts to reduce warming by restricting the use of fossil fuels or any other means.” [25]

Judith Curry comments on her blog Climate Etc. that “Arguably the most effective 'pushback' comes from Cal Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance, who coordinated An Open Letter to Pope Francis on Climate Change.” [26]

March, 2015

Tim Ball is one of several climate change skeptics cc'd on an email from S. Fred Singer in hopes of countering the documentary film “Merchants of Doubt,” which exposes the network of climate change skeptics and deniers trying to delay legislative action on climate change. [27]

The October, 2014 email was leaked to journalists before the documentary was released. “Can I sue for damages?” Singer asked in the email. “Can we get an injunction against the documentary?” [27]

InsideClimate News reports in their article “Leaked Email Reveals Who's Who List of Climate Denialists,” how “Many of those copied on the email thread, such as Singer and communications specialist Steven Milloy, have financial ties to the tobacco, chemical, and oil and gas industries and have worked to defend them since the 1990s.” [27]

InsideClimate News also documented all those who were cc'd on the email, including the following skeptics and groups:

DeSmogBlog covered the emails here: “Merchants of Doubt Film Debuts, Textbook Denial Attack Campaign Led By Fred Singer Ensues” and also archived a full copy of the Singer email thread (PDF).

February 1, 2015

Tim Ball wrote a guest Opinion piece at Watts Up With That, titled “Pope Francis Apparently Doesn’t Know IPCC Climate Objective Contradicts Catholic Doctrine.” [15]

Ball writes that “IPCC climate objective contradicts Catholic doctrine,” saying its ultimate objective is “reducing and controlling population.” [15]

July 7 - 9, 2014

Tim Ball was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC9) in Las Vegas, Nevada. [28] His spoke on panel 17, “Approximately 25% of Americans believe the Sun Orbits the Earth” along with Patrick Michaels and Sonja Boehmer. Video from the panel and the Q&A session can be viewed below.

Panel 11: Approximately 25% of Americans believe the Sun Orbits the Earth

Panel 11 Q & A

DeSmog reported on speakers and sponsors behind Heartland's ICCC9. [28]

January 21, 2014

Ball publishes a book entitled, “The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science.” According to the description of the book on Amazon.com, “Dr. Tim Ball exposes the malicious misuse of climate science as it was distorted by dishonest brokers to advance the political aspirations of the progressive left.” [29]

June 30 - July 1, 2011

Ball was a speaker at the Heartland Institute's 6th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC6.) [30]

His speech, titled “Assessing the Scientific Data” can be viewed below.

Research done by DesmogBlog found that 17 of the 43 sponsors of the Heartland Institute’s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change, including the Heartland Institute itself, have collectively received over $46 million from either Scaife family foundations, Koch Industries family foundations, or ExxonMobil and its foundation.

March 25, 2011

Dr. Michael Mann sued Tim Ball and the Frontier Center For Public Policy for libel. The lawsuit arose from an interview with Ball that was posted on the Frontier Center website. [31]

In the interview, according to court documents, Ball responds to an anonymous questioner regarding the “Climategate” scandal by saying “Michael Mann at Penn State should be in the State Pen, not Penn State.” [32]

May 27, 2011

Timothy F. Ball was one of fourteen Amici, described as “well-qualified climate scientists,” who claimed that the “EPA's endangerment finding is not 'rational' and therefore arbitrary and capricious.” [33]

According to the petitioners, representing the Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc.:

“[T]he Earth's climate is not changing in an unusual or anomalous fashion. The EPA relied on instrumental data that were adjusted to exaggerate the increase in global temperatures.” [33]

Petitioners listed were:

Feb 2, 2011

Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria Professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modeling and Analysis, filed suit for libel against Tim Ball. [31]

The suit arose from an article Ball wrote for Canada Free Press which accused Weaver of being uninformed about climate and unqualified to teach. Documents attached (.pdf). [34]

October, 2009

Ball appeared as a “climatologist” in a documentary produced by Alex Jones titled The Fall of the Republic: The Presidency of Barack H. Obama. [35]

March, 2008

Ball was a speaker at the Heartland Institute's First International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC1). [30]

His speech, titled “Climate Change is a Generalist Discipline” can be viewed below.

March 8, 2007

Tim Ball made a prominent appearance on the Great Global Warming Swindle, appearing as an “eminent scientist.” [36]

Nov 10, 2007

In a 2007 FCPP special report, Tim Ball and Tom Harris criticized The Fifth Estate's broadcast of The Denial Machine, describing it as “docu-ganda.” Ball claimed that he was filmed without his consent. [37], [38]

Ball also asserted that The Denial Machine violated CBC's “Journalistic Standards and Practices.” He further accused the CBC of misrepresenting the credentials of skeptical scientists. [37]

Sept 1, 2006

On September 1st, Ball launched a libel suit against Dr. Dan Johnson and the Calgary Herald over a letter the paper ran on April 23, 2006. Johnson is a Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Lethbridge. Original documents below: [39], [40]

Ball had written an article that attacked the qualifications of renowned climate change author Tim Flannery, in which the Herald described Ball as “the first climatology PhD in Canada and … a professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg for 28 years.”



Johnson's letter to the editor challenged those details, noting that when Ball received his PhD (in Geography) in 1983, “Canada already had PhDs in climatology and it is important to recognize them and their research.” Johnson also pointed out that Ball had been a professor for a much shorter time (Ball later admitted eight years), during which Ball did “not show any evidence of research regarding climate and atmosphere.” [41]

The Calgary Herald's Statement of Defence, filed with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, dismissed Ball’s credibility saying that “The Plantiff (Dr. Ball) is viewed as a paid promoter of the agenda of the oil and gas industry rather than as a practicing scientist.” [42]

Ball subsequently dropped his lawsuit. [43]

Affiliations

Publications

A search of 22,000 academic journals shows that over the course of his career Ball published four pieces of original research in peer-reviewed journals on the subject of climate change.

According to Google Scholar, his most recent peer-reviewed article on climate change was published in 1986, titled “Historical evidence and climatic implications of a shift in the boreal forest tundra transition in central Canada.” [50]

Other Publications:

Journal Background: In a 1995 article written by Paul Thacker, Energy and Environment was described as being a journal skeptics can go to when they are rejected by the mainstream peer-reviewed science publications.

Tim Ball is a prolific writer of newspaper articles, opinion pieces, and letters to the editor questioning the existence of climate change. [51]

Ball is also a lead author of Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory, a book published in 2011. [52]

Resources

Other Resources