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The controversial head of the Oregon Climate Service-stripped of the "state climatologist" title last year by Gov.Ted Kulongoski-announced today that he will retire effective May 1. In February 2007, Kulongoski asked the president of Oregon State University to stop George Taylor from calling himself the state climatologist because of Taylor's skeptical stance on global warming.Taylor, who has a master's degree in meteorology and runs the state-funded Oregon Climate Service, has been widely known as Oregon's state climatologist since 1991. Technically, however, the position was discontinued along with federal funding in the late 1980s. The climate service tracks weather and generates maps from its offices at OSU."I'm walking out voluntarily-it's good timing for me,'' Taylor, 60, said this morning. "I'm going out willingly."Taylor said he believes climate change is a combination of natural factor and human factors. "I don't deny that human activities affect climate change," he said "But I believe up to now, natural variations have played a more important role than human activities."Those views didn't sit well with Kulongoski, who believes the science increasingly points to human activity as the most likely cause of global warming. He has appointed task forces of well-known Oregon scientists and business leaders to advise him on climate change.The Climate Change Research Institute will be housed in the same offices used by Taylor. The Oregon Climate Service website will be maintained by OSU's Caddie Hale, Taylor said...Taylor said he will continue to work as an independent consultant, with an emphasis on extreme precipitation and precipitation analysis at his home in Corvallis.He said he has nothing but fond memories of his 19 years at OSU. "There have been a lot of nice, supportive people,'' he said. "It's been fun."Stuart Tomlinson
As in the days of Noah....
