NPR interviews teenage global warming skeptic

Last June, I wrote about Kristen Byrnes, the then-15 year-old dynamo who has website full of postings which debunk some of the claims made by global warming alarmists all over the world.

NPR recently interviewed this smart young lady, now 16. Here’s a snippet:

Her Web site includes charts of temperature records, El Nino indexes, isotope measurements. Skeptics loved it: A 15-year-old attacking the mainstream scientific view.

“It took off like wildfire,” [stepdad] Mike says, “But that was nothing compared to when her Al Gore critique went up.”

Kristen had no fear. She took on Al Gore the Nobel laureate, Academy Award winner and former vice president. She went after Jim Hansen, one of NASA’s top climate scientists. E-mail poured in, mostly from skeptics happy a young person had taken up the cause.

“I got a letter in the mail on my birthday from a senator,” she says.

Someone runs off into another room to track it down and returns with an envelope from the office of Sen. James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican famous for calling global warming a hoax.

“Dear Kristen,” the letter begins. “Thank you so much for your letter and e-mail and for your kind words. I appreciate your help in the fight against global warming alarmism. You are a common sense young lady and an inspiration to me. I want you to keep up the good work. We are winning.”

Mainstream scientists would argue that many of the issues on her Web site are red herrings or have been put to rest β€” and Kristen did get emails from people challenging her science. But after a few exchanges, she says, her opponents backed down. “A few of them gave up and figured they can’t win against a 15-year-old,” she says. Mike laughs as she says this.

Go here to check out – and bookmark – her website. It’s so refreshing to see a teenager who isn’t afraid to challenge conventional wisdom, even when it’s coming from egomaniacal Nobel prize winners like The Goracle.

Keep up the good work, Kristen! :)

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