Powell served 12 years on the
National Science Board and recently retired as executive director of Graduate Fellowships for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Diversity.[1]
His book, Night Comes to the Cretaceous, explores the scientific debate regarding
dinosaur extinction. In Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences, Powell addresses dinosaur extinction in addition to three other scientific debates:
deep time,
continental drift and
global warming.
Powell has posited that the scientific consensus on
global warming nears universality and he actively counters
climate change denialism in his research and other publications.
Powell began his career at
Oberlin College in 1962 where he held the position of chair of the geology department from 1965 to 1973. He became the associate dean of arts and science in 1973, then vice president and provost in 1975.[2] After serving two years as a visiting administrator at
Stanford University, Powell returned to Oberlin to serve as its acting president from 1981 to 1983.[3]
CSI fellow and executive council member, astronomer
David Morrison, has commented on the case and agrees with Boslough's position. Two other prominent critics of the Comet Research Group are planetary scientists
Clark Chapman and
Alan Harris. Both became CSI Fellows in 2024, cited for "…their distinguished contributions to science and skepticism."
On February 15, 2023, the following editor's note was posted on the Bunch et al. paper: "Readers are alerted that concerns raised about the data presented and the conclusions of this article are being considered by the Editors. A further editorial response will follow the resolution of these issues."[14]
Debate on climate change consensus
Powell has researched the scientific consensus view of anthropogenic
global warming (AGW) in a series of studies evaluating the peer-reviewed literature. In 2012, Powell reviewed 13,950 peer-reviewed publications between 1991 and 2012 with "global warming" or "global climate change" as keywords. Evaluating this dataset, Powell showed a 99.97% scientific consensus view supporting AGW.[17][18] In 2016, Powell duplicated this method on articles published during 2013 and 2014. In this set, Powell found a 99.99% consensus "verging on unanimity" by the scientific community.[19]
While agreeing that the consensus on AGW is high, other scientists argued ca 2010-2013 that the consensus is closer to 97%.[20][21] The debate centers around the selection of scientific papers identified as supporting AGW and therefore included in the study.[22] For example, in their 2013 study,
Cook et al. excluded 66.4% of the papers examined because the abstracts did not endorse AGW either explicitly or implicitly.[20] Powell reviewed the abstracts of hundreds of articles on plate tectonics, evolution, and impact cratering to show that scientists almost never directly affirm the ruling paradigm of their discipline. On that basis, Powell included papers in the study as long as the abstracts did not explicitly reject AGW.[19]
Powell has further argued that the extent of the scientific consensus is important. In The Consensus on Anthropogenic Warming Matters Powell argues that the "stronger the public believe the consensus to be, the more they support the action on global warming that human society so desperately needs." This metastudy included 54,195 publications from five earlier studies by Powell and others demonstrating that the scientific consensus on AGW is 99.94%.[23]
In November 2019, Powell published "Scientists Reach 100% Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming."[24] He reviewed over 11,600 peer-reviewed articles published in the first seven months of 2019 but found none that rejected anthropogenic global warming.
Views and scientific activism
Powell has encouraged scientists to do more than publish in scientific journals. "I think it’s time for scientists to get up from the lab bench and speak out." Concerning the consequences of global warming, Powell said: "I want my grandchildren to be able to say... he did something. He tried to do something."[25]
There is no scientific debate regarding the existence of AGW according to Powell. Through his research and other publications Powell has criticized politicians and others who defy the scientific consensus by denying AGW. [25][19][26]
In a self-published 2020 book,[29] Powell defended the controversial
Younger Dryas impact hypothesis which has been rejected by the mainstream scientific community. In 2022 he published a paper in the journal Scientific Progress, writing that this scientific rejection was premature.[30] His concerns have been critiqued in a comprehensive review of the literature on this subject [31]
Recognition
Powell is the recipient of several honorary degrees.
Oberlin College awarded Powell an honorary doctorate of science in 1983. The
Tohoku Gakuin University of Japan honored Powell with a Doctor of Humane Letters in 1986.
Beaver College and
Berea College (his alma mater) have also honored Powell with honorary degrees.[2][32]
Powell, James Lawrence (1998). Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Dinosaur Extinction and the Transformation of Modern Geology. W.H. Freeman.
ISBN0716731177.
Powell, James Lawrence (2006). Grand Canyon: Solving Earth's Grandest Puzzle. Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated.
ISBN0452287871.
Powell, James Lawrence (2008). Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
ISBN978-0520254770.
Powell, James Lawrence (2011). The Inquisition of Climate Science]. Columbia University Press.
ISBN978-0231527842.
Powell, James Lawrence (2011b). 2084: An Oral History of the Great Warming. J.L. Powell.
OCLC958939329.
Powell, James Lawrence (2014). Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences: From Heresy to Truth. Columbia University Press.
ISBN978-0231538459.
Scott, Thomas R.; Powell, James L. (2018). The Universe as it Really Is: Earth, Space, Matter, and Time. Columbia University Press.
ISBN9780231184946.
Powell, James Lawrence (2020). Deadly Voyager: The Ancient Comet Strike that Changed Earth and Human History.
ISBN9780578666778. (Amazon Kindle book)
Powell, James Lawrence (2023). Unlocking the Moon's Secrets: From Galileo to Giant Impact. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197694862.
^Lawrence Powell, James (2022-03-19).
"Powell CSI Resignation".
Archived from the original on 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2022-05-04. I hereby resign from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Please inform the members of the committee of my resignation. My reason is the publication of Mark Boslough's recent article in Skeptical Inquirer. It violates nearly every tenet of proper skepticism as defined by CSICOP and CSI.
^
abcPowell, James Lawrence (2015). "Climate Scientists Virtually Unanimous: Anthropogenic Global Warming Is True". Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. 35 (5–6): 121–124.
doi:
10.1177/0270467616634958.
^Powell, James Lawrence (2017-05-24). "The Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming Matters". Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. 36 (3): 157–163.
doi:
10.1177/0270467617707079.
S2CID148618842.
^Powell, J. (2019). Scientists Reach 100% Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0270467619886266