Global warming? Yeah, big whoop, wanna fight about it?

Here's MIT professor of meteorology Richard Lindzen writing in Newsweek:

Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it? Recently many people have said that the earth is facing a crisis requiring urgent action. This statement has nothing to do with science. There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe.

Of course, anybody who dares to question the Al Gore viewpoint on climate change must surely be on Exxon's payroll. So it's a telling that Newsweek feels it necessary to conclude the article with this special disclaimer:

Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research has always been funded exclusively by the U.S. government. He receives no funding from any energy companies.

Yeah, but he probably doesn't recycle.