Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen (born 1942) is an

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in the Department of

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

at the

University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south- ...

England, where she taught

environmental policy Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem ma ...

, management and politics. She was editor of the journal ''

Energy & Environment ''Energy & Environment'' is an academic journal "covering the direct and indirect environmental impacts of energy acquisition, transport, production and use".

'' from 1998 to 2017.

Early life and education

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen was born in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

. In 1956, she moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia, where she obtained a BA with Honours in

Geomorphology Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...

from

Adelaide University The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on ...

while also studying climatology, geology, physical geography and German literature. She moved again to England in 1969 and later attended the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

where she first obtained an MA followed by a DPhil in International Relations in 1981. Her doctoral thesis was titled, ''Limits to the international control of marine pollution''.

Career

Boehmer-Christiansen joined the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex in 1985, working for a decade as a Research Fellow and then later as a visiting fellow. Since the mid-1990s she had taught environmental policy, management and politics in the Geography Department at the University of Hull. As an Emeritus Reader she still works from the University of Hull's Geography Department. She is a past member of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future Stakeholder may refer to: *Stakeholder (corporate), a group, corporate, organization, member, or system that affects or can be affected by an organization's actions *Project stakeholder, a person, group, or organization with an interest in a proje ...

Views on climate change

When asked about the publication in the Spring of 2003 of a revised version of the paper at the center of the Soon and Baliunas controversy, Boehmer-Christiansen said, "I'm following my political agenda -- a bit, anyway. But isn't that the right of the editor?" Boehmer-Christiansen has been a critic of climate models saying they are based on data that cannot be verified. In 2006, she signed an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

urging him to open the

Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...

to debate by holding balanced, comprehensive public-consultation sessions on the Canadian government's climate change plans. She describes herself as agnostic on whether humans are causing

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, and believes its negative aspects to be politically exaggerated.

Third-party views

According to

Fred Pearce Fred Pearce (born 30 December 1951) is an English science writer and public speaker based in London. He reports on the environment, popular science and development issues. He specialises in global environmental issues, including water and clim ...

, Boehmer-Christiansen is a

sceptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

about

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but ac ...

and

and calls the science reports produced by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ...

"political constructs." Pearce, Fred, ''The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming'', (2010)

Guardian Books ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

, , p. XIV. ''The Guardian'' reported that Boehmer-Christiansen published – against the recommendations of a

reviewer A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indic ...

– a paper in ''

Energy & Environment ''Energy & Environment'' is an academic journal "covering the direct and indirect environmental impacts of energy acquisition, transport, production and use".

'' claiming that the Sun is made of iron.

Selected publications

;Books * * * ;Journal articles * * * *

References

External links

What inspired you? – Dr Sonja A Boehmer-Christiansen

Key challenges for the next generation – Dr Sonja A Boehmer-Christiansen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boehmer-Christiansen, Sonja 1942 births Living people Alumni of the University of Sussex Academics of the University of Hull British geographers German emigrants to Australia Academic journal editors Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom