Michael James Salinger was born on 25 April 1947 and is a New Zealand climate change researcher and teacher who has worked for a range of universities in his home country and around the world.
17 Facts About Jim Salinger
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Jim Salinger was a senior climate scientist for a Crown Research Institute, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, and President of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology of the World Meteorological Organization.
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Jim Salinger has received several awards and other honours for his work with climate change and is involved in researching and monitoring past and current climate trends.
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Jim Salinger was involved in an employment dispute and elements of his theory and practice were at the centre of a case against NIWA.
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Jim Salinger worked for the Meteorological Service of New Zealand from 1982 until 1992, initially as the senior agricultural meteorologist, and later in the role of principal scientist, and from 1986 to 2010, was New Zealand's principal delegate to the World Meteorological Organization's Commission for Agricultural Meteorology.
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Between 2004 and 2007, Jim Salinger was an honorary associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Auckland and within that timeframe, became a principal scientist for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
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Jim Salinger was research associate for the Tasmanian Institute for Agriculture at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia in and is currently the international climate change expert for the Climate Reference Group, Queenstown New Zealand-Lakes District Council.
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The NIWA Annual Climate Summary, confirmed the concerns about the increase in temperature in New Zealand and Jim Salinger noted that the NIWA Seasonal Climate Outlook foreshadowed increased temperatures.
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Jim Salinger challenged this, noting that in the first year of the programme only 12 per cent were native trees, and "ideally 90 per cent of the trees planted would be native species as they store more carbon".
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In 2020, concerned with the lack of action on climate change during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jim Salinger worked with a group of climate activists to create a video calling for the New Zealand government to "put climate change at the forefront of every decision made".
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Jim Salinger expressed frustration at the lack of action by successive New Zealand governments in responding to climate change, noting that floods in Napier in 2020 highlighted the effects of weather-related disasters.
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Jim Salinger stressed the importance of actions such as agreeing to implement the Climate Change Commission's recommendations and providing support to farmers in switching to regenerative agriculture so that New Zealand will not be seen as a "global perpetrator because of their huge emissions".
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On 23 April 2009, Jim Salinger was dismissed by NIWA, ostensibly for breaching NIWA's media policy.
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Jim Salinger had represented NIWA to the public and media for many years and the dismissal caused a "wide public outcry" according to the Otago Daily Times.
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In late May 2009, Jim Salinger stated that mediation with NIWA over the dismissal had failed and that he would be lodging a claim with the Employment Relations Authority.
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On 23 January 2014, Jim Salinger stated that this "marked the end of a four-year epic saga of secretly-funded climate denial, harassment of scientists and tying-up of valuable government resources in New Zealand".
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Jim Salinger explained the background to the issue around the Seven-station New Zealand temperature series and how he felt this had been misrepresented by the Trust.