Retired Swedish Professor Attacks Maldivians; Believes he has Magic Powers

Nils-Axel Mörner, a retired Swedish professor, has frequently sought to smear the Maldives. He has frequently attacked Presidents Gayoom and Nasheed for their efforts to highlight the dangers climate change poses to the Maldives.

Mörner recently said rising sea levels, caused by melting ice caps and the thermal expansion of the warming ocean, was “the greatest lie ever told.”

This is despite the fact that 98% of all climate scientists say climate change is real and human emissions of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, are responsible.

Mörner has, on previous occasions, implied both President Gayoom and President Nasheed are ‘liars’ and that Maldivians are trying to trick the rest of the world into giving them money for seawalls.

But Mörner has come in for criticism in Europe, for allegedly accepting financial assistance from oil and coal companies, who have an interest in pretending climate change doesn’t exist.

Morner was a speaker at the American Heartland Institute’s 2010 International Conference on Climate Change. One of the main purposes of Heartland’s conference is to generate media attention to global warming skepticism.

The Conference is sponsored by numerous global warming skeptic organizations, and in 2009 the event’s sponsors collectively received over $47 million from oil companies and right-wing foundations.

Moreover, Mörner’s bizarre and un-scientific belief in ‘dowsing’ has also raised concerns in scientific circles.

According to Britain’s Guardian newspaper journalist and environment expert George Monbiot, Mörner believes he possesses magic powers and can find underground water and other deposits by using a ‘dowsing’ rod.

Morner claims to be an expert in “dowsing,” the practice of finding water, metals and gemstones through the use of a Y-shaped twig.