Report from the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change
By Tom Nelson
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change enjoyed a rousing opening night in New York City today, with a capacity crowd and multiple standing ovations for keynote speakers Vaclav Klaus and Richard Lindzen. The world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming skeptics assembles Sunday, March 8 through Tuesday, March 10 to confront the issue, “Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?”
"What we are trying to accomplish with this conference is to present to the politicians and to the public that the debate is not over about global warming or climate change; that there is plenty of room for disagreement; and that sound science shows that the earth is not warming," said Dan Miller. Miller is director of public relations for The Heartland Institute, who is hosting the event along with about 59 co-sponsors.
Miller said: "For much of the latter part of the 20th century there's been a mild warming as we come out of an ice age -- but the planet today is much cooler than it was a thousand years ago."
This is the second major international conference devoted to answering questions overlooked by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A diverse, much larger audience of about 700 people, including scientists, economists, elected officials, public policy experts from around the world is attending this year. About 100 journalists are expected to come through over the course of the next couple of days; near real-time updates are also available on the Internet via Twitter updates (hash tag #iccc09) and blog postings.
The event demonstrates once again the breadth and high quality of support that the “skeptical” perspective on climate change enjoys. About 80 speakers representing Brazil, Canada, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Israel, the United States, and more are on the schedule, with US speaker affiliations including Wharton, MIT, George Mason, NOAA, NASA, and US Dept of Energy. The roster of speakers has hundreds of peer-reviewed papers to its credit, with listed credentials including physicist, astrophysicist, astronaut, state climatologist, meteorologist, geologist, climate modeler, carbon accountant, economist, politician, hydrologist, environmentalist, paleoclimatologist, oceanographer, insects and infectious disease expert, Nobel prize-winning IPCC member, and founder of the Weather Channel.
Joseph Bast of Heartland talked about Copenhagen Consensus 2008, which considered 30 solutions to global challenges and ranked them according to desirability, based on cost and benefit. Global warming mitigation ranked dead last, far behind things like micronutrient supplements, immunization for children, lowering the cost of schooling, malaria prevention and treatment, etc.
Bast also quoted Dr. Fred Singer, one of the many distinguished scientists at the conference. Singer asks in the preface to the upcoming report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, “Why have the IPCC reports been marred by controversy and so frequently contradicted by subsequent research? Certainly its agenda to find evidence of a human role in climate change is a major reason; its organization as a government entity beholden to political agendas is another major reason; and the large professional and financial rewards that go to scientists and bureaucrats who are willing to bend scientific facts to match those agendas is yet a third major reason.”
Václav Klaus, president of the European Union and of the Czech Republic and author of "Blue Planet in Green Shackles" gave a powerful keynote address entitled "No Progress in the Climate Change Debate". He spoke of a closed session at the World Economic Forum in Davos a few weeks ago, with several IPCC officials and “experts” like Al Gore, Tony Blair and Kofi Annan in attendance. Klaus said that "All the participants of the meeting took man-made global warming for granted, were convinced of its dangerous consequences and more or less competed in one special discipline – whether to suggest a 20, 30, 50 or 80% CO2 emissions cut as an agreed-upon, world-wide project."
Klaus said that the IPCC Summaries for Policymakers "do not represent science, but politics and environmental activism". He then attacked the "consensus" view of climate science, maintaining that for a doubling of global carbon dioxide concentration, the global average surface temperature will increase by not more than about 0.5 degrees Celsius.
His remarks touched on the "very powerful" rent-seekers supporting climate hysteria, and he mentioned the drawbacks of relying on unproductive wind and sun and highly subsidized energy. Klaus noted that "environmentalism is an ideology, not a science" and said that the climate alarmists don't want to change the climate; rather, they want to change us and our behavior. Klaus finished by stating that environmentalists claim to be saving the planet – but from what and from whom? We have to save it - and us - from them.
MIT climatologist Richard S. Lindzen gave a very interesting speech entitled "Climate Alarm: What We Are Up Against, and What to Do" . For scientists, he noted that "endorsing global warming just makes their lives easier". Lindzen said for a "basically political" movement like global warming, an important task is to coopt the sources of authority, which the global warming movement has done with great success.
Lindzen pointed out that most funding for climate science would not be there without the global warming issue. It’s become standard that "whatever you’re studying, include global warming’s effects in your proposal" and you’ll get your funding.
Turning to the science itself, Lindzen said that the greenhouse "blanket" in models has been exaggerated by a factor of seven, and maintained that the Earth's system is behaving as if it has a very strong negative feedback.
Lindzen charged that flat global temperatures since 1995 have proven that the assumptions of the IPCC were wrong, and that denying this must represent either “gross ignorance or grosser dishonesty.”. When it comes to global warming hysteria, Lindzen said, neither has been in short supply.
Following the keynote speeches was a spirited question-and-answer session. Responding to a questioner who pointed out growing public skepticism about global warming alarm, Klaus said that a recent poll showed that only 11% of Czechs believe that man can influence global warming. Later, Klaus mentioned that he won reelection last year with everyone very aware of his views on global warming.
The event continues Monday morning starting at 7am, with nearly 50 speakers lined up. They include Harrison "Jack" Schmitt -- one of the last astronauts to walk on the moon; Lawrence Solomon, author of "The Deniers"; Ross McKitrick and Steve McIntyre, credited with debunking the infamous "hockey stick"; British MEP Roger Helmer; meteorologist Anthony Watts of the widely read Watts Up With That blog; Israel's Nir Shaviv, most well-known for his solar and cosmic rays hypothesis of climate change; and prominent climatologist and climate realist Patrick Michaels.
There is great energy surrounding this conference, as many people meet other climate realists in person for the first time, maybe after first connecting via blog postings or emails. A lot of skeptics seemed to share a similar story: believing in climate alarmism at first, then becoming highly skeptical after checking out the evidence for themselves. As more and more people inevitably head down this path, it seems that the ultimate failure of the alarmist agenda is assured, with the only question being how much damage is done in the meantime.
By Tom Nelson
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change enjoyed a rousing opening night in New York City today, with a capacity crowd and multiple standing ovations for keynote speakers Vaclav Klaus and Richard Lindzen. The world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming skeptics assembles Sunday, March 8 through Tuesday, March 10 to confront the issue, “Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?”
"What we are trying to accomplish with this conference is to present to the politicians and to the public that the debate is not over about global warming or climate change; that there is plenty of room for disagreement; and that sound science shows that the earth is not warming," said Dan Miller. Miller is director of public relations for The Heartland Institute, who is hosting the event along with about 59 co-sponsors.
Miller said: "For much of the latter part of the 20th century there's been a mild warming as we come out of an ice age -- but the planet today is much cooler than it was a thousand years ago."
This is the second major international conference devoted to answering questions overlooked by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A diverse, much larger audience of about 700 people, including scientists, economists, elected officials, public policy experts from around the world is attending this year. About 100 journalists are expected to come through over the course of the next couple of days; near real-time updates are also available on the Internet via Twitter updates (hash tag #iccc09) and blog postings.
The event demonstrates once again the breadth and high quality of support that the “skeptical” perspective on climate change enjoys. About 80 speakers representing Brazil, Canada, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Israel, the United States, and more are on the schedule, with US speaker affiliations including Wharton, MIT, George Mason, NOAA, NASA, and US Dept of Energy. The roster of speakers has hundreds of peer-reviewed papers to its credit, with listed credentials including physicist, astrophysicist, astronaut, state climatologist, meteorologist, geologist, climate modeler, carbon accountant, economist, politician, hydrologist, environmentalist, paleoclimatologist, oceanographer, insects and infectious disease expert, Nobel prize-winning IPCC member, and founder of the Weather Channel.
Joseph Bast of Heartland talked about Copenhagen Consensus 2008, which considered 30 solutions to global challenges and ranked them according to desirability, based on cost and benefit. Global warming mitigation ranked dead last, far behind things like micronutrient supplements, immunization for children, lowering the cost of schooling, malaria prevention and treatment, etc.
Bast also quoted Dr. Fred Singer, one of the many distinguished scientists at the conference. Singer asks in the preface to the upcoming report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, “Why have the IPCC reports been marred by controversy and so frequently contradicted by subsequent research? Certainly its agenda to find evidence of a human role in climate change is a major reason; its organization as a government entity beholden to political agendas is another major reason; and the large professional and financial rewards that go to scientists and bureaucrats who are willing to bend scientific facts to match those agendas is yet a third major reason.”
Václav Klaus, president of the European Union and of the Czech Republic and author of "Blue Planet in Green Shackles" gave a powerful keynote address entitled "No Progress in the Climate Change Debate". He spoke of a closed session at the World Economic Forum in Davos a few weeks ago, with several IPCC officials and “experts” like Al Gore, Tony Blair and Kofi Annan in attendance. Klaus said that "All the participants of the meeting took man-made global warming for granted, were convinced of its dangerous consequences and more or less competed in one special discipline – whether to suggest a 20, 30, 50 or 80% CO2 emissions cut as an agreed-upon, world-wide project."
Klaus said that the IPCC Summaries for Policymakers "do not represent science, but politics and environmental activism". He then attacked the "consensus" view of climate science, maintaining that for a doubling of global carbon dioxide concentration, the global average surface temperature will increase by not more than about 0.5 degrees Celsius.
His remarks touched on the "very powerful" rent-seekers supporting climate hysteria, and he mentioned the drawbacks of relying on unproductive wind and sun and highly subsidized energy. Klaus noted that "environmentalism is an ideology, not a science" and said that the climate alarmists don't want to change the climate; rather, they want to change us and our behavior. Klaus finished by stating that environmentalists claim to be saving the planet – but from what and from whom? We have to save it - and us - from them.
MIT climatologist Richard S. Lindzen gave a very interesting speech entitled "Climate Alarm: What We Are Up Against, and What to Do" . For scientists, he noted that "endorsing global warming just makes their lives easier". Lindzen said for a "basically political" movement like global warming, an important task is to coopt the sources of authority, which the global warming movement has done with great success.
Lindzen pointed out that most funding for climate science would not be there without the global warming issue. It’s become standard that "whatever you’re studying, include global warming’s effects in your proposal" and you’ll get your funding.
Turning to the science itself, Lindzen said that the greenhouse "blanket" in models has been exaggerated by a factor of seven, and maintained that the Earth's system is behaving as if it has a very strong negative feedback.
Lindzen charged that flat global temperatures since 1995 have proven that the assumptions of the IPCC were wrong, and that denying this must represent either “gross ignorance or grosser dishonesty.”. When it comes to global warming hysteria, Lindzen said, neither has been in short supply.
Following the keynote speeches was a spirited question-and-answer session. Responding to a questioner who pointed out growing public skepticism about global warming alarm, Klaus said that a recent poll showed that only 11% of Czechs believe that man can influence global warming. Later, Klaus mentioned that he won reelection last year with everyone very aware of his views on global warming.
The event continues Monday morning starting at 7am, with nearly 50 speakers lined up. They include Harrison "Jack" Schmitt -- one of the last astronauts to walk on the moon; Lawrence Solomon, author of "The Deniers"; Ross McKitrick and Steve McIntyre, credited with debunking the infamous "hockey stick"; British MEP Roger Helmer; meteorologist Anthony Watts of the widely read Watts Up With That blog; Israel's Nir Shaviv, most well-known for his solar and cosmic rays hypothesis of climate change; and prominent climatologist and climate realist Patrick Michaels.
There is great energy surrounding this conference, as many people meet other climate realists in person for the first time, maybe after first connecting via blog postings or emails. A lot of skeptics seemed to share a similar story: believing in climate alarmism at first, then becoming highly skeptical after checking out the evidence for themselves. As more and more people inevitably head down this path, it seems that the ultimate failure of the alarmist agenda is assured, with the only question being how much damage is done in the meantime.
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2 comments:
Thank you Tom. Best wishes for the conference. Thank God there are people who are willing to expose the Al Gore/James Hansen nonsense. You are saving lives.
Thank you, that was a great post. It is nearly impossible to find objective reports on the conference, and I quoted you in my own post -
http://libertarianvegan.today.com/2009/03/09/czech-president-joins-meeting-of-climate-change-skeptics/
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