Last night, Czech President Vaclav Klaus delivered a keynote address at a conference aimed at bringing about about a real debate on global warming.  Sponsored by the Heartland Institute, the three day conference is entitled, “Global Warming:Was It Ever Really A Crisis?”

The mainstream media has all but ignored the entire conference, but those that did report, namely The Guardian, immediatly skewed their pieces to defame anyone in attendance.  The first line in The Guardian’s story reads:

It is billed as the largest ever gathering of climate change deniers, a convention that kicked off last night with a title suggesting global warming is a thing of the past…

First, it has only been billed as the largest gathering of climate change deniers by the mainstream media.  The actual billing straight from the Heartland Institute’s site reads:

The world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming skeptics will assemble Sunday in New York City to confront the issue, “Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?”

The change from skeptics to deniers is a huge change, with a much more negative slant to it, evoking those other famous deniers - holocaust deniers.  Think this is absurd?

In 2007, Ellen Goodman of The Boston Globe wrote an op-ed, stating:

I would like to say we’re at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.

Gore has repeatedly used the term “climate change deniers,” which immediately casts anyone questioning the man-made global warming line in a highly suspicious light with the holocaust deniers.  Even if that is too much of a stretch, it simply isn’t accurate anyway.

No one offering intelligent dissent denies that the climate is changing - the climate is always changing. It always has and always will.  In the past the Earth has been much hotter than it is now, and much colder.  They do not deny that there have been periods of global warming throughout the Earth’s history, but they are highly skeptical of human’s ability to impact that change.

Later on in the Guardian piece, author Suzanne Goldberg writes:

Environmentalists argue that climate change denial, although the view of a minority, has damaged efforts to introduce policies to address the changes.

The terminology here is incredibly important here.  Anyone who does deny climate change is happening is wrong.  Absolutely 100% wrong.  Again, there has always been climate change and always will be.  These subtle ways are how the dissenters are denounced so that they don’t have to actually be debated.

On his blog report from the conference, Tom Nelson nicely sums up the speakers:

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.

What does The Guardian have to say about the credentials of those involved?

…a guest list that includes a hurricane forecaster, a retired astronaut and a sitting European president.

Yup, that’s all.   It is much easier to denounce than debate.

Sources: The Guardian - Czech leader joins meeting of climate change deniers March 9, 2009

The Boston Globe - No change in political climate February 9, 2007

Last month the Japan Society of Energy and Resources (JSER) released a major report that concluded global warming is not man-made.  Since then no major western media outlet has reported on the story.  British based website The Register commissioned a translation of the report, and key passages are available on their site.

The JSER is an academic society representing scientists from the energy and resource fields.  They act as a government advisory panel, much like the IPCC to the UN .  Yet the findings of the two groups could not be any more different.

The JSER report greatly criticized computer climate modeling, saying the U.S. temperature data set used to back man-made global warming is too nearsighted.

Kanya Kusano , program director and group leader for the Earth Simulator at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology , said climate research conducted by global warming scientists is “immature,” likening it to ancient astrology.

“Climate models are still in the phase of reliance on trial and error experiential models. There are still no successful precedents,” he writes. “[The IPCC’s] conclusion that from now on atmospheric temperatures are likely to show a continuous, monotonic increase, should be perceived as an unprovable hypothesis.”

The report states that recent warming has primarily acted as a “recovery” from the “little ice age” that occured around 1400-1800, and say it is part of a natural cycle.  Their conclusion holds that global warming has been due to solar activity, which the IPCC has dismissed.

Shunichi Akasofu , head of the International Arctic Research Center in Alaska , challenged the assertion that recent temperatures represent anything but a natural cycle:

“We should be cautious, IPCC’s theory that atmospheric temperature has risen since 2000 in correspondence with CO2 is nothing but a hypothesis.” Akasofu goes on to say “Before anyone noticed, this hypothesis has been substituted for truth… The opinion that great disaster will really happen must be broken.”

Sources: Infowars - Top Japanese Scientists: Warming is not caused by human activity February 27, 2009

World Net Daily - ‘Global warming’ data called ‘ancient astrology’ February 26, 2009

The Register - Japan’s boffins: Global Warming isn’t man-made February 25, 2009

The above graph, courtesy of the National Snow and Data Center shows “Daily total Arctic sea ice extent between 1 December 2008 and 12 February 2009 for Special Sensor Microwave/Imager SSM/I compared to the similar NASA Earth Observing System Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (EOS AMSR-E) sensor.” What that means is that reports we have received about Arctic sea ice during that period underestimated the amount of ice by 193,000 square miles, roughly the size of California.

The mistake was caused by a glitch in satellite sensors that scientists refer to as “sensor drift.”  According to the NSIDC, “Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality- control measures prior to archiving the data.  Although we believe that data prior to early January are reliable, we will conduct a full quality check.’’

The Center normally uses Department of Defense (the blue line in the above graph) satellites for their data, rather than more reliable NASA ones (the red lines above) because the DOD’s have a longer period of historical data, allowing for more long term studies.

Sea ice is used as a measure of how temperture changes affect the Earth, and is one of the cornerstones of the global warming movement.  Last August, data from the NSIDC actually showed a dramatic increase of 434,000 square miles, which is more than twice the size of Germany.

Compared to the data from August 2007, the Artic ice actually grew about 13%, despite the dire predictions. Sorry Al.

Sources: Bloomberg - Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for weeks due to Faulty Sensor February 20, 2009

DailyTech - Arctic sees massive gain in ice coverage September 3, 2008

Harrison Schmitt , former astronaut and U.S. Senator, has openly declared his dissent from the theory of man-made global warming, saying, “I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect.”

Schmitt, 74, is scheduled to speak at the International Conference on Climate Change being held next month in New York.  He was invited to speak when orgainizers heard he had resigned from The Planetary Society , a non-profit focused on space exploration, after they blamed humans for global warming.

Schmitt received his science degree from the California Instutute of Technology, studied geology at the University of Oslo in Norway, and received a doctorate in geology from Harvard.  He said that science has gotten mixed up with politics, severely undermining the debate - “It’s one of the few times you’ve seen a sizable portion of scientists who ought to be objective take a political position and it’s coloring their objectivity.”

Meanwhile, James Hansen, leader of the global warming fear monger camp, declared in last sunday’s Guardian that “coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.”  In a rant far removed from the objectivity needed for valid science, he also refers to trains carrying coal as “death trains” and coal-fired power plants as “factories of death.”

While this may seem a little, this is actually toned down rhetoric from when he spoke in front of the Iowa Utilities Board in 2007:

If we cannot stop the building of more coal-fired power plants, those coal trains will be death trains - no less gruesome than if they were boxcars headed to crematoria, loaded with uncountable irreplaceable species.

 The idea of conjuring up images of Nazi death camps in order to push a “scientific” agenda should be offensive to even the most ardent man-made global warming fanatics.  Let us have an honest debate over the science, but there is simply no place for this nonsense on any side.

Sources: Boston Herald - Former astronaut speaks out on global warming February 15, 2009

The Guardian - Coal-fired power stations are death factories.  Close them.   February 15, 2009

Direct Testimony of James E. Hansen before the Iowa Utitilies Board 11/05/2007

Dr. John S. Theon , a former supervisor of James Hansen at NASA , declared himself a global warming skeptic.  He said Hansen’s activity promoting man-made global warming “embarrassed NASA” and that he was “never muzzled.”

Theon wrote, “I appreciate the opportunity to add my name to those who disagree that global warming is man-made…I was, in effect, Hansen’s supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results. I did not have the authority to give him his annual performance evaluation.”

Hansen runs the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, and has been one of Al Gore’s chief allies in pushing man-made global warming.  Last summer Hansen declared he wanted trials for oil company CEOs and possibly Congressmen who were skeptics.

Theon continued, “Hansen was never muzzled even though he violated NASA’s official agency position on climate forecasting (i.e., we did not know enough to forecast climate change or mankind’s effect on it). Hansen thus embarrassed NASA by coming out with his claims of global warming in 1988 in his testimony before Congress.” 

Explaining his qualifications behind his skepticism of anthropogenic climate change, Theon said, “As Chief of several of NASA Headquarters’ programs (1982-94), an SES position, I was responsible for all weather and climate research in the entire agency, including the  research work by James Hansen, Roy Spencer, Joanne Simpson, and several hundred other scientists at NASA field centers, in academia, and in the private sector who worked on climate research.”

Theon added his name to the growing list of the 650+ international scientists skeptical of man-made global warming who have signed on to the U.S. Senate Minority Report that was released last December.  Here is Senator James Inhofe welcoming his addition to the list -

A brief bio of Theon’s work and qualifications -

Education: B.S. Aero. Engr. (1953-57); Aerodynamicist, Douglas Aircraft Co. (1957-58); As USAF Reserve Officer (1958-60),B.S. Meteorology (1959); Served as Weather Officer 1959-60; M.S, Meteorology (1960-62); NASA Research Scientist, Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (1962-74); Head Meteorology Branch, GSFC (1974-76); Asst. Chief, Lab. for Atmos. Sciences, GSFC (1977-78);  Program Scientist, NASA Global Weather Research Program, NASA Hq. (1978-82); Chief, Atmospheric Dynamics & Radiation Branch NASA Hq., (1982-91); Ph.D.,  Engr. Science & Mech.: course of study and dissertation in atmos. science (1983-85); Chief, Atmospheric Dynamics, Radiation, & Hydrology Branch, NASA Hq. (1991-93); Chief, Climate Processes Research Program, NASA Hq. (1993-94); Senior Scientist, Mission to Planet Earth Office, NASA Hq. (1994-95); Science Consultant, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (1995-99); Science Consultant  Orbital Sciences Corp. (1996-97) and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab., (1997-99).  

Sources: Inhofe EPW Press Blog - James Hansen’s Former NASA Supervisor Declares Himself a Skeptic January 27, 2009  

The Guardian - Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist June 23, 2008

A new scientific study tells us that since the 1950s, Antarctica’s freezing temperatures have risen about 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.8 F).  As Reuters reported, “The scientists wrote that the Antarctic warming was ‘difficult to explain’ without linking it to manmade emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels.”

However, that might not be true.  An article published on the website of the journal Nature Geoscience reports that scientists have discovered a still active volcano underneath Antarctica’s ice.  The report, by Hugh F. J. Corr and David G. Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey , details the identification of a layer of volcanic ash and glass shards frozen within a sheet of ice in western Antarctica.

Dr. Vaughan stated that for Antarctica, “This is the first time we have seen a volcano beneath the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice sheet.”  He went on to say that heat from a volcano could currently still be melting ice and thinning the Pine Island Glacier.  However, he does believe that warmer oceans are still the primary cause.

The volcano is estimated to have erupted sometime around 325 BC, shooting up through hundreds of yards of ice above it.  They say it was similar to an under-ice eruption in Iceland in 2004.

It is important to note that the layer they now identified showed up in radar surveys done in 2004 and 2005, but it was mistakenly identified as bedrock.  Isn’t it possible then that there are other volcanoes or natural phenomena yet to be discovered that is affecting melting?  It seems that anytime temperatures are found to have risen anywhere, we immediately jump to man-made emissions as the cause.

Let us keep an open debate on these issues and not follow the hysteria.  Are we damaging the planet?  Of course we are, but are we dramatically altering the planet’s climate to the degree that we are headed for the imminent ecological apocalypse that we so often hear about?

A great deal of what is done under the banner of “environmentalism” is a joke.  Just last week, James Lovelock , the originator of the Gaia theory (the earth is essentially a self-regulating organism), had this to say: “Most of the “green” stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It’s not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it’ll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning.”

Lovelock can be considered one of the earliest environmentalists and it was his work on atmospheric chloroflurocarbons that eventually led to the global CFC ban.  It is clear he is in the man-made global warming camp, but he is objective enough to see the nonsense of so many of its proponents.  Let the real debate begin.

Sources: Reuters - Antarctica is warming, not cooling January 21, 2009 

The New York Times - Scientists find active volcano in Antarctica January 21, 2009

New Scientists - One last chance to save mankind January 23, 2009

Nature Geoscience - A recent volcanic eruption beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet January 20, 2009

Dr. William Happer , an award winning physicist at Princeton University, requested to add his dissent to the U.S. Senate Minority Report that already has 650+ international scientists arguing against the theory of man-made global warming .  “I am convinced that the current alarm over carbon dioxide is mistaken,” Happer stated.

Happer has published over 200 scientific papers and was the former director of Energy Research at the Department of Energy from 1990-93.  He is a fellow of the American Physical Society , American Association for the Advancement of Science , and the National Academy of Sciences .  He said he was fired by Al Gore for refusing to go along with his alarmism over fears of man-made global warming.

This week he stated, “I have spent a long research career studying physics that is closely related to the greenhouse effect, for example, absorption and emission of visible and infrared radiation, and fluid flo.  Fears about man-made global warming are unwarranted and are not based on good science. The earth’s climate is changing now, as it always has. There is no evidence that the changes differ in any qualitative way from those of the past.” 

“Over the past 500 million years since the Cambrian, when fossils of multicellular life first became abundant, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been much higher than current levels, about 3 times higher on average.  Life on earth flourished with these higher levels of carbon dioxide.  Computer models used to generate frightening scenarios from increasing levels of carbon dioxide have scant credibility.”

Others recently joining the report include meteorologists from Germany, Netherlands, and CNN, along with professors from MIT and the University of Arizona.

Source - EPW Press Blog - Prominent Scientist Fired by Gore Says Warming Alarm ‘Mistaken’ December 22, 2008

More voices for an open and honest debate.  Why do we so easily accept what we’re told?  If the case for man-made global warming is so air tight, let us rationally discuss it. The earth’s climate has always been in a state of flux, with periods much colder than now and much warmer than now.

Let us always listen to the dissenting voices - if we disagree with then we should be able to back up our arguments.  If cannot back up our arguments, perhaps we need to reevaluate what we think we know.

Despite the fact that the number of scientists questioning man-made global warming is continually growing, Al Gore continues to call his pet issue “the equivalent of a five-alarm fire that has to be addressed immediately.”  During last week’s UN Climate Change Summit in Poland, few news outlets even mentioned the U.S. Senate Minority Report, which presents 650 prominent international scientists dissenting from the generally accepted science.

While Obama tells us, “The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years,” he has joined Al Gore in silencing any rational debate over global warming.  The issue is not just if the earth is warming, but, more importantly, why and how.  But is it even warming?

According to the National Climatic Data Center, 2008 is on track to be the coolest year in a decade.  Climatologist Dr. Richard Keen of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado tells us “Earth has cooled since 1998 in defiance of the predictions by the UN-IPCC…. The global temperature for 2007 was the coldest in a decade and the coldest of the millennium … which is why ‘global warming’ is now called ‘climate change.’”

The news also failed to report that over 31,000 U.S. scientists signed the Global Warming Petition Project, “the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind.”

Perhaps it is possible that human-created greenhouses gases has severely altered the Earth’s climate.  But that is highly doubtful.  However, if we declare the debate over, there is no way to really know.  There has never been and never will be an idea is so dangerous that it cannot be debated.

Obama has already said he plans mandatory caps on carbon emissions and a new global warming treaty - all based on incomplete evidence.  The UN is a POLITICAL NOT a SCIENTIFIC body.  While they claim 2,500 as the magic number of scientists who support their claim that humans are the primary cause of global warming, those 2,500 were only asked to review the science, NOT support it.  Of those, only 62 completed the review, and of those 55 had serious concerns.

And the debate is over?

Sources - Calgary Herald -  The so-called consensus on global warming is melting December 19, 2008

Baltimore Examiner -  An inconvenient truth: The Earth is cooling December 23, 2008

The New American - Scientists Challenge Global Warming “Crisis” December 16, 2008