- Man made global warming is a dangerous con.
-
- The fact that TV news programs repeatedly show
steam-cooling- water-recovery-collection-towers deceptively to represent
CO2 emissions should be sufficient evidence for even the most dumbed-
down individual to see that somebody is desperate to con somebody.
-
- Today's big question is: are our "leaders"
being conned, or are they part of the con?
-
- "One of the penalties for not taking an interest
in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors".
--Plato 400BC
-
-
- The National Post Canada
- Don't fight, adapt
- We should give up futile attempts to combat climate change
-
- Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP/Getty Images
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN climate conference
in Bali.
-
- Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
- Dec. 13, 2007
-
- His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon
- Secretary-General, United Nations
- New York, N.Y.
-
- Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
-
- Re: UN climate conference taking the World in entirely
the wrong direction
-
- It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural
phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages. Geological, archaeological,
oral and written histories all attest to the dramatic challenges posed
to past societies from unanticipated changes in temperature, precipitation,
winds and other climatic variables. We therefore need to equip nations
to become resilient to the full range of these natural phenomena by promoting
economic growth and wealth generation.
-
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) has issued increasingly alarming conclusions about the climatic
influences of human-produced carbon dioxide (CO2), a non-polluting gas
that is essential to plant photosynthesis. While we understand the evidence
that has led them to view CO2 emissions as harmful, the IPCC's conclusions
are quite inadequate as justification for implementing policies that will
markedly diminish future prosperity. In particular, it is not established
that it is possible to significantly alter global climate through cuts
in human greenhouse gas emissions. On top of which, because attempts
to cut emissions will slow development, the current UN approach of CO2
reduction is likely to increase human suffering from future climate change
rather than to decrease it.
-
- The IPCC Summaries for Policy Makers are the most widely
read IPCC reports amongst politicians and non-scientists and are the basis
for most climate change policy formulation. Yet these Summaries are prepared
by a relatively small core writing team with the final drafts approved
line-by-line by government representatives. The great majority of IPCC
contributors and reviewers, and the tens of thousands of other scientists
who are qualified to comment on these matters, are not involved in the
preparation of these documents. The summaries therefore cannot properly
be represented as a consensus view among experts.
-
- Contrary to the impression left by the IPCC Summary reports:
-
- z Recent observations of phenomena such as glacial retreats,
sea- level rise and the migration of temperature-sensitive species are
not evidence for abnormal climate change, for none of these
changes has been shown to lie outside the bounds of known natural variability.
-
- z The average rate of warming of 0.1 to 0. 2 degrees
Celsius per decade recorded by satellites during the late 20th century
falls within known natural rates of warming and cooling over the last
10,000 years.
-
- z Leading scientists, including some senior IPCC representatives,
acknowledge that today's computer models cannot predict climate. Consistent
with this, and despite computer projections of temperature rises, there
has been no net global warming since 1998. That the current temperature
plateau follows a late 20th-century period of warming is consistent with
the continuation today of natural multi-decadal or millennial climate
cycling.
-
- In stark contrast to the often repeated assertion that
the science of climate change is "settled," significant new
peer-reviewed research has cast even more doubt on the hypothesis of dangerous
human-caused global warming. But because IPCC working groups were generally
instructed (see http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/docs/ wg1_timetable_2006-08-14.pdf)
to consider work published only through May, 2005, these important findings
are not included in their reports; i.e., the IPCC assessment reports are
already materially outdated.
-
- The UN climate conference in Bali has been planned to
take the world along a path of severe CO2 restrictions, ignoring the lessons
apparent from the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, the chaotic nature of
the European CO2 trading market, and the ineffectiveness of other costly
initiatives to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Balanced cost/benefit analyses
provide no support for the introduction of global measures to cap and
reduce energy consumption for the purpose of restricting CO2 emissions.
Furthermore, it is irrational to apply the "precautionary principle"
because many scientists recognize that both climatic coolings and warmings
are realistic possibilities over the medium-term future.
-
- The current UN focus on "fighting climate change,"
as illustrated in the Nov. 27 UN Development Programme's Human Development
Report, is distracting governments from adapting to the threat of inevitable
natural climate changes, whatever forms they may take. National and international
planning for such changes is needed, with a focus on helping
our most vulnerable citizens adapt to conditions that lie ahead. Attempts
to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile,
and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better
spent on humanity's real and pressing problems.
-
- Yours faithfully,
-
- Signatories of an open letter on the UN climate-conference
-
- Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
-
-
- The following are signatories to the Dec. 13th letter
to the Ban Ki- moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations on the UN
Climate conference in Bali:
-
- Don Aitkin, PhD, Professor, social scientist, retired
vice- chancellor and president, University of Canberra, Australia
-
- William J.R. Alexander, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Dept.
of Civil and Biosystems Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa;
Member, UN Scientific and Technical Committee on Natural
Disasters, 1994-2000
-
- Bjarne Andresen, PhD, physicist, Professor, The Niels
Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
-
- Geoff L. Austin, PhD, FNZIP, FRSNZ, Professor, Dept.
of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealand
-
- Timothy F. Ball, PhD, environmental consultant, former
climatology professor, University of Winnipeg
-
- Ernst-Georg Beck, Dipl. Biol., Biologist, Merian-Schule
Freiburg, Germany
-
- Sonja A. Boehmer-Christiansen, PhD, Reader, Dept. of
Geography, Hull University, U.K.; Editor, Energy & Environment journal
-
- Chris C. Borel, PhD, remote sensing scientist, U.S.
-
- Reid A. Bryson, PhD, DSc, DEngr, UNE P. Global 500 Laureate;
Senior Scientist, Center for Climatic Research; Emeritus Professor of
Meteorology, of Geography, and of Environmental Studies, University of
Wisconsin
-
- Dan Carruthers, M.Sc., wildlife biology consultant specializing
in animal ecology in Arctic and Subarctic regions, Alberta
-
- R.M. Carter, PhD, Professor, Marine Geophysical Laboratory,
James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
-
- Ian D. Clark, PhD, Professor, isotope hydrogeology and
paleoclimatology, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa
-
- Richard S. Courtney, PhD, climate and atmospheric science
consultant, IPCC expert reviewer, U.K.
-
- Willem de Lange, PhD, Dept. of Earth and Ocean Sciences,
School of Science and Engineering, Waikato University, New Zealand
-
- David Deming, PhD (Geophysics), Associate Professor,
College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma
-
- Freeman J. Dyson, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Physics,
Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, N.J.
-
- Don J. Easterbrook, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Geology,
Western Washington University
-
- Lance Endersbee, Emeritus Professor, former dean of Engineering
and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Monasy University, Australia
-
- Hans Erren, Doctorandus, geophysicist and climate specialist,
Sittard, The Netherlands
-
- Robert H. Essenhigh, PhD, E.G. Bailey Professor of Energy
Conversion, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, The Ohio State University
-
- Christopher Essex, PhD, Professor of Applied Mathematics
and Associate Director of the Program in Theoretical Physics, University
of Western Ontario
-
- David Evans, PhD, mathematician, carbon accountant, computer
and electrical engineer and head of 'Science Speak,' Australia
-
- William Evans, PhD, editor, American Midland Naturalist;
Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame
-
- Stewart Franks, PhD, Professor, Hydroclimatologist, University
of Newcastle, Australia
-
- R. W. Gauldie, PhD, Research Professor, Hawai'i Institute
of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean Earth Sciences and Technology,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
-
- Lee C. Gerhard, PhD, Senior Scientist Emeritus, University
of Kansas; former director and state geologist, Kansas Geological Survey
-
- Gerhard Gerlich, Professor for Mathematical and Theoretical
Physics, Institut für Mathematische Physik der TU Braunschweig,
Germany
-
- Albrecht Glatzle, PhD, sc.agr., Agro-Biologist and Gerente
ejecutivo, INTTAS, Paraguay
-
- Fred Goldberg, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Royal Institute
of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden
-
- Vincent Gray, PhD, expert reviewer for the IPCC and author
of The Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of 'Climate Change 2001, Wellington,
New Zealand
-
- William M. Gray, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Atmospheric
Science, Colorado State University and Head of the Tropical Meteorology
Project
-
- Howard Hayden, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University
of Connecticut
-
- Louis Hissink MSc, M.A.I.G., editor, AIG News, and consulting
geologist, Perth, Western Australia
-
- Craig D. Idso, PhD, Chairman, Center for the Study of
Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Arizona
-
- Sherwood B. Idso, PhD, President, Center for the Study
of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, AZ, USA
-
- Andrei Illarionov, PhD, Senior Fellow, Center for Global
Liberty and Prosperity; founder and director of the Institute of Economic
Analysis
-
- Zbigniew Jaworowski, PhD, physicist, Chairman - Scientific
Council of Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection, Warsaw, Poland
-
- Jon Jenkins, PhD, MD, computer modelling - virology,
NSW, Australia
-
- Wibjorn Karlen, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Physical
Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden
-
- Olavi Kärner, Ph.D., Research Associate, Dept. of
Atmospheric Physics, Institute of Astrophysics and Atmospheric Physics,
Toravere, Estonia
-
- Joel M. Kauffman, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry,
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
-
- David Kear, PhD, FRSNZ, CMG, geologist, former Director-General
of NZ Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Zealand
-
- Madhav Khandekar, PhD, former research scientist, Environment
Canada; editor, Climate Research (2003-05); editorial board member, Natural
Hazards; IPCC expert reviewer 2007
-
- William Kininmonth M.Sc., M.Admin., former head of Australia's
National Climate Centre and a consultant to the World Meteorological
organization's Commission for Climatology Jan J.H. Kop, MSc Ceng FICE
(Civil Engineer Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers), Emeritus
Prof. of Public Health Engineering, Technical University Delft,
The Netherlands
-
- Prof. R.W.J. Kouffeld, Emeritus Professor, Energy Conversion,
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
-
- Salomon Kroonenberg, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Geotechnology,
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
-
- Hans H.J. Labohm, PhD, economist, former advisor to the
executive board, Clingendael Institute (The Netherlands Institute of
International Relations), The Netherlands
-
- The Rt. Hon. Lord Lawson of Blaby, economist; Chairman
of the Central Europe Trust; former Chancellor of the Exchequer, U.K.
-
- Douglas Leahey, PhD, meteorologist and air-quality consultant,
Calgary
-
- David R. Legates, PhD, Director, Center for Climatic
Research, University of Delaware
-
- Marcel Leroux, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Climatology,
University of Lyon, France; former director of Laboratory of Climatology,
Risks and Environment, CNRS
-
- Bryan Leyland, International Climate Science Coalition,
consultant and power engineer, Auckland, New Zealand
-
- William Lindqvist, PhD, independent consulting geologist,
Calif.
-
- Richard S. Lindzen, PhD, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of
Meteorology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
-
- A.J. Tom van Loon, PhD, Professor of Geology (Quaternary
Geology), Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland; former President
of the European Association of Science Editors
-
- Anthony R. Lupo, PhD, Associate Professor of Atmospheric
Science, Dept. of Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric Science, University
of Missouri-Columbia
-
- Richard Mackey, PhD, Statistician, Australia
-
- Horst Malberg, PhD, Professor for Meteorology and Climatology,
Institut für Meteorologie, Berlin, Germany
-
- John Maunder, PhD, Climatologist, former President of
the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization
(89-97), New Zealand
-
- Alister McFarquhar, PhD, international economy, Downing
College, Cambridge, U.K.
-
- Ross McKitrick, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics,
University of Guelph
-
- John McLean, PhD, climate data analyst, computer scientist,
Australia
-
- Owen McShane, PhD, economist, head of the International
Climate Science Coalition; Director, Centre for Resource Management Studies,
New Zealand
-
- Fred Michel, PhD, Director, Institute of Environmental
Sciences and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, Carleton University
-
- Frank Milne, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Queen's
University
-
- Asmunn Moene, PhD, former head of the Forecasting Centre,
Meteorological Institute, Norway
-
- Alan Moran, PhD, Energy Economist, Director of the IPA's
Deregulation Unit, Australia
-
- Nils-Axel Morner, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Paleogeophysics
& Geodynamics, Stockholm University, Sweden
-
- Lubos Motl, PhD, Physicist, former Harvard string theorist,
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
-
- John Nicol, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics, James
Cook University, Australia
-
- David Nowell, M.Sc., Fellow of the Royal Meteorological
Society, former chairman of the NATO Meteorological Group, Ottawa
-
- James J. O'Brien, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Meteorology
and Oceanography, Florida State University
-
- Cliff Ollier, PhD, Professor Emeritus (Geology), Research
Fellow, University of Western Australia
-
- Garth W. Paltridge, PhD, atmospheric physicist, Emeritus
Professor and former Director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern
Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
-
- R. Timothy Patterson, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Earth
Sciences (paleoclimatology), Carleton University
-
- Al Pekarek, PhD, Associate Professor of Geology, Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences Dept., St. Cloud State University, Minnesota
-
- Ian Plimer, PhD, Professor of Geology, School of Earth
and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide and Emeritus Professor
of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
-
- Brian Pratt, PhD, Professor of Geology, Sedimentology,
University of Saskatchewan
-
- Harry N.A. Priem, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Planetary
Geology and Isotope Geophysics, Utrecht University; former director of
the Netherlands Institute for Isotope Geosciences
-
- Alex Robson, PhD, Economics, Australian National University
Colonel F.P.M. Rombouts, Branch Chief - Safety, Quality and Environment,
Royal Netherland Air Force
-
- R.G. Roper, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences,
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
-
- Arthur Rorsch, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Molecular Genetics,
Leiden University, The Netherlands
-
- Rob Scagel, M.Sc., forest microclimate specialist, principal
consultant, Pacific Phytometric Consultants, B.C.
-
- Tom V. Segalstad, PhD, (Geology/Geochemistry), Head of
the Geological Museum and Associate Professor of Resource and Environmental
Geology, University of Oslo, Norway
-
- Gary D. Sharp, PhD, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources
Study, Salinas, CA
-
- S. Fred Singer, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Environmental
Sciences, University of Virginia and former director Weather Satellite
Service
-
- L. Graham Smith, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography,
University of Western Ontario
-
- Roy W. Spencer, PhD, climatologist, Principal Research
Scientist, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama, Huntsville
-
- Peter Stilbs, TeknD, Professor of Physical Chemistry,
Research Leader, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH (Royal
Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden
-
- Hendrik Tennekes, PhD, former director of research, Royal
Netherlands Meteorological Institute
-
- Dick Thoenes, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering,
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
-
- Brian G Valentine, PhD, PE (Chem.), Technology Manager
- Industrial Energy Efficiency, Adjunct Associate Professor of Engineering
Science, University of Maryland at College Park; Dept of Energy, Washington,
DC
-
- Gerrit J. van der Lingen, PhD, geologist and paleoclimatologist,
climate change consultant, Geoscience Research and Investigations, New
Zealand
-
- Len Walker, PhD, Power Engineering, Australia
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