By Cardinal George Pell
The Bali summit on the Kyoto Protocol and climate change was a public relations triumph, although I’m hopeful the new government will not impose major costs on the people for dubious versions of climate goals. We need rigorous cost-benefit analysis of every proposal and healthy scepticism of all semi-religious rhetoric about the climate and, especially, about computer models for the future. It is difficult to predict what the weather will be like next week, let alone in 10, 20 or 100 years. We hope the drought is coming to an end in country areas, but Australia will always be susceptible to recurrent droughts until the arrival of the next ice age.
George Pell is an Australian Catholic Cardinal
By Rami Zurayk
“Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called “consensus” on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore.
It got me thinking: I’m an environmental scientist, but I’ve never had time to review the “evidence” for the anthropic causes of global warming. I operate on the principle that global warming is a reality and that it is human-made, because a lot of reliable sources told me that, and because I read it in learned journals. When I said, in my opening speech for the launch of UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook-4 in Beirut: “There is now irrevocable evidence that climate change is taking place...” I was reading from a statement prepared by UNEP. Faith-based science it may be, but who has time to review all the evidence? I’ll continue to act on the basis of anthropic climate change, but I really need to put some more time into this. Read more here.
By Marc Morano, EPW Blog
New scientists have come forth and been added to list of scientists who say global warming and cooling is a cycle of nature and cannot legitimately be connected to man’s activities. In addition, there is a whole new section on inconvenenient studies for promoters of man-made climate fears.
The expanded list includes Dr. Klaus P. Heiss formerly of Princeton University and Mathematica, and a space engineer who has worked with NASA, the US Atomic Energy Commission and the Office of Naval Research. Heiss received the NASA Public Service award for unique contributions to the US Space Program and is a member of the International Astronautics Academy. Heiss dissented from what he termed the “alleged climate catastrophe” in 2007.
Physical chemist Dr. Peter Stilbs, who chairs the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm has authored more than 165 scientific publications in refereed journals since 1970. Stilbs coordinated a meeting of international scientists and declared his skepticism about man-made climate fears. Stilbs wrote on December 21, 2006, “By the final panel discussion stage of the conference, there appeared to be wide agreement” about several key points regarding man-made climate fears. Stilbs announced that the scientists, concluded: “There is no strong evidence to prove significant human influence on climate on a global basis. The global cooling trend from 1940 to 1970 is inconsistent with models based on anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Actual claims put forward are that an observed global temperature increase of about 0.3 degrees C since 1970 exceeds what could be expected from natural variation. However, recent temperature data do not indicate any continued global warming since 1998.” Stilbs also noted, “There is no reliable evidence to support that the 20th century was the warmest in the last 1000 years. Previous claims based on the ‘Mann hockey-stick curve’ are by now totally discredited.” Stilbs concluded by noting that the team of international scientists concluded: “There is no doubt that the science behind ‘the climate issue’ is far from settled.”
Meteorologist Thomas B. Gray is the former head of the Space Services branch at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a researcher in NOAA’s Space Environment Laboratory and Environmental Research Laboratories. Gray also served as a meteorologist for the United States Air Force. Gray asserted that “climate change is a natural occurrence” and dissented from the view that mankind faces a “climate crisis” in 2007. “Nothing that is occurring in weather or in climate research at this time can be shown to be abnormal in the light of our knowledge of climate variations over geologic time,” Gray explained. “I am sure that the concept of a ‘Global Temperature’ is nonsense,” he added. “The claims of those convinced that AGW (anthropogenic global warming) is real and dangerous are not supported by reliable data,” Gray concluded.
Read comments from more scientists and see the expanded list of papers here.
Read some blog reactions here and here.