The conventional wisdom has it that human activity is harming Earth’s atmosphere and if we don’t stop burning fossil fuels, catastrophe will ensue. We’re told this is settled science, the debate is over and the U.S. must drastically change its energy policy.
Until recently this theory was called “man-made global warming,” but when evidence surfaced that Earth’s average temperature has fallen for the last several years, a change in terminology was needed, from “man-made global warming” to “man-made climate change.”
Environmentalists now blame human activity for global cooling as well as for global warming, and probably will continue to blame humans if the atmosphere neither warms nor cools.
The man-made climate change faction’s belief exceeds known scientific fact. Its adherents have become a cult and their mission has become a crusade in which they ignore contrary evidence, and demonize anyone with the temerity to disagree with them. They have labeled these people “deniers,” as if by doing so they can make their theory legitimate. But man-made climate change is merely a theory, and in fact is being passionately challenged in the scientific community by an increasing number of scientists. Incontrovertible evidence simply doesn’t exist and there is no scientific consensus.
What is known is that Earth’s atmosphere experiences alternate periods of warming and cooling, and has for eons, long before man appeared on the scene. And most people recognize the Earth is currently experiencing a general warming trend. That is where agreement ends, however.
“Scientists no longer support man’s activities as a cause of global warming/climate change,” declared a headline in the Canada Free Press in May of 2007. A sub-head stated: “Growing Number of Scientists Convert to Skeptics After Reviewing New Research.”
“Following the U.S. Senate’s vote today on a global warming measure it is an opportune time to examine the recent and quite remarkable momentum shift taking place in climate science,” the story began. “Many former believers in catastrophic man-made global warming have recently reversed themselves and are now climate skeptics.”
The article listed 13 scientists from around the world, their impressive credentials, and their opinion of the global warming theory, and said “[t]he names included below are just a sampling of the prominent scientists who have spoken out recently to oppose former Vice President Al Gore, the United Nations, and the media driven ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming.”
A year later the Telegraph of London posted a story on its Website under the headline, “Scientists sign petition denying man-made global warming,” then reported that “[m]ore than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition denying that man is responsible for global warming ... including 9,000 with PhDs, [who] claim that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are actually beneficial for the environment.”
The renowned late American physicist Frederick Seitz created the petition in 1998 in response to the Kyoto Protocol a year earlier, and urged the U.S. government to reject the treaty, saying that “[t]he proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind.”
“There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of ... greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate,” the petition continued. “Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments.”
The president of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, Arthur Robinson, commented: “If this many American scientists will sign this petition, you certainly can’t continue to contend that there is a consensus on this subject.”
And in March of this year the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Website posted these comments: “Fifty-nine additional scientists from around the world have been added to the U.S. Senate Minority Report of dissenting scientists, pushing the total to over 700 skeptical international scientists ... This updated report ... represents an additional 300 (and growing) scientists and climate researchers since the initial report’s release in December 2007.
“The over 700 dissenting scientists are now more than 13 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] 2007 Summary for Policymakers.” These scientists “hail from all over the world, including Japan, Italy, UK, Czech Republic, Canada, Netherlands, the U.S. and many are affiliated with prestigious institutions including, NASA, U.S. Navy, U.S. Defense Department, Energy Department, U.S. Air Force, the Philosophical Society of Washington (the oldest scientific society in Washington), Princeton University, Tulane University, American University, Oregon State University, U.S. Naval Academy and EPA ... The explosion of skeptical scientific voices is accelerating unabated in 2009.”
It’s a safe bet many Americans, perhaps most, have heard little about the strong and growing body of dissenting scientists, because the national media has disgraced and debased itself by taking sides on important issues like this one.
The debate on man’s role in climate change is not over, and sensible national leaders, if any remain, will stop planning draconian changes to our way of life to correct a problem that hasn’t been proved to exist.
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