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Global warming skeptics gather in D.C.

 

Some folks still aren't convinced that global warming is for real.

 

As the Obama Administration and Congress push for  global warming legislation, scientists and economists will meet in Washington to say it's much ado about nothing.

Global warming is not a crisis, says Dan Miller, executive vice president of The Heartland Institute in Chicago.

 The June 2 conference,  “Climate Change: Scientific Debate and Economic Analysis.” marks the third time The Heartland Institute, a 25-year-old nonprofit research organization with headquarters in Chicago, has organized a meeting of global warming experts to showcase skepticism among scientists and economists to the asserted “consensus” on the causes and severity of global warming, and what should be done to slow or stop it.

 “The theme of conference reflects the fact that the scientific debate is not over about climate change and global warming, and that economic analysis is more important than ever, now that legislation is being seriously considered,” said Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute.

 

The Heartland Institute dismisses the threat of global warming, even though the position flies in the face of  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data and much of the scientific community. As the concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, the Earth's temperature is climbing above past levels, information on the EPA web site says.

 

 According to NOAA and NASA data, the Earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 to 1.4ºF in the last 100 years. The eight warmest years on record (since 1850) have all occurred since 1998, with the warmest year being 2005. Most of the warming in recent decades is very likely the result of human activities. Other aspects of the climate are also changing such as rainfall patterns, snow and ice cover, and sea level, according to information from the EPA.

The conference is expected to draw more than 200 attendees including Members of Congress, congressional staff, policy makers and opinion leaders, and journalists.

Featured speakers at the conference will include Dr. Richard Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world’s leading experts in dynamic meteorology; Dr. Willie Soon, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Dr. Roy Spencer, University of Alabama at Huntsville and principal research scientist and team leader on NASA’s Aqua satellite; and former astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmitt, American geologist, former U.S. senator, and the last living man to have walked on the moon.

“The real science and economics of climate change support the view that global warming is not a crisis, and that immediate action to reduce emissions is not necessary. This is, in fact, the emerging dominant view of scientists outside the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and most economists outside environmental advocacy groups,”Bast said,

Funding for the conference will come from admission fees ($150) and from charitable contributions from individuals, foundation, and corporate donors. Funds from corporations represented less than 14 percent of Heartland’s annual budget in 2008, and no corporation gave more than 4 percent of Heartland’s budget that year, Miller said.

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For more info: .Further details of the Washington conference , on June 2 at the Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Avenue NW, will be found on The Heartland Institute’s Web site at www.heartland.org or contact Dan Miller at (312) 377-4000 or dmiller@heartland.org.