Climate summit underway in Poland but doubters remain

December 10, 12:18 PMDenver Weather ExaminerTony Hake

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The United Nation's IPCC presses the case for
manmade climate change but doubters persist.

Thousands of climate scientists as part of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are meeting to continue their work on a blueprint for a treaty that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.  Thousands of delegates from across the globe have winged their way to Poland to negotiate a new pact with the goal to finish it within a year.
 
Scientists at the event have said they have proven beyond a doubt that manmade climate change is real and “unequivocal” as stated in the IPCC’s report from last year.  That report cited the dangers of global warming as up to 30% of all animal and plant species would become extinct, arid areas become drier, rising seas would flood coastal areas and islands, melting glaciers will cause flooding and more.  IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri said, “Small island states are living in a state of fear.”

Discussions have centered primarily on how to combat the perceived danger and just as importantly, how to pay for it.  Developing and third world countries are seeking $1 billion in international aid to help them but with the state of the world’s economy, that doesn’t seem particularly realistic. 

The dire predictions of the IPCC are not entirely received openly and many doubters do exist, particularly in the wake of the U.N.’s own data that shows the globe has actually cooled in the last 10 years.  By tomorrow the U.S. Senate Minority will release a report containing some rather interesting statements from more than 650 scientists who disagree with the work of the IPCC.  Among their comments: 

“I am a skeptic…Global warming has become a new religion.” - Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.   

“Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical.” -  Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology  and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.”  

"Warming fears are the worst scientific scandal in the history…When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” - UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.  

“The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn’t listen to others. It doesn’t have open minds… I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists,” - Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the UN-supported International Year of the Planet.  

“The models and forecasts of the UN IPCC "are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity.” - Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico  

“It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don’t buy into anthropogenic global warming.” - U.S Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA. 

“Even doubling or tripling the amount of carbon dioxide will virtually have little impact, as water vapour and water condensed on particles as clouds dominate the worldwide scene and always will.” – . Geoffrey G. Duffy, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Auckland, NZ.

“For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming? For how many years must cooling go on?" - Geologist Dr. David Gee the chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress who has authored 130 plus peer reviewed papers, and is currently at Uppsala University in Sweden.  

It would appear that despite the United Nation's and IPCC's insistence, the debate is far from over.