The Best Conference Ever
The 4th International Conference on Climate Change, which took place in Chicago May 16-18, truly was the best conference ever.
“Of course you’d say that, Steve,” you all answer, knowing my passion for this subject and willingness to engage in the debate with anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Please allow me to support my claim with a series of facts and data which I believe will lead you to the same logical conclusion of this monstrous proclamation.
The conference, always sponsored by The Heartland Institute (this fact alone makes my case), began with a delicious steak dinner and equally delicious presentations from Dr. Harrison Schmitt and Stephen McIntyre. Dr. Schmitt, geologist, former NASA astronaut and US Senator, dissected the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of the climate change legislation and actions being pursued by the current administration. Mr. McIntyre reviewed his famous role in discrediting Michael Mann’s Hockey Stick graph and the entire Climategate scandal currently being investigated. His outline of the key elements of Climategate greatly clarified where this investigation currently stands and the gigantic array of new questions which multiply with each new peek into the scandal. However, Mr. McIntyre’s opinion that the investigation of the Virginia Attorney General into Michael Mann’s activities while at the University of Virginia would be neither helpful nor appropriate was not shared by most conference participants.
During Monday breakfast the always entertaining Dr. Patrick Michaels, world-renowned meteorologist and favorite target of alarmist abuse for many years, described how the Climategate scandal and enormous advances in the science of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory necessitates EPA to reevaluate its carbon dioxide endangerment finding. Former Virginia Governor George Allen then followed with a detailed, comprehensive energy stategy for America to engage the future.
In the first set of breakout sessions I chose to be educated and entertained by the world’s foremost expert on sea-level change, Dr.Nils-Axel Moerner of Sweden. The collection of facts and data he presented leaves one with no doubt that the whole sea-level rise panic has been completely contrived and in fact presents no danger at all. Dr. Bob Carter of James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, contributed another of his masterful analyses of ancient sea levels and climate change. Dr. Fred Goldberg of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, informed us about historical arctic ice observations and projections of future ice pack conditions. Dr. Don Easterbrook finished the session with his portent of the looming threat of global cooling and its implications.
Breakout session 2 yielded the most dynamic set of presentations of the conference. Dr. William Gray, renowned atmospheric scientist from Colorado State University known for his work on the interaction of the oceans on the climate system, presented observational data and theoretical reasoning showing how the water cycle responds to additional atmospheric carbon dioxide with a negative feedback, lessening the climate sensitivity of the system by as much as 50%. The impact of this finding demonstrates that even large changes of atmospheric carbon dioxide have little effect on global mean temperature. The alarmist camp climate models show a positive water feedback enhancing the climate sensitivity by as much as 200%. The second presenter, Dr. Scott Denning, also fares from Colorado State University and was a former student of Dr. Gray. A physicist, Dr. Denning presented the case FOR AGW and the reasons why we should be alarmed and concerned. He approaches his argument without the aid of climate models but from well established physical principles known for centuries. I found this presentation to be the most helpful to me of any I have seen at these conferences. Not only was he the first scientist willing to attend this conference and present an opposing viewpoint, but by doing so I was able to hone in on the underlying of the logic he employed to reach his conclusion. What I concluded to be the fallacy of reasoning of this viewpoint led to quite a lively discussion at the end of the session when I was able to engage Dr. Denning with a question. The last speaker of the session, Dr. Howard Hayden, presented a step-bystep mathematical calculation of the maximum value of climate sensitivity physically possible based upon known parameters of the climate system. A flawless performance.
At lunch Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT updated everyone on the state of his current research and articulated his idea of the direction future research should go. Senator James Inhofe, the sole Legislative sentinel of the last decade keeping the alarmist forces from overwhelming our society, was scheduled to address the conference but unfortunately could not fulfill this commitment. What a shame for all of us in attendance, for he is truly a great man.
The third and last breakout session I attended that Monday featured Dr. Fred Singer’s analysis of Climategate, the whitewash currently being promulgated by affected parties such as Penn State University, and the true meaning of “hide the decline.” Dr. Ross McKitrick, famous accomplice of Stephen McIntyre in shredding Michael Mann’s Hockey Stick chart, compared current model predictions to real world observations. Joseph D’Aleo, first Director of Meteorology at The Weather Channel, analyzed global data integrity issues, both intrinsically and within the context of the Climategate scandal. But the riveting speech of James Delingpole, author, broadcaster and blogger who helped break the Climategate story in the U.K., reminded all that this debate ultimately was not about the climate or the planet but about human freedom and the desire of a few to subjugate the many.
Dinner out with Leon Ashby, president of the Climate Sceptics party of Australia, and his lovely wife Jane at a famous Chicago Pizza venue completed a wonderful day in the war for truth.
Tuesday breakfast presentations featured Dr. Jay Lehr, science director at the Heartland Institue, and Dr. Roy Spencer, principal research scientist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Dr. Lehr’s presentation on Saving Science after Climategate is being provided to Reality News readers in a three part series beginning with this issue. Dr. Spencer updated all of us on the current status of the temperature record and comparisons of the different sources of data.
Breakout session 4 featured two experts on peat bog analysis, Dr. Helen Roe of Queen’s University, Northern Ireland, and Dr. Tim Patterson, Carleton University, Canada. These bogs provide a very precise record of climate conditions over the past 5000 to 10000 years. Independent climate researcher Willis Eschenbach receives my award for the most cutting edge and useful presentation of the entire conference. His presentation of “How Clouds and Thunderstorms Control the Earth’s Temperature” demonstrates how a pragmatic approach using simplified logic can provide the key answers in our quest to understand what appears to be a rather complex system. I encourage anyone with some energy to go to the Heartland website and download this presentation. It is fabulous and very easy to understand.
The final breakout session of the conference I attended featured Bill Kininmonth of the Australian Climate Research Institute speaking about natural responses to additional atmospheric carbon dioxide and how they limit its ability to increase global temperature. The Mexican scientist, Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco Herrara, predicted a mini ice age in the coming 40 to 60 years based upon the new solar minimum of sunspot activity. But the house disintegrated with the cataclysmic presentation of world famous geologist and author Dr. Ian Plimer of the University of Adelaide, Australia. His fiery description of the geologic processes constantly at work, vaulting forth in unforeseen fits of destruction and creation could have been the fodder of any Puritan Preacher from the days of the Pilgrims. He identified a morass of sources, sinks and other very significant and relevant factors not considered at all in climate models or atmospheric theories in general. For example, Ian claims that the carbon dioxide input from undersea volcanoes and sea floor spreading zones has been completely ignored and may very well be the largest input of any single source of carbon dioxide into the system. Man’s estimated input of 3% of the carbon into the atmosphere may have to be reduced by an order of magnitude or more, maybe even being less that 0.1%. No wonder man’s isotopic signature cannot be detected in CO2 atmospheric analyses.
The conference concluded with the lunchtime speeches of two highly esteemed individuals from the U.K. who have completed tremendous feats of heroism throughout this global warming alarmism nightmare. The first, Julian Morris, the executive director of the Londonbased International Policy Network, gave a compelling review of the monetary implications of this hysteria, who is behind these schemes and what they will gain. The final speaker was, fittingly, the Lord Christopher Monckton, Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, that zealot for liberty and truth who sounded the alarm about the Copenhagen treaty and almost single-handedly blew up that conference with his myriad of appearances all over the world. He recounted the tireless efforts and long, lonely roads trodden by all the titans of our cause including Fred Singer, Willie Soon, Dick Lindzen and others to the point we stand now; where the science clearly shows carbon dioxide’s minimal effect on global temperature and the Climategate e-mails clearly showing the subversive political cabal at work to perpetuate a series of lies for personal fame and financial gain. He ended his speech unlike any I have heard from him in the past, reciting the last lines of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address in a whisper.
So I have presented my case for the best conference ever. Having attended all four of these Heartland events I agree with Joe Bast, President of Heartland, that this conference has developed a sense of community and brotherhood unlike any other. Everyone expects to see our own teacher from Racine, Wis., Adell Weeks, and her band of students attentively listening and asking great questions. We saw new faces like Brian Bishop of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute in Rhode Island ask pointed and compelling questions from all angles of the debate. The conference would not be complete without Willie Soon or Marc Morano, both enormous front line players in this struggle against alarmism. I personally missed the camaraderie and friendship of others I have met at previous conferences, like Dr. Paul Shank, an orthopedic physician from the Pittsburgh area and Christopher Game, a physicist who fares from a city near Melbourne, Australia. The incredible analytical intellect of Dr. Ferenc Miskolczi and his quest for a comprehensive physical theory to explain the data gathered from his days at NASA could have added much needed insight into the ultimate story told by our climate system. In all, one could not ask for a better planned or operated conference, both in terms of interest and accessibility. Thank you, Joe and Diane Bast, Dan Miller, James Taylor and everyone at Heartland who made this event possible.