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Cold Water on ‘Global Warming’
National Review Online ^ | February 29, 2008 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 02/29/2008 10:55:13 AM PST by neverdem







Cold Water on ‘Global Warming’
Next week, skeptics will gather in Gotham to discuss the cold, hard facts.

By Thomas Sowell

It has almost become something of a joke when some “global warming” conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather.

But stampedes and hysteria are no joke — and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global-warming “crisis.”

They mobilize like-minded people from a variety of occupations, call them all “scientists” and then claim that “all” the experts agree on a global-warming crisis.

Their biggest argument is that there is no argument.

A whole cottage industry has sprung up among people who get grants, government agencies who get appropriations, politicians who get publicity, and the perpetually indignant who get something new to be indignant about. It gives teachers something to talk about in school instead of teaching.

Those who bother to check the facts often find that not all those who are called scientists are really scientists and not all of those who are scientists are specialists in climate. But who bothers to check facts these days?

A new and very different conference on global warming will be held in New York City, under the sponsorship of the Heartland Institute, on March 2nd to March 4th — weather permitting.

It is called an “International Conference on Climate Change” that will examine the question “Global Warming: Crisis or Scam?” Among those present will be professors of climatology, along with scientists in other fields and people from other professions.

They come from universities in England, Hungary, and Australia, as well as from the United States and Canada, and include among other dignitaries the former president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel.

All told, there will be 98 speakers and 400 participants.

The theme of the conference is that “there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming.”

Many of the participants in this conference are people who have already expressed skepticism about either the prevailing explanations of current climate change or the dire predictions about future climate change.

These include authors of such books as Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years by Fred Singer and Dennis Avery, and Shattered Consensus, edited by Patrick J. Michaels.

This will be one of the rare opportunities for the media to hear the other side of the story — for those old-fashioned journalists who still believe that their job is to inform the public, rather than promote an agenda.

Several films will be featured at the conference — including The Great Global Warming Swindle, a British television program that is now available on DVD in the United States. It is a devastating debunking of the current “global warming” hysteria.

Nobody denies that there is such a thing as a greenhouse effect. If there were not, the side of the planet facing away from the sun would be freezing every night.

There is not even a lot of controversy over temperature readings. What is fundamentally at issue are the explanations, implications, and extrapolations of these temperature readings.

The party line of those who say that we are heading for a global warming crisis of epic proportions is that human activities generating carbon dioxide are key factors responsible for the warming that has taken place in recent times.

The problem with this reasoning is that the temperatures rose first and then the carbon dioxide levels rose. Some scientists say that the warming created the increased carbon dioxide, rather than vice versa.

Many natural factors, including variations in the amount of heat put out by the sun, can cause the earth to heat or cool.

The bigger problem is that this has long since become a crusade rather than an exercise in evidence or logic. Too many people are too committed to risk it all on a roll of the dice, which is what turning to empirical evidence is.

Those who have a big stake in global-warming hysteria are unlikely to show up at the conference in New York, and unfortunately that includes much of the media.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Economic Facts and Fallacies.


COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: climatechange; globalwarming
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1 posted on 02/29/2008 10:55:14 AM PST by neverdem
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To: xcamel

Global warming PING!


2 posted on 02/29/2008 11:02:09 AM PST by CedarDave (Dear John, Why do you criticize Republicans and conservatives but give Obama and Hillary a pass?)
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To: neverdem

Maybe the government well give me a grant to study whether I really did get 4 to 6 more inches of snow this morning.


3 posted on 02/29/2008 11:03:49 AM PST by cripplecreek (Voting CONSERVATIVE in memory of 5 children killed by illegals 2/17/08 and 2/19/ 08)
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To: neverdem

The drive-by media will either ignore the conference or label it a sham conference held by global-warming deniers and once again equate those attending to Holocaust deniers.


4 posted on 02/29/2008 11:04:06 AM PST by CedarDave (Dear John, Why do you criticize Republicans and conservatives but give Obama and Hillary a pass?)
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To: neverdem
Al Gore gives a speech on Global Warming in New York City......on the coldest day in decades.

Al Gore wins the Noble Peace Prize for his work on Global Warming....the following winter is the coldest in recorded history.

Proof positive God has a sense of humor.

5 posted on 02/29/2008 11:04:30 AM PST by MNJohnnie (http://www.iraqvetsforcongress.com ---- Get involved, make a difference.)
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To: neverdem

Global warming......just another excuse for politicians to get into your wallet!


6 posted on 02/29/2008 11:05:44 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: FrPR; enough_idiocy; rdl6989; TenthAmendmentChampion; Horusra; Normandy; Defendingliberty; ...
 

Here.

 


Global Warming Scam News & Views

7 posted on 02/29/2008 11:07:05 AM PST by steelyourfaith
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To: CedarDave; neverdem

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1977693/posts


8 posted on 02/29/2008 11:07:38 AM PST by xcamel (fairtaxers -- don't debate, Denigrate!)
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To: CedarDave
Nobody denies that there is such a thing as a greenhouse effect. If there were not, the side of the planet facing away from the sun would be freezing every night.

Sowell does have a way of explaining things so even liberals can understand. LOL!

9 posted on 02/29/2008 11:08:14 AM PST by Vigilanteman (Are there any men left in Washington? Or are there only cowards? Ahmad Shah Massoud)
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To: neverdem
Their biggest argument is that there is no argument.

While at the same time, the left is always accusing "the right" as being closed-minded.

10 posted on 02/29/2008 11:13:06 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (In November, we're going to be able to elect politicians who say they can change the weather. YAY!)
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To: neverdem

Global Warming is caused by Daylight Saving Time.

Daylight Saving Time was created by humans.

Therefore Global Warming is being caused by humans.

Send me my Nobel Prize now.


11 posted on 02/29/2008 11:16:42 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (I voted Republican because no Conservatives were running.)
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To: neverdem

Liberals do not like to be wrong. As long as they have representatives in power global warming will be real no matter what the scientists that they don’t pay say.


12 posted on 02/29/2008 11:17:31 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: neverdem
There is not even a lot of controversy over temperature readings.

Just so long as you ignore the recording thermometers positioned next to jet engines, burn barrels, air conditioner exhausts and the middle of asphalt parking lots.

13 posted on 02/29/2008 11:20:23 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
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To: MNJohnnie

Absurd situations tend to follow absurd people.


14 posted on 02/29/2008 11:23:17 AM PST by Catholic Canadian ( I love Stephen Harper!)
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To: neverdem
The conference will be sponsored by Exxon Mobile, George Bush, and Darth Vader.
It will be protested by Gaia, Al Gore, George Soros, and the Kenny Kingston Psychic Network.
Film at eleven.
15 posted on 02/29/2008 11:31:15 AM PST by IrishCatholic (No local communist or socialist party chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing.)
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To: CedarDave; SJackson; Nachum
The drive-by media will either ignore the conference or label it a sham conference held by global-warming deniers and once again equate those attending to Holocaust deniers.

Hi Dave,

Just thought I'd inform you of something not commonly known that I learned just last night:

The word, "holocaust" is of Greek origin, "holokaustos," "a sacrifice wholly consumed by fire; a burnt offering."

Before WWII it had no other meaning. That media, academia, and Jewish atheists have promoted the term until it is nearly universal is no accident. The apostate thugs behind it truly intend as much for the religiously observant.

The truly Jewish word is "Shoah."

I'm not suggesting you do anything, I just thought you'd appreciate the distinction.

16 posted on 02/29/2008 11:48:31 AM PST by Carry_Okie (Islam offers three choices: surrender, kill them, or die.)
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To: neverdem

I’m voting for climate change this Fall.


17 posted on 02/29/2008 12:05:58 PM PST by Paladin2 (Huma for co-president!)
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To: neverdem
I've said it before on this site, and I'll say it again: Thomas Sowell should be required reading from 6th grade through college. And beyond.

I have, I think, four of his books and they're all excellent.

18 posted on 02/29/2008 12:10:11 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat ((I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!))
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To: neverdem
But stampedes and hysteria are no joke — and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global-warming “crisis.”

Well said, Dr. Sowell.

19 posted on 02/29/2008 12:12:02 PM PST by snowsislander
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To: neverdem
This will be one of the rare opportunities for the media to hear the other side of the story — for those old-fashioned journalists who still believe that their job is to inform the public, rather than promote an agenda.

This is called "marketing".

20 posted on 02/29/2008 12:21:27 PM PST by Eddie01 (Freepers don't let Freepers get spun)
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