Contact: Marc Morano 202-224-5762 Marc_Morano@EPW.senate.gov
‘Consensus’ in Freefall: Inhofe Global Warming Speech
Senator Presents Groundbreaking Senate Minority Report of More Than 650 Scientists Dissenting from Climate Fears
Profiles Left of Center Scientists & Environmental Activists Who Are Now Skeptics
Link to Speech Excerpt: Politically Left Scientists Now Rejecting Climate Fears
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today delivered a global warming speech entitled: "Global Warming ‘Consensus’ in Freefall: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims." Inhofe presented his ground breaking new global warming report detailing the More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims to Congress on the Senate Floor.
Inhofe also detailed the growing number of left of center scientists and environmental activists who are speaking out to reject man-made climate fears.
Selected Highlights of Inhofe’s Speech:
Inhofe: Many politically left-of-center scientists and environmental activists are now realizing that the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming is not holding up. The left-wing blog Huffington Post surprised many by featuring an article on January 3, 2008 by Harold Ambler, demanding an apology from Gore for promoting unfounded global warming fears. The Huffington Post article accused Gore of telling, "the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind," because he claimed the science was settled on global warming. The Huffington Post article entitled "Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted" adds, "It is Mr. Gore and his brethren who are flat-Earthers," not skeptics. Again, it is not Jim Inhofe saying this about Gore, it is the left-wing blog Huffington Post saying these things. The Huffington Post article continues, "Let us neither cripple our own economy by mislabeling carbon dioxide a pollutant nor discourage development in the Third World, where suffering continues unabated, day after day."
Another left-of-center atmospheric scientist who has dissented on man-made climate fears is the UK’s Richard Courtney. Courtney, a UN IPCC expert reviewer and a UK-based climate and atmospheric science consultant, is a self-described socialist who also happens to reject man-made climate fears.
Joining Courtney are many other progressive environmentalist scientists:
Former Greenpeace member and Finnish Scientist Dr. Jarl R. Ahlbeck, a lecturer of environmental technology and a chemical engineer at Abo Akademi University in Finland who has authored 200 scientific publications, is also skeptical of man-made climate doom. Ahlbeck wrote in 2008, "Contrary to common belief, there has been no or little global warming since 1995 and this is shown by two completely independent datasets. But so far, real measurements give no ground for concern about a catastrophic future warming."
Life-long liberal Democrat Dr. Martin Hertzberg, a retired Navy meteorologist with a PhD in physical chemistry, also declared his dissent of warming fears in 2008. "As a scientist and life-long liberal Democrat, I find the constant regurgitation of the anecdotal, fear mongering clap-trap about human-caused global warming to be a disservice to science," Hertzberg wrote. [ Read Full Speech Section Here: Politically Left Scientists Now Rejecting Climate Fears ]
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More than 650 Scientists Dissent
Recently, I released a new minority report on climate science which documents many of the studies ignored by the mainstream media. That report included over 650 scientists who have challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I have been detailing these science issues for a number of years. In a July 28, 2003, floor speech in this chamber, I said the issue of global warming "is far from settled, and indeed is seriously disputed."
I explained that "anyone who pays even cursory attention to the issue understands that scientists vigorously disagree over whether human activities are responsible for global warming, or whether those activities will precipitate natural disasters," and I noted that "not only is there a debate, but (at least in certain corridors) the debate is shifting away from those who subscribe to global warming alarmism."
After that speech, I led the charge against the McCain-Lieberman global warming cap-and-trade bill in 2003 and again in 2005, both times easily defeating the bills. At times, it was a lonely battle with few Republican members willing to join me on the Senate floor to publicly oppose the McCain-Lieberman bills.
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In 2007, I released a Senate Minority Report detailing over 400 scientists disputing man-made global warming claims and the inconvenient real world climate developments refuting warming fears.
Now in 2008, we have updated our report and the so-called "consensus" on global warming is even more disputed. Over 650 dissenting scientists from around the globe challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore. Our new 233-page U.S. Senate Minority Report features the skeptical voices of over 650 prominent international scientists, including many current and former UN IPCC scientists, who have now turned against the UN IPCC. This updated report includes an additional 250 (and growing) scientists and climate researchers since the initial release in December 2007. The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers.
The chorus of skeptical scientific voices grew louder in 2008 as a steady stream of peer-reviewed studies, analyses, real world data, and inconvenient developments challenged the UN’s and former Vice President Al Gore's claims that the "science is settled" and there is a "consensus." Despite what is being portrayed in the media, on a range of issues, 2008 proved to be challenging for the promoters of man-made climate fears.
In addition, the following developments further secured 2008 as the year the "consensus" collapsed. Russian scientists "rejected the very idea that carbon dioxide may be responsible for global warming." An American Physical Society editor conceded that a "considerable presence" of scientific skeptics exists. An International team of scientists countered the UN IPCC, declaring, "Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate." India issued a report challenging global warming fears. A team of international scientists demanded the UN IPCC "be called to account and cease its deceptive practices," and a canvass of more than 51,000 Canadian scientists revealed that 68% disagree that global warming science is "settled."
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Here are some of the highlights of my 2008 Senate Minority Report featuring over 650 international scientists dissenting from man-made climate claims:
"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...The main basis of the claim that man’s release of greenhouse gases is the cause of the warming is based almost entirely upon climate models. We all know the frailty of models concerning the air-surface system." - 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.
"So far, real measurements give no ground for concern about a catastrophic future warming." - Scientist Dr. Jarl R. Ahlbeck, a chemical engineer at Abo Akademi University in Finland, author of 200 scientific publications and former Greenpeace member.
"Anyone who claims that the debate is over and the conclusions are firm has a fundamentally unscientific approach to one of the most momentous issues of our time." - Solar physicist Dr. Pal Brekke, senior advisor to the Norwegian Space Centre in Oslo. Brekke has published more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles on the sun and solar interaction with the Earth.
"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.
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To read Senator Inhofe’s full speech, click here:
Link to Speech Excerpt: Politically Left Scientists Now Rejecting Climate Fears
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