Last week, WOOD TV 8 meteorologist Craig James, whom we wrote about last fall regarding his global warming "skepticism," plugged a recent global warming conference held in New York City on his blog:
Not surprisingly based on his previous comments, Craig James failed to mention that the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change was organized and sponsored by the Heartland Institute, a think-tank that has sought to downplay the impact and causes of global warming for years. Moreover, most of the conference's sponsors have been funded by a network of rightwing foundations that have promoted pro-business and pro-industry ideologies over environmental protection. In addition, some have received money from Exxon-Mobil, a company that has a long history of funding scientists and organizations that have either denied or downplayed global warming.
Most of the speakers--few of whom were scientists--at the conference promoted the usual arguments against global warming, that the Earth is not warming and that the science is still open for debate. Of course, there is widespread consensus among scientists and the world's governments that global warming is real. Still, that doesn't stop entities like the Heartland Institute. While the media coverage of the conference was not as good as what they wanted, it did manage to convey the idea that there is "confusion" over the science of global warming. Not surprisingly given who spoke and sponsored the conference, its concluding declaration went against much of accepted science and declared that "there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change." As such, it called for "world leaders reject the views expressed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as popular, but misguided works such as 'An Inconvenient Truth'" and demanded that "all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2 be abandoned forthwith."
By contrast, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report last year--approved by 130 nations--that concluded that immediate action is necessary to prevent catastrophic warming and that warming caused thus far is due to human activity.
