CHICAGO – U.S. Sen. James Inhofe—who has warned Congress that the threat of catastrophic global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”—will keynote the Fourth International Conference on Climate Change next month in Chicago.
The Oklahoma Republican and members of his family built an igloo near the U.S. Capitol in February as Washington lay paralyzed under stupendous snowfall and cold weather, ridiculing assertions by some climate scientists that Earth faces a crisis from warming temperatures.
Inhofe, for years the scourge of climate change alarmists, will join more than 70 of the world’s elite scientists and economists in a three-day climate conference built around the theme “Reconsidering the Science and Economics.”
The theme reflects a new willingness on the part of scientists to debate global warming in the wake of Climategate emails. The release in mid-November of hundreds of emails and other documents from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain revealed a systematic suppression and discrediting of climate skeptics’ views and the discarding of temperature data, which suggests a bias for making the case for man-made global warming.
Inhofe said recently, “the climate change debate should be based on fundamental principles of science. … [I]nstead of censoring skeptical viewpoints as my alarmist friends favor, these scientists must be heard, and I will do my part to make sure that they are heard.”
Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, which together with more than 60 co-sponsoring organizations is producing the conference, said, “Make no mistake: The debate over global warming is heating up. A growing number of scientists are speaking out against what they see as the misuse of science to exaggerate the human impact on climate.”
Panels and keynote presentations also will examine the threat of ocean acidification to marine life, projections about sea levels and rising global temperatures, green job creation, and the effect of the solar wind on Earth’s climate.
In addition, a panel of scientists and journalists will discuss the effect on the global warming debate of the Climategate emails.
Conference director James M. Taylor noted, “Our speakers don’t all agree on the causes, extent, or consequences of climate change or what, if anything, should be done. We invited these top scientists and economists to share their latest research and engage in respectful debate.”
Confirmed speakers include Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT, Dr. Roy Spencer of the University of Alabama and team leader for temperature-monitoring efforts on NASA’s Aqua satellite, Christopher Monckton, and Dr. Gabriel Calzada, Madrid, whose work on job creation shows green job programs pre-empt or destroy more jobs than they create.
The conference is produced by The Heartland Institute, a 26-year-old Chicago-based think tank that in 2008 and 2009 hosted three international conferences challenging the claim that a consensus exists among scientists that global warming has brought Earth to a crisis point and that human activity primarily is to blame.
The conference is open to the public. Some 1,000 scientists, economists, business people, state and federal legislators and regulators, and media representatives are expected to attend the event at the Marriott Hotel on Michigan Avenue.
For more information about speakers, to arrange interviews, or to register for the conference contact Dan Miller at (312) 377-4000, [email protected], or Tammy Nash at (312) 377-4000, [email protected]. More information also is available on The Heartland Institute’s Web site at www.heartland.org.
