It sounds like Pricey Harrison was not paying attention when the “3 scientists” that she claims the climate commission heard from testified. First, there were 2 scientists and one economist who might be put in the contrarian camp (the optimist camp)–i.e. that were not hand picked by the environmentalist left that controls the commission. The economist did not address the science. The two scientists were both climatologists, Dr. Robert Balling from Arizona State University and Dr. Patrick Michaels, from UVA and the Virginia State Climatologist, as opposed to the vast majority of of alarmists who spoke who were not climate scientists. The fact is that both Michaels and Balling agreed that the earth has warmed and that human greehouse gas emissions are largely responsible for at least the most recent run up in temperatures–about .5 degrees since the 1970s. Prior to that there was 30 years of cooling. Their arguments are that future warming will be relatively mild and that there is no CO2 mitigating strategy that will have any noticable impact for centuries–at least without impoverishing us all. This last point was not disputed by anyone–alarmist or optimist.
As for Harrison’s claim of there being only 10 scientists who are not alarmists she should check the open letter recently presented to the Canadian government asking it to reconsider its participation in the Kyoto Protocol. In part this letter states:
“Climate change is real” is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified. Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural “noise.” The new Canadian government’s commitment to reducing air, land and water pollution is commendable, but allocating funds to “stopping climate change” would be irrational. We need to continue intensive research into the real causes of climate change and help our most vulnerable citizens adapt to whatever nature throws at us next.”
