Heartland Institute/International Conference on Climate Change (2009)

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The Heartland Institute 2009 International Conference on Climate Change, held March 8-10th in New York at the Marriott New York Marquis Times Square Hotel, brought together scientists, economists, legal experts, and other climate specialists to "confront the issue of global warming." These specialists, all climate change skeptics, aim to call attention "to new research that contradicts claims that Earth’s moderate warming during the 20th Century primarily was man-made and has reached crisis proportions." [1] The conference was organised and "sponsored" by the Heartland Institute, a U.S. think tank that in preceding years received substantial funding from Exxon for its work downplaying the significance of global warming.

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Funding the Conference

On its conference website, the Heartland Institute states that "all of the event’s expenses will be covered by admission fees and individual and foundation donors to Heartland. No corporate sponsorships or dollars earmarked for the event were solicited or accepted."[2] However, it does not disclose which foundations are contributing to the conference.

While the admission fees are quite high, the Heartland Institute appears to be willing to subsidize the fees of anyone who signs their global warming petition. As described in the Guardian, "the generous souls at the Heartland Institute are offering a special 20% discount on the $720 registration fee. All you have to do to qualify is put your name to the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine's Global Warming Petition, which to date has been signed by 31,072 American scientists, 'including 9,021 with PhDs.'" [3]

Ahead of the conference DeSmog Blog compiled a tally on the funding sources of the Heartland Institute and all the groups listed as co-sponsors of the conference. They found that "over $47 million from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from the Scaife Family of foundations" in the period between 1985 and 2006. In their calculations, the contributors were[4]:

  • ExxonMobil (1998-2006): $6,199,000
  • Koch Foundations (1986-2006): $4,438,920
  • Scaife Foundations (1985-2006): $36,868,640

2009 conference rationale - building on 2008 and the NIPCC

The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change led to the production of the "Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change." While the "NIPCC enlisted several hundred scientists from more than 100 countries to work over five years to produce its series of reports, the NIPCC document is the work of 23 authors from 15 nations, some of them not scientists," said Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post.[5] This report, edited by Fred Singer, alleged that "natural causes are very likely to be the dominant cause" of climate change and concluded that while anthropogenic sources of GHGs may produce some warming, "evidence shows they are not playing a significant role." [6] The validity of the NIPCC report has been highly questioned by RealClimate, whose scientists have labeled the report "disingenuous and misleading, if not outright dishonest." On their wiki site, they debunk the arguments, chapter by chapter, put forth by the NIPCC. [7]

2009's conference, with the theme "Global Warming Crisis: Cancelled," planned, as did the 2008 gathering, to call "attention to new research findings that contradict the conclusions of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report." [8]

In an interview conducted part way through the conference with NPR, New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin explained that "what I sense, they're realizing that they have such a varied array of scientific explanations for what is going on with the climate that they felt the need to ... square up their own story in some sense because otherwise they are in danger of losing credibility. What has caused this change? They're not gaining traction."[9] Revkin said that Russell Seitz, who had attended the 2008 conference[10], "felt stiffed and didn't really fit their script". 'He felt a strong sense that there is a political frame of the issue that supersedes the need for the science to be accurate. He was kind of frustrated," Revkin said.[9]

Conference speakers

The conference was to focus on four tracks of panel discussions relating to climate change: Paleoclimatology, Climatology, Impact of Climate Change, and Economics and Politics. [11] The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change website includes three podcasts, one that gives a program overview and two others that preview two of the conference headliners, Christopher Monckton and Christopher Horner. [12]

2009 conference speakers

2009's speakers were to include:

Conference co-sponsors

On its conference website, the Heartland Institute states that "all of the event’s expenses will be covered by admission fees and individual and foundation donors to Heartland. No corporate sponsorships or dollars earmarked for the event were solicited or accepted."[2] However, it does not disclose which foundations are contributing to the conference.

On its website, it lists co-sponsoring groups, as of January 20 2009, as being:[2]

Conference website

Website: http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/newyork09.html
Proceedings: http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/proceedings.html

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ "The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change", Heartland Institute website, accessed January 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Co-Sponsors", Heartland Institute, January 20, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Global warming sceptics show money talks in New York", Leo Hickman, The Guardian, January 19, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Heartland Institute's 2009 Climate Conference in New York: funding history of the sponsors", DeSmog Blog, February 24, 2004.
  5. ↑ "Global Warming Skeptics Insist Humans Not at Fault", Washington Post, March 4, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Even Skeptics Admit Global Warming is Real", David Biello and John Pavlus, Scientific American, January 2009.
  7. ↑ "Not the IPCC (“NIPCC”) Report", Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt, RealClimate Blog, November 2008.
  8. ↑ "Global Warming Facts", the Heartland Institute Global Warming page, January 2009.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Climate Skeptics Gather In New York City", "Day to Day", NPR, March 9, 2009. (Link to audio file).
  10. ↑ Russell Seitz, "A Letter from the Heartland", Adamant (blog), October 21, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Conference Program", Heartland Institute website, accessed January 2009.
  12. ↑ "Conference Podcasts", Heartland Institute website, January 2009.
  13. ↑ Alexandre Aguiar, ""Dubious Connections between Global Warming and Extreme Weather Events", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  14. ↑ Christopher Booker, "Remember the Poor: A Christian Perspective on Energy Rationing", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009.
  15. ↑ Gabriel Calzada, "Spain's New Economy: Boom and Bust of the Spanish Renewable Miracle", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  16. ↑ Piers Corbyn, "What Does and Does Not Cause Climate Change", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  17. ↑ John Dale Dunn, "Human Health Effects of Warming and Cooling", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (A copy of Dunn's presentation is not available).
  18. ↑ Don Easterbrook, "'Global Warming' Is Over: Geologic, Oceanographic, and Solar Evidence for Global Cooling in the Coming Decades", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  19. ↑ "Carbon Dioxide Not Responsible for 20th Century Warming", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change, March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  20. ↑ Indur Goklany, "Climate Change Impacts", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  21. ↑ Stanley Goldenberg, "Is There a Link between Global Warming and Hurricane Activity?", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Dan Miller, "Astronaut Joins Global Warming Skeptics", Media Release, The Heartland Institute, January 2009.
  23. ↑ Nir Shaviv, "The EU Parliament", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (A copy of Dunn's presentation is not available).
  24. ↑ Mike Jungbauer, "Global Warming Science and Policymakers", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  25. ↑ David Kreutzer, "Modeling Results on the Effects of Cap and Trade", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint).
  26. ↑ Howard Maccabee, "Untitles", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  27. ↑ Iain Murray, "Tracing Alarmism's Methods Back to Their Roots", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (PowerPoint)
  28. ↑ Harrison Schmitt, "Climate Facts that Really Are Facts", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 9, 2009. (Video download)
  29. ↑ Tom Segalstad, "Carbon Isotope Mass Balance Modeling of Atmospheric vs. Oceanic CO2 (PowerPoint)", Presentation to the International Conference on Climate Change, March 2009.
  30. ↑ Nir Shaviv, "New Solar-Climate Link and Implications for Our Understanding of Climate Change", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (A copy of Dunn's presentation is not available).
  31. ↑ John Theon, "Is Climate Change Driven by Mankind: My Personal Journey", Presentation to the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change (2009), March 10, 2009. (Download Video)

External resources

External articles

Heartland Institute Posts About the conference

Articles about the conference

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