‘The New Science & Economics of Climate Change’ (Heartland’s 10th Coming up in Washington, DC)

By Jim Lakely -- May 12, 2015

“If there’s any chance at a rational policy on climate, two things must happen. First, intelligent laymen must take back the debate, by pushing currently out-of-bounds science back onto centre stage. They must stop letting ‘experts’ do their thinking for them. Second, political attacks on scientists must be stopped. Those must be pushed out of bounds.”

– Christopher Essex (Ph.D), Financial Post, February 26, 2015.

On June 11-12, 2015, in Washington, D.C., The Heartland Institute of Chicago, Illinois will host its Tenth International Conference on Climate Change, titled The New Science & Economics of Climate Change. “The debate over climate change is changing,” our conference brochure states. “Can you feel it?”

Yes, a growing number of scientists say the climate is less sensitive to carbon dioxide than previously thought. Most Americans do not believe global warming is a major threat. The U.S. Senate is no longer willing to rubber-stamp President Obama’s radical plans to “transform” the U.S. energy sector.

A Fresh Start!

• The national and international debate over the causes and consequences of climate change has raged for years. The Heartland Institute hosted the first International Conference on Climate Change in 2008 at what would later be seen as the high-water mark of the global warming alarmist movement.
• Since then, almost everything (except the temperature) has changed. Now is the right time for a fresh start!

Alarmists Are Retreating

• The architect of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s global warming regulations, John C. Beale, sits in a federal prison.
• The chairman of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, resigned amid a sex scandal.
• Oregon’s Gov. John Kizhaber, the “greenest” governor in the country, resigned when it was revealed his fiancée was being paid by environmental groups to influence his policies.
• Hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer spent $74 million trying to elect global warming alarmists in the 2014 elections. The candidates he backed most heavily all lost.
• ‘Climate Anger’ has replaced reasoned discourse among many in their retreat.

Realists Are Advancing

• Judith Curry: One plus the truth equals a majority.
• While alarmists are retreating, realists are advancing. More prominent scientists than ever are speaking out against the corruption of climate science. The latest Gallup poll shows concern over global warming ranks dead last among public concerns, as low as it was in 1989.
• Global warming skeptic Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has returned as chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) now chairs the subcommittee overseeing NASA’s climate research.
• Governors across the country are putting an end to costly renewable energy mandates and subsidies. Pro-environment, pro-energy, and pro-freedom policies are being enacted in their place.
• And most recently, big changes are afoot in the UK with the resounding victory of The Conservative Party over the Labor Party/Liberal Democrats.

The New Science and Economics of Climate Change

• Global temperatures haven’t risen in 18 years despite rising carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries such as China and India. New research consistently finds carbon dioxide has a smaller impact on global temperatures than previously thought.
• Climate models that predicted warming have been discredited. Scientists are looking for new theories that match the data. The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), an international network of some 50 climate scientists, has released four volumes of climate science showing the human impact on climate is smaller than previously thought.
• The number of strong hurricanes and tornadoes is falling, not rising. Floods and droughts are not becoming more frequent or severe. Crop yields and global foliage (the “greening of the planet” reported by many scientists) tell us increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and warmer temperatures benefit rather than threaten global plant life.
• Cost-benefit analysis finds the costs of replacing cheap and reliable fossil fuels with expensive and unreliable renewable fuels far outweigh any possible benefits. The American people are unwilling to pay thousands of dollars more each year for energy for no positive impact on the climate.

Conclusion

The new developments in science and politics point the way for a fresh start to the debate over public policies concerning global warming. How should policies change now that we know climate change is not a crisis?

Attempts to replace fossil fuels with renewable or low-carbon alternatives cause tremendous economic harm and reduce our standard of living. States that enacted policies requiring the use of renewable fuels have seen their electricity prices rise twice as fast as the national average. Internationally, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom experimented with low-carbon renewable power programs only to see energy prices and unemployment rates rise dramatically. Spain’s renewable energy programs killed 2.2 jobs for every one job created. The United Kingdom’s renewable energy programs killed 3.7 jobs for every one job created.

In the United States, states that encourage the production and use of conventional energy have experienced lower electricity prices and lower unemployment rates. Energy production states like North Dakota and Texas suffered much less than other states during the recent Great Recession.

Global warming activists spent millions of dollars in the 2014 elections trying to oust Republicans who opposed carbon dioxide restrictions, but failed spectacularly. The voters have spoken … and everyone but the Obama administration seems to have taken notice. 

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ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

The Tenth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC-10) will be the year’s largest gathering of global warming “skeptics” in the world and the biggest since ICCC-9 took place in Las Vegas in 2014.

ICCC-10 will take place on June 11–12 in Washington, DC at the Washington Court Hotel. We expect approximately 400 people to attend some or all of the conference, including some 50 scientists, economists, and policy experts speaking on panels and as keynoters.

The program includes many of the leading spokespersons for sound science and economics in the global warming debate, including Dr. Will Happer, Dr. Fred Singer, Dr. Willie Soon, Christopher Monckton, Dr. Bob Carter, Dr. Craig Idso, and Anthony Watts. Experts speaking on economics and public policy issues include Dr. Benjamin Zycher, Dr. Cornelis van Kooten, Dr. Marlo Lewis, and Tiffany Roberts.

PAST CONFERENCES

Past events in the ICCC series attracted more than 4,000 guests from more than 20 countries. They generated extensive international press coverage, some of which we preserved online at climateconferences.org.

The First International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC-1) took place in March 2008 in New York City. Attended by more than 500 people, it dramatized the fact that hundreds of prominent scientists around the world believe global warming is not a crisis. A year later, a second conference in New York City drew nearly 800 people.

Seven more conferences took place in the years that followed, held in cities such as Washington, DC, Chicago, Munich, Germany, and Sydney, Australia. The most recent one, the ninth, took place in Las Vegas on July 7–9, 2014.

Videos of all the presentations are available at climateconferences.heartland.org.

ICCCs have generated critical acclaim from allies and friends, as demonstrated by the endorsements that appear on this page and throughout this guide.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of these events is to build momentum and public awareness of the global warming realism movement, a network of scientists, economists, policymakers, and concerned citizens who stand opposed to the global warming alarmism that pervades politics and press coverage of the climate change issue.

The Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit organization based in Chicago, is the principal host of the event. Cosponsors are invited to supply speakers, help promote the event to their members and supporters, and sponsor awards.

Approximately 100 allied organizations have cosponsored at least one past ICCC. They included Americans for Tax Reform, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cornwall Alliance, George Marshall Institute, Heritage Foundation, International Climate Science Coalition, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, Pacific Research Institute, and Science and Public Policy Institute.

The goals of ICCC-10 are (a) to attract national and international attention to the fact that there is no scientific consensus on the causes or consequences of climate change; (b) to expand the social movement against global warming alarmism by bringing together leading thinkers and activists; and (c) to foster the exchange of scientific and economic research on climate change. This year’s event will focus on the scientific, economic, and public policy issues most important to Congress and congressional staffers given the new political environment in Washington, DC.