On July 25, 2019, the Heartland Institute hosted its 13th International Conference on Climate Change in Washington, DC. Here is some promotional text posted prior to the conference:
Climate realists have established beyond reasonable doubt that the human impact on climate is likely to be very small and beneficial rather than harmful. Realists have proven that most scientists now share this opinion, except those who have made careers out of finding a human impact and exaggerating it.
Speakers at ICCC-13 will summarize the best available climate science and recommend what policy changes are needed for America to lead a post-alarmist world in climate realism. ICCC-13 will also feature timely, in-depth, and expert discussions about the “Green New Deal” and the benefits of ending the Democrats’ war on fossil fuels.
This link provides the full Conference Schedule, and videos of all the presentations can be found on the Heartland website.
Given below of a selection of presentations at the conference:
Awards
Note that all three of the award recipients have been in the battle for Climate Change Realism for many years. In the case of Patrick Micheals, his presentation earlier in the conference is also linked, since there are several references made to it in his award presentation.
In the case of the other two recipients, note that they both stress the ideological roots of the Climate Change movement; there is a political and cultural goal which is related to totalitian control under Socialism.
Patrick Michaels, ICCC13 (Panel 3 – Scientific Observations) (17:32)
Presentation: Models, Data and ‘Data’
Bio: Dr. Patrick J. Michaels is a Senior Research Fellow for Policy and Economic Development at George Mason University. He is a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists and was program chair for the Committee on Applied Climatology of the American Meteorological Society.
Sample conclusions:
Among his conclusions are a telling quote from Hourdin et al, 2016, entitled “The Art and Science of Climate Model Tuning:”
“With the increasing diversity in the applications of climate models, the number of potential targets for tuning increases. There are a variety of goals for specific problems, and different models may be optimized to perform better on a particular metric, related to specific goals, expertise or cultural identity of a given modeling center.” Amazing! “Tuning” models for what purpose? To meet ideological goals? And what does identity politics have to do with science?
Pat Michaels Receives the Courage in Defense of Science Award at ICCC13 (41:36)
Presentation: Science and the Endangerment Finding.
Bio: Patrick Michaels, PhD receives the “Courage in Defense of Science”, introduced by Dr. Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Sample conclusions:
His “inescapable conclusion”, based in part of what he presents, is: “EPA’s Endangerment Finding is fatally flawed and should be vacated.”
Jay Lehr Receives the Dauntless Purveyor of Climate Truth Award (20:20)
Tim Ball Receives the Lifetime Achievement in Climate Science Award (23:52)
Additional Sample Presentations
Videos below are from each of the five panels assembled throughout the conference.
Roy Spencer, ICCC13 (Panel 1 – Scientific Observations) (17:04)
Presentation: Global Satellite Temperatures Versus Climate Models.
Bio: Dr. Roy Spencer was a Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where he and Dr. John Christy received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for their global temperature monitoring work with satellites.
Sample conclusions:
1. Satellite monitoring of tropospheric temperatures provides an essential check on climate model forecasts.
5. There is no Climate Crisis or Climate Emergency. Even if observed warming is down to increasing CO2, it’s too weak to notice in your lifetime.
Nir Shaviv, ICCC13 (Panel 1 – Scientific Observations) (21:20)
Presentation: The Solar Climate Link and its Role in Understanding of 20th Century Climate Change.
Bio: Professor Nir J. Shaviv is a member of the Racah Institute of Physics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His studies on the possible relationships between cosmic rays’ intensity and the Earth’s climate, and the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms and Ice Age Epochs on Earth were widely echoed in the scientific literature, as well as in the general press.
Sample conclusions:
1. There are no arguments proving that warming is mostly human.
2. Actual evidence points to a strong solar climate link and a low climate [i.e., anthropogenic] sensitivity.
3. Future warming will be benign.
David Legates, ICCC13 (Panel 1 – Scientific Observations) (15:44)
Presentation: The Non-Governmental International Panel on Climate Change
Bio: David Legates, PhD is professor of climatology in the Department of Geography at the University of Delaware and an adjunct professor at the university’s Physical Ocean Science and Engineering Program and in the Department of Applied Economics & Statistics. At the 10th International Conference on Climate Change in 2015, he was presented with the Courage in Defense of Science Award. Legates has argued for the necessity of technological progress in precipitation measurement used for validating climate change scenarios and for validation of existing data used for that purpose.
Sample conclusions:
The Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) is an excellent resource for evaluating available scientific evidence on the subject of CO2-induced global warming. It serves as an objective critique to UN IPCC proclamations on climate change.
Benjamin Zycher, ICCC13 (Panel 2 – Energy and Climate Economics) (22:52)
Presentation: The Green New Deal Renewable Energy Mandate
Bio: Benjamin Zycher, PhD is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works on energy and environmental policy. He is also a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He has a doctorate in economics from UCLA, a Master in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from UCLA.
Sample conclusions:
The anti-human core of the Green New Deal (GND) is exposed. Energy expenditures are strongly correlated with incomes. Thus, if conventional energy is a social bad, then so are high incomes. Thus, investments in people such as education, health, capital, etc. are also social bads. Further, the GND will require mega surveillance and politicized control and rationing of energy use: “smart meters”, etc. Also control of land use, transportation patterns, and the ability of people to decide to “go” and “when”. Also, a massive wealth transfer from rural and suburban regions to urban areas.
Craig Idso, ICCC13 (Panel 3 – Scientific Observations) (20:04)
Presentation: The Benefits of Atmospheric CO2 and a Warmer Climate
Bio: Craig Idso, PhD is the founder, former president, and currently chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change. The Center was founded in 1998 as a non-profit public charity dedicated to discovering and disseminating scientific information pertaining to the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment on climate and the biosphere.
Sample conclusions:
His final conclusions include the following:
1. Atmospheric CO2 is an aerial fertilizer, not an airborne pollutant.
2. Fossil energy enhances civilization and the human experience, it doesn’t diminish it.
3. More, not less, fossil energy is needed to enhance and protect the human environment.
4. Far too many regulations and laws have tilted the scales toward safeguarding the natural environment at the expense of humanity and it is time for that to change.
Anthony Watts, ICCC13 (Panel 3 – Scientific Observations) (13:04)
Presentation: Doctored Datasets vs. Temperature Reality
Bio: Anthony Watts has been in the weather business both in front of, and behind the camera as an on-air television meteorologist since 1978, and currently does daily radio forecasts. He has created weather graphics presentation systems for television, specialized weather instrumentation, as well as co-authored peer-reviewed papers on climate issues. He operates the most viewed website in the world on climate, the award-winning website wattsupwiththat.com.
Sample conclusions:
After pointing out graphically how temperature datasets have been manually altered to get “desired” (i.e., pro-Climate Crisis) results, he displays the statement: “Imagine if this were ‘adjusted’ stock market data – people would go to jail for securities fraud.”
Myron Ebell, ICCC13 (Panel 4 – Winning Public Policy Options) (17:36)
Presentation: Trump’s Climate Victories – What Comes Next?
Bio: Myron Ebell is director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, which is one of the most-effective advocates for free-market environmentalism. He also chairs the Cooler Heads Coalition, an ad hoc coalition of over two dozen non-profit groups, including The Heartland Institute, that led the successful decades-long fight to defeat cap-and-trade legislation and more recently led the effort to convince President Trump to withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty.
Sample conclusions:
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) petitioned the EPA in 2017 to re-open the Endangerment Finding, as did other groups. As of June 2019, EPA had not taken any action. However, as of this conference, additional progress has been made to re-open the Endangerment Finding, and the process continues. Clearly if there is no impending climate crisis over the next century, the Endangerment Finding needs to be either drastically modified or vacated.
Lord Christopher Monckton, ICCC13 (Panel 5 – Advancing from Theory to Practice) (31:48)
Presentation: Global warming and Mitigation economics: The Candy-Cane Question.
Bio: Lord Christopher Monckton was Special Advisor to Margaret Thatcher as U.K. Prime Minister from 1982 to 1986. In 1986 he was among the first to advise the prime minister that “global warming” caused by carbon dioxide should be investigated. Two years later she set up the Hadley Centre for Forecasting: but she, like him, later changed her view.
Sample conclusions:
Climate concern sprang from an elementary error of physics. After correction, there will be less than 1.3 degrees’ warming by 2100. Warming will be net-beneficial. The cost of climate action exceeds any legitimately-foreseeable benefit. The best policy is to do nothing.
Benny Peiser, ICCC13 (Panel 5 – Advancing from Theory to Practice) (24:12)
Presentation: Incredible Shrinking Europe: Between Climate Utopia and Green Energy Crisis
Bio: Benny Peiser, PhD is the director of the Global Warming Policy Forum, based in the United Kingdom.
Sample conclusions:
1. European governments are increasing divided with rising costs (due to “climate” policies) and growing populist opposition (see yellow vests). It’s a vote loser.
2. East Europe is less committed to “climate” policies than West. They like their inexpensive coal, for example. None of the “legally binding targets” relative to climate for any European countries will be met.
3. Investment in renewables are dropping significantly
Jennifer Fielder, ICCC13 (Panel 5 – Advancing from Theory to Practice) (22:08)
Presentation: End of the Era of Mega Fires in the West
Bio: Jennifer Fielder is a State Senator from Montana. For over twenty years, Jennifer operated a small business specializing in planning, design, and development of outdoor recreation, urban and natural landscapes, and community enhancement projects. She was elected to the Montana State Senate in 2012, and in 2015 received Montana Agricultural Women’s “Keeper of the Tenth Award” for outstanding defense of the rights of the Sates and the People in accordance with the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Sample conclusions:
A map of the USA displaying the amount of land controlled by the Federal government reveals the vast areas in the 11 Western states not under state control. The large forest fires that occur in the West is not related to climate change, but rather directly related to the lack of forest maintenance. She advocates for transfer of ownership to local states, who are the real stakeholders.