In twin appearances last night former Vice President Al Gore dismissed
critics of his global warming theory as a small minority not credible in
their opposition.

In an unprecedented, uninterrupted eight-minute monologue on Keith Olbermann
's "Countdown," Gore characterized those scientists who dispute the reality
of global warming as part of a lunatic fringe.

Later, on Charlie Rose's show, Gore went further. Asked by Rose "Do you know
any credible scientist who says 'wait a minute - this hasn't been proven,'
is there still a debate?" Gore replied, "The debate's over. The people who
dispute the international consensus on global warming are in the same
category now with the people who think the moon landing was staged on a
movie lot in Arizona."

This flies in the face of such challengers as professor Bob Carter of the
Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia who
said: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic.
It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public
attention."


Famed climatologist and internationally renowned hurricane expert Dr.
William Gray of the atmospheric-science department at Colorado State
University went even further, calling the scientific "consensus" on global
warming "one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American
people." For speaking the truth he has seen most of his government research
funding dry up, according to the Washington Post.

Neither Gray nor Dr. Carter believe that the moon landing was staged on a
movie set in Arizona.

Nor does famed Oxford professor David Bellamy who sniffs that Gore's theory
is "Poppycock!"


Writing in Britain's Daily Mail last July 9, Dr. Bellamy charged that "the
world's politicians and policy makers ... have an unshakeable faith in what
has, unfortunately, become one of the central credo of the environmental
movement. Humans burn fossil fuels, which release increased levels of carbon
dioxide - the principal so-called greenhouse gas - into the atmosphere,
causing the atmosphere to heat up.



"They say this is global warming: I say this is poppycock. Unfortunately,
for the time being, it is their view that prevails.


"As a result of their ignorance, the world's economy may be about to divert
billions, nay trillions of pounds, dollars and rubles into solving a problem
that actually doesn't exist. The waste of economic resources is incalculable
and tragic."

Wrote Dr. Bellamy "It has been estimated that the cost of cutting fossil
fuel emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol would be [$1.3 trillion].
Little wonder, then, that world leaders are worried. So should we all be.


"If we signed up to these scaremongers, we could be about to waste a
gargantuan amount of money on a problem that doesn't exist - money that
could be used in umpteen better ways: Fighting world hunger, providing clean
water, developing alternative energy sources, improving our environment,
creating jobs.


"The link between the burning of fossil fuels and global warming is a myth.
It is time the world's leaders, their scientific advisers and many
environmental pressure groups woke up to the fact."

In agreement with Dr. Bellamy were a host of other respected climatologists
including the 19,000 who have signed a declaration that rejects Gore's
accusation that the rise of greenhouse gasses is caused by mankind's use of
fossil fuels. As has been pointed out, previous ice ages have been preceded
by a rise on CO2 levels long before there were humans or fossil fuels or
backyard barbecues.


Commenting on the scientists who support Gore's thesis, Dr. Carter one of
hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group
climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon
dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change, says, "'Climate
experts' is the operative term here. Why? Because of what Gore's 'majority
of scientists' think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them
actually work in the climate field.

Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an
embarrassment to U.S. science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of who
know, but feel unable to state publicly, that his propaganda crusade is
mostly based on junk science."

In April, 60 of the world's leading experts in the field asked Canada's
Prime Minister Harper to order a thorough public review of the science of
climate change, something that has never happened in Canada. Considering
what's at stake - either the end of civilization, if you believe Gore, or a
waste of billions of dollars, if you believe his opponents - it seems like a
reasonable request, wrote Tom Harris in the Canada Free Press.

According to Harris, a mechanical engineer, former University of Winnipeg
climatology professor Dr. Tim Ball notes that even among that fraction, many
focus their studies on the impacts of climate change; biologists, for
example, who study everything from insects to polar bears to poison ivy.
"While many are highly skilled researchers, they generally do not have
special knowledge about the causes of global climate change," explains Ball.
"They usually can tell us only about the effects of changes in the local
environment where they conduct their studies."

Adds Ball, among experts who actually examine the causes of change on a
global scale, many concentrate their research on designing and enhancing
computer models of hypothetical futures. "These models have been
consistently wrong in all their scenarios," asserts Ball. "Since modelers
concede computer outputs are not predictions but are in fact merely
scenarios, they are negligent in letting policy-makers and the public think
they are actually making forecasts."

Canada's new conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, has been urged by
more than 60 leading international climate change experts to review the
global warming policies he inherited from his predecessor.

In an open letter that includes five British scientists among the 60 leading
international climate change experts who signed the letter, the experts
praise Harper's commitment to review the controversial Kyoto Protocol on
reducing emissions harmful to the environment. "Much of the billions of
dollars earmarked for implementation of the protocol in Canada will be
squandered without a proper assessment of recent developments in climate
science," they wrote in the Canadian Financial Post last week.

They emphasized that the study of global climate change is, in Harper's own
words, an "emerging science" and added: "If, back in the mid 1990s, we knew
what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist,
because we would have concluded it was not necessary." Despite claims to the
contrary, there is no consensus among climate scientists on the relative
importance of the various causes of global climate change, they wrote.

"'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 letter is the latest effort by climate change skeptics to counter Gore's
demonstrably false claims that there is a consensus that human activity is
causing alleged global warming.

Listening to Al Gore makes one wonder if he is the one who believes that
"the moon landing was staged on a movie set in Arizona."