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Astronaut Jack Schmitt Joins Skeptics

American astronaut Dr. Jack Schmitt - the twelfth person to walk on the
Moon, when he and Eugene Cernan were the last two to walk there - is
the latest scientist to be added to the roster of more than 70 skeptics
who will confront the subject of global warming at the second annual
International Conference on Climate Change in New York City March 8-10,
2009.

"As a geologist, I love Earth observations," Schmitt wrote, "But, it
is ridiculous to tie this objective to a 'consensus' that humans are
causing global warming when human experience, geologic data and
history, and current cooling can argue otherwise. 'Consensus,' as many
have said, merely represents the absence of definitive science. You
know as well as I, the 'global warming scare' is being used as a
political tool to increase government control over American lives,
incomes and decision making..."

The conference expects to draw 1,000 attendees including
private-sector business people, state and federal legislators and
officials, policy analysts, media, and students.

Schmitt, who earned a PhD from Harvard in geology, resigned in
November from the Planetary Society, an international non-profit
organization devoted to inspiring "the people of Earth to explore other
worlds, understand our own, and seek life elsewhere." He is the twelfth
person to walk on the Moon; as of 2008, of the nine living moonwalkers,
he and his crewmate Eugene Cernan were the last two to walk there.

"As a geologist, I love Earth observations," Schmitt wrote, "But, it
is ridiculous to tie this objective to a 'consensus' that humans are
causing global warming when human experience, geologic data and
history, and current cooling can argue otherwise. 'Consensus,' as many
have said, merely represents the absence of definitive science. You
know as well as I, the 'global warming scare' is being used as a
political tool to increase government control over American lives,
incomes and decision making..."

Schmitt will be joined by more than 70 other economists, public
officials, legal experts, and climate specialists calling 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.

Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, producer of the
event along with more than 30 co-sponsors, explained, "At the first
conference last March, we proved that the skeptics in the debate over
global warming constitute the center or mainstream of the scientific
community while alarmists are on the fringe.

"Now in the past nine months, the science has grown even more
convincing that global warming is not a crisis. Also suggesting this
'crisis' is over are opinion polls in the U.S. and around the globe and
political events, including the decisive defeat of 'cap-and-trade'
legislation in the U.S. Senate last spring. The crisis has been
cancelled by sound science and common-sense."

Headliners among the 70-plus presenters will be:

* William Gray, Colorado State University, leading researcher into tropical weather patterns.
* Richard Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the
world's leading experts in dynamic meteorology, especially planetary
waves.
* Stephen McIntyre, primary author of Climate Audit, a blog devoted to
the analysis and discussion of climate data. He is a devastating critic
of the temperature record of the past 1,000 years, particularly the
work of Michael E. Mann, creator of the infamous "hockey stick" graph.
That graph--thoroughly discredited in scientific circles--supposedly
proved that mankind is responsible for a sharp increase in greenhouse
gases.
* Arthur Robinson, curator of a global warming petition signed by more
than 32,000 American scientists, including more than 10,000 with
doctorate degrees, rejecting the alarmist assertion that global warming
has put the Earth in crisis and is caused primarily by mankind.
* Willie Soon, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
* Roy Spencer, University of Alabama at Huntsville, principal research scientist and team leader on NASA's Aqua satellite..

A partial list of confirmed speakers appears below.

Dan Miller, executive vice president of The Heartland Institute,
a 24-year-old national nonpartisan think-tank based in Chicago, said,
"All of the event's expenses will be covered by admission fees and
individual and foundation donors to Heartland. No corporate dollars
earmarked for the event were solicited or accepted."

Partial list of confirmed speakers at the
Second International Conference on Climate Change

Syun Akasofu
University of Alaska Fairbanks

J. Scott Armstrong
University of Pennsylvania

Dennis Avery
Hudson Institute

Joseph L. Bast
The Heartland Institute

Robert Bradley
Institute for Energy Research

Yaron Brook
Ayn Rand Institute

Bob Carter
James Cook University (Australia)

Frank Clemente
Penn State University

John Coleman
KUSI-TV, San Diego

William Cotton
Colorado State University

Joe D'Aleo
International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project

David Douglass
University of Rochester
Terry Dunleavy
International Climate Science Coalition

Myron Ebell
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Christopher Essex
University of Western Ontario

Robert Ferguson
Science and Public Policy Institute

Michelle Foss
University of Texas, Center for Energy Economics

William Gray
Colorado State University

Fred Goldberg
Royal School of Technology (Sweden)

Laurence Gould
University of Hartford

Kesten Green
Monash University

Chris Horner
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Howard Hayden
University of Connecticut

Craig Idso
Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change

Sam Kazman
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Richard Kenn
University of Colorado

William Kininmonth
Former head of the Australian National Climate Center

David Legates
University of Delaware

Jay Lehr
The Heartland Institute

Marlo Lewis
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Richard Lindzen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Keith Lockitch
Ayn Rand Institute

Craig Loehle
National Council for Air and Stream Improvement

Anthony Lupo
University of Missouri

Steve McIntyre
University of Toronto

Ross McKitrick
University of Guelph (Canada)

Patrick Michaels
University of Virginia

Christopher Monckton
Science and Public Policy Institute

Kevin Murphy
University of Chicago

Joanne Nova
Author, The Skeptics Handbook

Jim O'Brien
Florida State University

Tim Patterson
Carleton University (Canada)

Benny Peiser
Liverpool John Moores University (United Kingdom)

Paul Reiter
Pasteur Institute (France)

Arthur Robinson
Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine

Joel Schwartz
American Enterprise Institute

S. Fred Singer
Science and Environmental Policy Project

Fred Smith
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Lawrence Solomon
National Post (Canada)

Willie Soon
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Roy Spencer
University of Alabama in Huntsville

George Taylor
Oregon State University

James M. Taylor
The Heartland Institute

Brian Valentine
U.S. Department of Energy

Jan Veizer
University of Ottawa (Canada)

Anthony Watts
SurfaceStations.org

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