Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute, which organized the conference, argues that the extent and causes of global warming are far from proven.

The goal of the gathering, says Bast: “is to provide a forum to challenge people like former U.S. Vice President Al Gore with a healthy dose of skepticism.”

"We think we have a great story to tell that more and more prominent scientists are coming out saying global warming is not a crisis, that the question of what causes it and how extensive it's going to be are wide open in the scientific community," Bast said.

The keynote speech was delivered by Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who has become well-known for his opinions on the issue. Speaking to students at Columbia University a day later, he reaffirmed his vocal opposition to the concept that global warming is man-made.

"The problem is not global warming," Klaus said. "By the ideology which uses or misuses it -- it has gradually turned into the most efficient vehicle for advocating extensive government intervention into all fields of life and for suppressing human freedom and economic prosperity."

Deforestation Watch observes that the number of climate change skeptics is growing rapidly. Because a funny thing is happening to global temperatures -- they're going down, not up.

On the same day (Sept. 5) that areas of southern Brazil were recording one of their latest winter snowfalls ever and entering what turned out to be their coldest September in a century, Brazilian meteorologist Eugenio Hackbart explained that extreme cold or snowfall events in his country have always been tied to "a negative PDO" or Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Positive PDOs -- El Ninos -- produce above-average temperatures in South America while negative ones -- La Ninas -- produce below average ones.

Dr. Hackbart also pointed out that periods of solar inactivity known as "solar minimums" magnify cold spells on his continent. So, given that August was the first month since 1913 in which no sunspot activity was recorded -- none -- and during which solar winds were at a 50-year low, he was not surprised that Brazilians were suffering (for them) a brutal cold snap. "This is no coincidence," he said as he scoffed at the notion that manmade carbon emissions had more impact than the sun and oceans on global climate.

Also in September, American Craig Loehle, a scientist who conducts computer modelling on global climate change, confirmed his earlier findings that the so-called Medieval Warm Period (MWP) of about 1,000 years ago did in fact exist and was even warmer than 20th-century temperatures.

Prior to the past decade of climate hysteria and Kyoto hype, the MWP was a given in the scientific community. Several hundred studies of tree rings, lake and ocean floor sediment, ice cores and early written records of weather -- even harvest totals and censuses --confirmed that the period from 800 AD to 1300 AD was unusually warm, particularly in Northern Europe.

In the face of this growing global skepticism to the concept of global warming itself, the claims of Greenpeace and the Friends of the Earth that palm oil is causing global warming through massive deforestation is losing credibility fast!

In the face of evidence that Greenpeace had staged the grisly killing of a baby seal just to make a fundraising film that purported to show how bad fishermen were killing baby seals, this environmental organization is gaining the reputation of an organization that is growing increasingly desperate and bizarre!

Just how bizarre can be evinced from the call by Greenpeace energy campaigner Mark Wakeham urging the substitution of some red meat for kangaroo meat to help reduce land clearing and the release of methane gas from flatulent cattle and sheep.

"It is one of the lifestyle changes we can make," Mr Wakeham said.

"Changing our meat consumption habits is a small way to make an impact."

The eat kangaroo recommendation is contained in a report, Paths to a Low-Carbon Future, commissioned by Greenpeace!
 
Not to be outdone, FOE campaigner’s have been resorting to dressing up as orangutans and regularly committing acts of sheer delinquency such as scaling the walls of multinational corporations such as Unilever to protest their use of palm oil in food manufacturing.

Is it any surprise then, that even a co-founder of Greenpeace has been moved to lament the lack of ethical conduct by his peers in the environmental movement.  Says Paul Watson: “The secret to David McTaggart's success is the secret to Greenpeace's success: It doesn't matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.... You are what the media define you to be. [Greenpeace] became a myth, and a myth-generating machine.”  That sadly is the indictment on the environmental movement today!  THE END.