Not sure if anyone else caught this, but have you noticed that anyone who thinks climate change and global warming are pure alarmist propaganda seem to also think that if they blast Al Gore, they are intelligently pointing out certain fallacies and shortcomings in climate science.

The Heartland Institute is hosting the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change. This is how the Conference is being described.

The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change is the first major international conference to focus on issues and questions not answered by advocates of the theory of man-made global warming. Hundreds of scientists, economists, and public policy experts from around the world will gather on March 2-4, 2008, at the Marriott New York Marquis Hotel on Manhattan’s Time Square, to call attention to widespread dissent in the scientific community to the alleged “consensus” that the modern warming is primarily man-made and is a crisis. -- 2008 International Conference on Climate Change official website

The Conference also has some pretty clearly defined goals, and these are absolutely great, because we all know how the "other side" of the climate debate has been neglected all these many, many years.

The goals of the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change are:

- to bring together the world’s leading scientists, economists, and policy experts to explain the often-neglected “other side” of the climate change debate;

- to sponsor presentations and papers that make genuine contributions to the global debate over climate change;

- to share the results of the conference with policymakers, civic and business leaders, and the interested public as an antidote to the one-sided and alarmist bias that pervades much of the current public policy debate; and

- to set the groundwork for future conferences and publications that can turn the debate toward sound science and economics, and away from hype and political manipulation.-- International Climate Science Coalition

I know... awesome.

Reuters covered the story and noted how many speakers at the conference seemed to focus their "debate" on cheap shots at Gore, the poster kid for global wa-wa (Futurama, anyone?).

Several speakers at the conference on climate change whose theme was "Global warming is not a crisis," took pot-shots at the ex-vice president and his film, "An Inconvenient Truth," which won last year's Academy Award for best documentary. "Whether we like it or not, it was extremely effective propaganda," said Timothy Ball, an environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg. "It was appropriate that he got an Oscar from the land of make-believe," he joked. -- Reuters

Wow, good one, Timothy Ball. Then where did that Nobel Prize come from? The Valley of Pretend.

This really is not about Al Gore. I wish climate skeptics would realize that.

Let's give the skeptics a moment of consideration. Maybe the carbon levels in our atmosphere really don't affect the planet significantly and currently the climate is following normal and natural variations. As someone pointed out to me after my Ice Melt post regarding Greenland, the ice caps have melted before and will again, with no correlation to human activity.

Okay, let's say all that is true. But regardless, if we were to curb population growth, decrease the amount of pollution spewed into the air, clean up our rivers, decrease our use of non-renewable resources and take better care of those that are renewable, let trees and plants grow, allow native fauna to keep their homes, recycle instead of bury the heaps of trash produced every minute, keep our soils and crops healthy, and generally just live a little lighter... wouldn't that still be a good idea?

Perhaps instead of devoting so much time and energy to arguing against global warming, the Heartland Institute would better serve that very same heartland by spending that time and energy promoting healthier lifestyles and a healthier planet. Unfortunately, humans are a funny bunch that are slow to respond unless prodded into action. The main point of An Inconvenient Truth was not to spread the Gospel of Gore, but rather to prod people into not treating the world as an ashtray.

And by the way, the Heartland Institute has some pretty close ties to the Tobacco industry, and according to Exxon Secrets:

Heartland Institute has received $791,500 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

Now, Exxon is a oil company, last time I checked.

And if that weren't enough of a conflict of interest, check this out. The 2005 tax return for the Heartland Institute lists among its officers a certain Walter Buchholtz as its Government Relations Advisor. Buchholtz also happened to be Exxon's Senior Environmental Advisor at the time. Hmm.

I wish I could find out more about the Heartland Institute's funding sources, but the Institute no longer discloses their contributers. But it is only to prevent undue influence on their writers and researchers.

For many years, we provided a complete list of Heartland’s corporate and foundation donors on this Web site and challenged other think tanks and advocacy groups to do the same. To our knowledge, not a single group followed our lead. After much deliberation and with some regret, we now keep confidential the identities of all our donors for the following reasons: (1) People who disagree with our views have taken to selectively disclosing names of donors who they think are unpopular in order to avoid addressing the merits of our positions. Listing our donors makes this unfair and misleading tactic possible. By not disclosing our donors, we keep the focus on the issue. (2) We have procedures in place that protect our writers and editors from undue influence by donors. This makes the identities of our donors irrelevant. (3) We frequently take positions at odds with those of the individuals and companies who fund us, so it is unfair to them as well as to us to mention their funding when expressing our point of view. -- The Heartland Institute

Funny. Number one seems to be exactly what is going on at their International Conference, when the speakers attack Al Gore instead of "addressing the merits" of certain positions.

Further Reading:

• The House is Still on Fire