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Pope Attacked By Climate Change Skeptics
HughPickens.com writes: The Telegraph reports that as the Vatican forges an alliance with the UN to tackle climate change, skeptics accuse Pope Francis of being deeply ill-informed about global warming. The Pope discussed climate change with Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, who then opened a one-day Vatican conference called "The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Development". Organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, SDSN and Religions for Peace, the goal of the conference is to help strengthen the global consensus on the importance of climate change in the context of sustainable development.
But a group of British and American skeptics say the Pope is being fed "mistaken" advice from the UN and that he should stick to speaking out on matters of morality and theology rather than getting involved in the climate change debate. "The Pope has great moral authority but he's not an authority on climate science. He's a learned man but the IPCC has got it wrong," says Jim Lakely of the Heartland Institute, a conservative American pressure group partly funded by billionaire industrialists who question climate change. "The Pope would make a grave mistake if he put his moral authority behind scientists saying that climate change is a threat to the world. Many scientists have concluded that human activity is a minor player. The Earth has been warming since the end of the last Ice Age."
It was the first time the Heartland Institute, which is based in Chicago and has been described by the New York Times as "the primary American organization pushing climate change skepticism," has traveled to Rome to try to influence a pope. "The sideshow envisioned by these organizations will not detract from the deep concern that Pope Francis has for the truth and how it relates to the environment," says Dr. Bernard Brady, Professor and Chair of the Theology Department at the University of St. Thomas. "Pope Francis will probably follow his predecessor, Benedict XVI, recognizing the interrelatedness of climate change with other moral issues and calling for persons, organizations, communities, nations, and indeed the global community, to reconsider established patterns of behavior."
But a group of British and American skeptics say the Pope is being fed "mistaken" advice from the UN and that he should stick to speaking out on matters of morality and theology rather than getting involved in the climate change debate. "The Pope has great moral authority but he's not an authority on climate science. He's a learned man but the IPCC has got it wrong," says Jim Lakely of the Heartland Institute, a conservative American pressure group partly funded by billionaire industrialists who question climate change. "The Pope would make a grave mistake if he put his moral authority behind scientists saying that climate change is a threat to the world. Many scientists have concluded that human activity is a minor player. The Earth has been warming since the end of the last Ice Age."
It was the first time the Heartland Institute, which is based in Chicago and has been described by the New York Times as "the primary American organization pushing climate change skepticism," has traveled to Rome to try to influence a pope. "The sideshow envisioned by these organizations will not detract from the deep concern that Pope Francis has for the truth and how it relates to the environment," says Dr. Bernard Brady, Professor and Chair of the Theology Department at the University of St. Thomas. "Pope Francis will probably follow his predecessor, Benedict XVI, recognizing the interrelatedness of climate change with other moral issues and calling for persons, organizations, communities, nations, and indeed the global community, to reconsider established patterns of behavior."
Bring back Pope Benedict. At least he was rational. And while we're at it, arm him, and give him troops so he can do something about persecutions of Christians in the Middle East.
Climate Change hysteria is a sin.
Would love to see the results and raw data of all your experiments proving climate change. Please post links.
I think it's time to stop calling these people "skeptics". They are science denialists, just like creationists. Skeptic would imply that they have found fault with the current science and attack that line of reasoning, but they don't. Instead, they have already come up with the conclusion that climate change is no issue and it is not caused my man, which goes against all current evidence.
In the case of the Fox new like cranks I agree. The thing is, I feel the same about the climate change 'evangelists' that are preaching catastrophe as well.
The problem is we are facing issues that require real discussion, and that of course means there are loud guys on the fringe of both sides making strawmen for the other side to burn in effigy.
The instrumental record indisputably shows a linear warming trend over the last hundred years. The slightly shorter instrumental record of CO2 concentrations also shows a linear increasing concentration over the record. These are inarguable observations. Similarly, we know we are emitting a lot of CO2 and that CO2 contributes to warming.
The discussion comes in amongst those of us who accept and agree on this. I look at this evidence, and I look at projections, and I look at energy imbalance observations and I see a serious need to plan how we will cope with linear increasing temperature and sea level rise. I do not see compelling evidence that slashing CO2 is a good course, and see the balance of evidence actually suggesting it is a waste of time. Not least of which being that technologies to replace major emission sources like automobiles are, in climate timelines, very close to being solved profitably by folks like Tesla without us hamstringing the economy to force the matter.
I know the Catholic Church's stance on evolution and creation. Francis himself has said "evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve". So yeah, evolution exists, but we were all created before we evolved.
I have not made any claims as to whether it is happening or not. Just looking for data, that's it. Now I have read that Greenland was once green, yet personally have seen very little if any climate change during my short stay here while being very active outdoors including farming the land. This leads me to think while climate change certainly does happen man is not accelerating the process much if at all. Your "overwhelming evidence" gets destroyed regularly so trying to figure out if it all comes from Al Gore or if anyone else is conducting any independent research. Wait until you guys get around to studying Pangaea, your heads will explode! And yes you are afraid. Afraid of being wrong. Science is never settled kiddo.
Actually, there have been several studies that demonstrate that republicans go out of their way to spread disinformation. For example, people who watch Fox News know *less* about current events that people who don't watch any news programs at all.
http://www.businessinsider.com...
Googling for 'conservative stupid study' will give you article after article
The thing is, it's not about whether Democrats are good and Republicans are bad. Everyone seems to be under this assumption that Democrats=liberal and Republicans=conservative. In actuality, Democrats=center leaning conservatives, and Republicans=psycho theocrats that make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad look rational.
The Democrats most closely correlate with the conservatives of the 60s-80s. They're hardly perfect, and they have their own moments of self-serving garbage. But Republicans? They actively *scare* me. They are hell bent on persecuting everything that isn't white, male, and rich, and heterosexual. And that persecution goes up exponentially as you take away more of those elements. They have not only consistently voted against *anything* that would help the average American, but they have repealed existing laws that help, especially when it comes to womens rights.
As one example: The Democrats implemented one of the single most important pieces of legislation that helps fix the horrific mess that is the US health care system. It has been clearly demonstrated now that not only do many Americans now have access to health care that they didn't have access to before, but it has decreased overall health care costs. The Republicans have been trying, and continue to try, to repeal the ACA for no logical reason whatsoever.
Republicans are railing against Obama for *not* being enough of a war-monger. They collectively deny basic science like evolution. The list just goes on and on. It's not that Democrats are good. It's that the Republicans are *insane*.