A
gentleman I met at Heartland’s great New York conference in March sends
a heartbreakingly hilarious account of an event hosted this weekend by
the San Diego Zoo, obviously intended less to inform than absurdly
alarm. Enjoy this excerpt from his email:
Here is a summary of speaker topics:
Here is their press release following the event:
All
the speakers accepted as fact the theory of manmade global warming and
its predicted dire consequences. Further, they all urged actions to
attempt to change the world’s temperature. My impression is that the
entire audience of about 200 concurred. I was the lone exception.
Here are a few of my questions and the speakers’ answers:
George Durner, Senior Polar Bear Researcher, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center.
Mr. Durner explained how the earth has experienced “unprecedented
heating” during the past 50 years as a result of CO2 in the atmosphere
from man’s use of fossil fuels. He went on to describe how polar bears
may become extinct due to mankind’s abuse of the environment.
I
asked Mr. Durner what has happened to the worldwide population of polar
bears during the 50 year period leading up to his calamitous warning of
the demise of polar bears.
Mr. Durner admitted that the polar bear population had doubled during the last 50 years.
JoAnne Simerson, Senior Animal Keeper, Polar Bear Researcher, San Diego Zoo.
Ms.
Simerson showed graphics and a video of Arctic ice melting, and
likewise argued that manmade global warming is melting the ice and
destroying the polar bear habitat — and if we don’t heed the urgent
call to change world temperature, polar bears may become extinct.
I
asked Ms. Simerson if there were any theories other than manmade global
warming that may help us understand what is happening to the Arctic ice.
Ms. Simerson replied that she was not a climatologist and only intended to show us the polar bear pictures she had taken.
Terrie Williams, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Dr.
Williams discussed the disastrous effects manmade global warming has on
mammals. One example: African lions have been observed to be more
lethargic because it is necessary for them to roam further in hunting,
as their habitat is being wiped out because of man’s use of fossil
fuels. Dr. Williams concluded her presentation with pictures and a sad
story of a seal she saw in Antarctica. She explained that the seal
became disconnected from its normal habitat when large blocks of ice
unnaturally broke off, prevented the seal from getting to its food
source. The presentation concluded with a picture of the seal frozen
and dead.
I asked Dr. Williams if it was true that the earth
had warmed about one degree Fahrenheit during the last 100 years. She
agreed. I then asked if I understood correctly the essence of her
presentation. Are we to understand that all the problems to mammals she
had described are directly attributable to that portion of the one
degree Fahrenheit over the last 100 years that is the manmade part? In
other words, it is some fraction of one degree Fahrenheit over 100
years?
She answered yes.