Randall Hoven reports on Professor William Happer’s statement to the Senate on global warming
Randall Hoven: “Many people write sensible things about anthropogenic global warming, but I find Professor William Happer’s statement to the US Senate [link] on February 25, 2009, especially clear and convincing.”
“Happer is the Cyrus Fogg Bracket Professor of Physics at Princeton University. He was also the Director of Energy Research at DOE from 1990-93, where he supervised all of DOE’s work on climate change. He says this:”
Prof. William Happer: “The climate is warming and CO2 is increasing. Doesn’t this prove that CO2 is causing global warming through the greenhouse effect? NO, THE CURRENT WARMING PERIOD BEGAN ABOUT 1800 AT THE END OF THE LITTLE ICE AGE, LONG BEFORE THERE WAS AN APPRECIABLE INCREASE OF CO2. There have been similar and even larger warmings several times in the 10,000 years since the end of the last ice age. These earlier warmings clearly had nothing to do with the combustion of fossil fuels. THE CURRENT WARMING ALSO SEEMS TO BE DUE MOSTLY TO NATURAL CAUSES, NOT TO INCREASING LEVELS OF CARBON DIOXIDE. Over the past ten years there has been NO GLOBAL WARMING, and in fact a slight cooling. THIS IS NOT AT ALL WHAT WAS PREDICTED BY THE IPCC MODELS.”
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Randall Hoven: “He explains how ice core observations show that historical temperatures and CO2 levels are indeed correlated, but that TEMPERATURE INCREASES PRECEDED THE CO2 INCREASES — BY ‘ABOUT 800 YEARS’, — THUS INDICATING THAT WARMING CAUSES INCREASED CO2 AND NOT VICE VERSA.”
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Hoven: “He explains that CO2, and higher concentrations of it in the atmosphere, are actually GOOD for us. ‘Crop yields will continue to increase as CO2 levels to up … moderate warming is an overall benefit to mankind because of higher agricultural yields and many other reasons.’ “
Hoven: “And finally, he shoots down the supposed ‘scientific consensus’ on global warming. For one, consensus is not the way science works. And two, there is no consensus.”