As opposed to the Chicken Littles shouting that “The sky is falling!!”, eighty prominent scientists, researchers and environmental business leaders – many of them physicists – have called upon the American Physical Society (APS), the nation’s leading physics organization, to revise its policy statement on climate change. The century-old APS is the premier scholarly group in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of the knowledge of physics.

The signers of an open letter to the APS Council, the governing body of APS, are current and past members of APS. They disagree with the current APS policy statement on climate change, which contains such language as, “Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that effect the Earth’s climate,” and “The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring.”

[“Incontrovertible?” Take another look at our Vol. XV, Art. 33 commentary.

– “James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environmental policy at the heartland Institute, points out that a number of the alarmist statements in Al Gore’s book and in his movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. He accuses Al Gore of distorting science and of ignoring data that defy his theory on alleged ‘global warming’ …

– “Gore also claims Greenland is in rapid meltdown, and this threatens to raise sea levels by 20 feet. Yet a 2005 study in the ‘Journal of Glaciology’ says,’… the Greenland ice sheet is thinning and margins are growing inland, with a small overall mass gain.’ James M. Taylor further reports, ‘… in late 2006, researchers at the Danish Meteorological Institute reported that the past two decades were the coldest for Greenland since the 1910s’.

Meteorologist Joseph D’Alea’s summarized it thusly: “If the atmosphere was a 100-story building, our anthropogenic CO2 contribution today would be equivalent to the linoleum on the first floor.”

Many years ago we (and you) put this hoax to bed in our high school physics class when we placed ice cubes in a glass of water. As those cubes melted there was absolutely no effect on the water level. When water cools, it contracts until it reaches 39.2 degrees F. (4 degrees C.). Then it expands until it freezes, which is why frozen pipes burst.

The reason why an iceberg floats is because water has a density of 1.0 grams /ml. and ice has a density of only 0.931. As the iceberg (or the ice in the glass) melts, the water begins to shrink and will finally occupy exactly the same volume it did when it was in liquid form. You remember that.

[High school physics is just one more thing Mr. Gore sidestepped.]

That group of eighty scientists and academic leaders we mentioned above is urging APS to revise its statement on climate change to read as follows:

– “Greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, accompany human industrial and agricultural activity. While substantial concern has been expressed that emissions may cause significant climate change, measured reconstructed temperature records indicate that 20th (and) 21st century changes are neither exceptional or persistent, and the historical and geological records show many periods warmer than today. In addition, there is an extensive scientific literature that examines beneficial effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide for both plants and animals.

– “Studies of a variety of natural processes, including ocean cycles and solar variability, indicate that they can account for variations in the Earth’s climate on a time scale of decades and centuries. Current climate models appear insufficiently reliable to properly account for natural and anthropogenic contributions to past climate change, much less project future climate.”

This is a far cry from what we are reading in the very unscientific mainstream media. As a matter of fact, it would be a great surprise if the major media even report the challenge of these courageous scientists to the APS status quo.

When asked for a comment on the open letter, APS issued the following statement: “The APS president Cherry Murray has formed an ad hoc committee to examine the APS statement. The committee will advise Dr. Murray and the APS Council on whether any changes to the statement are necessary.”

The current APS policy statement on climate change was issued in November 2007. But since then, a growing body of evidence has been emerging that challenges the facts and conclusions of the APS statement. It remains to be seen if APS will consider all of the available evidence and recent research. Much of this new information would be embarrassing to politicians, including the President of the United States, because it will show that global warming as a result of human activity is a myth. The Administration and congressional leaders are in the heat of a legislative battle over health care, but they are also pushing a radical climate change or “cap-and-trade” bill that would dramatically increase the cost of energy for U.S. consumers and businesses. If APS reviews its statement in light of recent, more accurate research, its council may be inclined to adopt the revised statement on climate change from the open letter. But will APS leaders have the courage to do so in the face of intimidation by political leaders who don’t want to change their policies? It wouldn’t be the first time that political power trumped science.

The open letter is just one more piece of evidence that the theory of man-made global warming is losing credibility. Is anyone in Washington listening, or will misguided members of Congress enact their big-government “cap-and-trade” legislation without so much as a healthy debate about whether man-made global warming theory is even scientifically valid?

Hoax after hoax amounts to a series of diversions which keeps one’s eye off the ball. This sleight-of-hand by our leaders focuses our attention on matters that are irrelevant. Unemployment is our only problem. If shipbuilding jobs were to be created, all else – real or imagined – would disappear overnight … including the “bailout” programs for banksters and those hucksters on Wall Street.