U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed ... - NJIAT

incorrect," and accused the UN of denying that "climate history and related archeology
give solid support to the solar hypothesis." Calder wrote in a February 11, 2007 op-ed in
the UK Times, "Twenty years ago, climate research became politicized in favor of one
particular hypothesis, which redefined the subject as the study of the effect of greenhouse
gases. As a result, the rebellious spirits essential for innovative and trustworthy science
are greeted with impediments to their research careers." Calder concluded, "Humility in
face of Nature's marvels seems more appropriate than arrogant assertions that we can
forecast and even control a climate ruled by the sun and the stars."
Ivy League Geologist Dr. Robert Giegengack, the chair of Department of Earth and
Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, believes Gore's
understanding of climate science is so poor that he told his undergrad students at
University of Pennsylvania in February 2007, "Every single one of you knows more
about [global warming] than Al Gore." According to the February 2007 edition of
Philadelphia Magazine, the Ivy League professor Giegengack voted for Gore for
president in 2000 and would probably vote for him again if given the opportunity. But
Giegengack's support of Gore faded when he examined the science presented in Gore's
film: "The glossy production [An Inconvenient Truth] is replete with inaccuracies and
misrepresentations, and appeals to public fear as shamelessly as any other political
statement that hopes to unite the public behind a particular ideology." Giegengack, who
holds both a master's degree and a doctorate in geology, explained that the Earth has been
warming for about 20,000 years, and humans have only been collecting data for about
200 years. "For most of Earth's history, the globe has been warmer than it has been for
the last 200 years. It has only rarely been cooler," Giegengack said, noting that the colder
periods included ice piled up two miles thick on what is now North America. According
to the magazine, "Giegengack tells his students they might want to consider that ‘natural'
climatic temperature cycles control carbon dioxide levels, not the other way around.
That's the crux of his argument with Gore's view of global warming - he says carbon
dioxide doesn't control global temperature, and certainly not in a direct, linear way."
"Sea level is rising," Giegengack said. The article continued: "But, he explains, it's been
rising ever since warming set in 18,000 years ago. The rate of rise has been pretty slow -
only about 400 feet so far. And recently - meaning in the thousands of years - the rate has
slowed even more. The Earth's global ocean level is only going up 1.8 millimeters per
year. That's less than the thickness of one nickel. For the catastrophe of flooded cities and
millions of refugees that Gore envisions, sea levels would have to rise about 20 feet."
Giegengack explains: "At the present rate of sea-level rise it's going to take 3,500 years to
get up there [to Gore's predicted rise of 20 feet]. So if for some reason this warming
process that melts ice is cutting loose and accelerating, sea level doesn't know it. And sea
level, we think, is the best indicator of global warming." Finally, Giegengack concludes
by rejecting the notion that we need to "save" the Earth. "There's all this stuff about
saving the planet. The Earth is fine. The Earth was fine before we got here, and it'll be
fine long after we're gone." Giegengack's colleague Professor Ed Doheney also
critiqued former Vice President Al Gore's climate science presentation. "[Gore's] got his
independent and dependent variables all mixed up," Doheney said according to an
October 18, 2007 article in The Daily Pennsylvanian. Doheny also mocked Gore by
stating, "I didn't know they gave the Nobel Prize for acting." (LINK)
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