Chicago media discount climate change conference

To the Editor:

The question, "When a tree falls in a lonely forest, and no animal is near by to hear it, does it make a sound?" appears to have originated in the 1910 book Physics by Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss.

The same question could be asked of the recently held Seventh International Conference on Climate Change sponsored by Chicago-based Heartland Institute.

From May 21-23, an impressive group of about 50 experts from around the world, among them physicists, astronauts, meteorologists, physicians, politicians, policy analysts, a head of state and a member of the European Parliament, met at Hilton Chicago Hotel united in their belief that the battle over climate change demands honest debate based scientific evidence, not empty appeals to a mythical "consensus" of those advancing a political agenda.

As with a tree in the forest, the ICCC7 conference was ignored - censored - by the Chicagoland media. Not a single one bothered to send a reporter to cover the event.

But the event did happen!

SunNews, Canada's version of Fox New, produced a spectacular hour-long special on global warming using footage from the event.

Canada's Financial Post published excerpts from the comments made by Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic.

Heartland recorded all the presentations and has posted them on a Web site at climateconferences.heartland.org.

Heartland's conferences may be criticized for featuring only skeptics of man-made global warming, but this year, more than 50 "warmists" were invited to speak, but all refused to show up.

It is fair to judge a scientific theory by whether advocates are willing to show up to defend their position. By this measure, the theory of catastrophic anthropogenic (man-made) global warming is a failure. Its advocates fall on their faces when pitted against scientists and economists dealing with the hard facts of scientific truth.

Shame on the Chicago media for their dogmatic, closed-minded approach to global warming by choosing to stand with the Al Gore camp instead of doing their job and reporting on the real scientific and policy debates taking place right now over the causes and consequences of climate change.

It's way past time for the Chicago media and media outlets across this nation to stop feeding false propaganda to its readers and to realize that not only Illinois but this nation will suffer economically and competitively in the future world market if restricted from using its own natural resources of coal, oil and nuclear to produce cheap energy.

Nancy J. Thorner
Lake Bluff, Ill.