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NEWS > SCIENCE > SCEPTICS SCEPTICAL DURING SCEPTIC MEETING
SCEPTICS SCEPTICAL DURING SCEPTIC MEETING
March 10 2009
New York, NY – The dispute over global warming is always a heated one. With the number of sceptics rising as quickly as the sea levels and support for research into the phenomenon coming from the highest levels of government, it’s unlikely the debate is going to end before water starts lapping at people’s ankles as they make their way to work. 
Pressing fate and showing conviction in their beliefs, a group of self described climate change sceptics have gathered at Times Square Hotel on the island of Manhattan this week to engage the debate over global warming and push the initiatives of the very profitable non-profit Heartland Institute. With such luminaries as a former Apollo Astronaut and the President of the Czech Republic organizers are hoping to not only further their cause and raise funds for the institute, but also halt the continued erosion of their philosophical shorelines.
“Major corporations are painting themselves green around global warming,” said Joseph L. Bast, President of the Heartland Institute. “Companies have shifted their lobbying and public relations efforts toward trying to shape climate legislation in their favour.”
The meeting, much like the alteration in the climate, was a long time in coming and even the most optimistic amongst the organizers were sceptical that it would happen at all. In a changing economic, political, and scientific environment, donations to the organization have been drying up as fast as the Sahara. Major donors such as Exxon have pulled support from the organization in recent years leaving the company’s coffers dry. 
“The tide has definitely turned in a significant way and to the detriment of those advocating against climate change. President Obama has shown support for the cause as have most of the world’s biggest governments and that has led to only small pockets of support for the sceptics,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “It’s no longer trendy to advocate against global warming and as a result even companies that are totally out of touch with the world are pulling their support leaving them with only the dregs of business and political support. I mean the President of the Czech Republic? Really? Of course they are landlocked so it’s unlikely they would even feel the effects should the polar ice caps melt.”
The Heartland Institute, being a private company, does not release its financial information. Some though, even within the organization itself, are sceptical that the organization’s principal interest is disputing global warming but rather working as an advocacy organization for interests that make money by promoting pollution. 
“The only place where this alleged climate catastrophe is happening is in the virtual world of computer models, not in the real world,” said Marc Morano, spokesperson for Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma. “Any division or dissent is minor. The global recession and the series of years with cooler temperatures will help in combating changes in energy policy in Washington.”
Of course one of the biggest points of discussion in the global warming debate hasn’t been with the alteration in the environment, but the cause and whether or not it is manmade or natural. Both sides have much to gain by the actual cause of the environmental change, mostly financial.
“Most companies and advocacy groups have begun to realize that the territory for anti-global warming activists is diminishing. They are close to extinction and that leads them to abandon
those remaining few who continue to fight. The reality is there’s money to be made no matter what side you’re on, as long as you can drag out the debate,” continued Poe. “Many of those organizations have realized that swimming upstream is fruitless, especially when there’s no water left. With a pro-global warming administration the best way to make money is to at least tacitly support the theory, in order to make maximum profit. These advocates are just being left alone on their little island as the shoreline continues to shrink and there’s no one coming to save them. Of course if they saw a rescue ship they likely wouldn’t believe it was there anyway.”
There were reports of minor flooding in the main floor men’s room of the Times Square Hotel during the conference, but water levels only reached to just above the sole of the shoe.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > SCEPTICS SCEPTICAL DURING SCEPTIC MEETING
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