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Protocol lacks 'credible science'
Upset with the scientific rationale behind the Kyoto Accord, a group of international scientists today sent Paul Martin
this letter
Financial Post
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
The Honourable Paul Martin, P.C.
Member of Parliament
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6
Dear Mr. Martin:
We understand from media reports that you believe that more consultation with the provinces should have taken place
before moving forward with ratification of the Kyoto Accord. We would like to alert you to the fact that the current
government neglected to conduct comprehensive science consultations as well. The statements by current Minister of the
Environment David Anderson that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's decision to ratify the Kyoto accord was based merely on a
"gut feeling," not an understanding of the issue, clearly illustrates that a more thorough examination of the science
should have taken place before a ratification decision was made. If you are to lead the next government, we believe that a
high priority should be placed on correcting this situation and conducting wide ranging consultations with non-governmental
climate scientists as soon as possible in order to properly consider the range of informed opinion pertaining to the
science of Kyoto.
Many of us made the same suggestion to the Prime Minister in an open letter on Nov. 25, 2002, in which we alerted Mr.
Chrétien to the fact that Kyoto was not justified from a scientific perspective. That letter called on the government of
Canada "to delay a decision on the ratification of the Kyoto Accord until after a thorough and comprehensive consultation
is conducted with non-governmental climate specialists." It was explained to the Prime Minister that, "Many climate science
experts from Canada and around the world, while still strongly supporting environmental protection, equally strongly
disagree with the scientific rationale for the Kyoto Accord."
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister took no action on the issue and proceeded to ratify the accord without the government
and the public having had the benefit of hearing a proper science debate on an issue that is sure to affect Canadians for
generations to come.
We strongly believe that important environmental policy should be based on a strong foundation of environmental science.
Censoring credible science out of the debate because it does not conform to a pre-determined political agenda is clearly
not a responsible course of action for any government. Your openness to re-examining the recent approach to the Kyoto file
encourages us to believe that you may also be open to reconsidering the way in which the scientific debate was suppressed
as well. We certainly hope so. Although ratification has already taken place, we believe that the government of Canada
needs a far more comprehensive understanding of what climate science really says if environmental policy is to be developed
that will truly benefit the environment while maintaining the economic prosperity so essential to social progress.
In the meantime, we would be happy to provide you with more information on this important topic and, for those of us who
are able, we would like to offer to meet with you personally to discuss the issue further in the near future.
Above letter signed by:
Dr. Tim Ball, Environmental Consultant, 28 years Professor of Climatology, University of Winnipeg.
Dr. Madhav Khandekar, Environmental Consultant, former Research Scientist with Environment Canada. 45-year career in the
fields of climatology, meteorology and oceanography.
Dr. Tad Murty, private sector climate researcher. Previously Senior Research Scientist for Fisheries and Oceans;
conducted official DFO climate change/sea level review; Former Director of the National Tidal Facility of Australia;
Current editor - "Natural Hazards".
Dr. Chris de Freitas (Canadian), Climate Scientist and Professor - School of Geography and Environmental Science, The
University of Auckland, NZ.
Dr. Vaclav Smil, FRSC, Distinguished Professor of Geography; specialization in climate and CO2, University of Manitoba.
Dr. I.D. Clarke, Professor, Isotope Hydrogeology and Paleoclimatology, Department of Earth Sciences (arctic specialist),
University of Ottawa.
Dr./Cdr. M. R. Morgan, FRMS, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Climate Consultant, Past Meteorology Advisor to the World
Meteorological Organization and other scientific bodies in Marine Meteorology. Recent Research Scientist in Climatology at
University of Exeter, UK.
Dr. Chris Essex, Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario - focuses on underlying physics/math to
complex climate systems.
Dr. Keith D. Hage, climate consultant and Professor Emeritus of Meteorology, University of Alberta, specialized in
micrometeorology, specifically western prairie weather patterns.
Dr. Kenneth Green, Chief Scientist, Fraser Institute, Vancouver, BC - expert reviewer for the IPCC 2001 Working Group I
science report.
Dr. Petr Chylek, Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia.
Dr. Tim Patterson, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences (Paleoclimatology), Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario.
David Nowell, M.Sc. (Meteorology), Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, Canadian member and Past Chairman of the
NATO Meteorological Group, Ottawa.
Dr. Fred Michel, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences (Paleoclimatology), Carleton University, arctic regions
specialist, Ottawa.
Dr. Roger Pocklington, Ocean/Climate Consultant, F.C.I.C., Researcher - Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Nova Scotia.
Rob Scagel, M.Sc., Forest microclimate specialist, Principal Consultant, Pacific Phytometric Consultants, Surrey, B.C.
Dr. David Wojick, P.E., Climate specialist and President, Climatechangedebate.org, Sioux Lookout, Ontario/Star Tannery,
VA.
Dr. Fred Singer, Distinguished Research Professor at George Mason University and Professor Emeritus of Environmental
Science at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
George Taylor, State Climatologist, Oregon Climate Service, Oregon State University, Past President - American
Association of State Climatologists.
Doctorandus Hans Erren, Geophysicist/climate specialist, Sittard, The Netherlands.
Dr. Hans Jelbring - Wind/Climate specialist, Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics Unit, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Currently, Manager Inventex Aqua Research Institute, Stockholm.
Dr. Theodor Landscheidt, solar/climate specialist, Schroeter Institute for Research in Cycles of Solar Activity,
Waldmuenchen, Germany.
Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski, Climate expert, Chairman of the scientific council of CLOR, Central Laboratory for Radiological
Protection, Warsaw, Poland.
Dr. Art Robinson, Founder - Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine - focus on climate change and CO2, Cave Junction,
Oregon.
Dr. Craig D. Idso, Chairman, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Tempe, Arizona.
Dr. Sherwood B. Idso, President, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Tempe, Arizona.
Dr. Pat Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia; past president of the American Association
of State Climatologists and a contributing author and reviewer of the IPCC science reports.
Dr. Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, Reader, Department of Geography, University of Hull, UK, Editor, Energy & Environment.
Dr. Robert C. Balling, Jr., Director - Office of Climatology, Arizona State University.
Dr. Fred Seitz, climate specialist and Past President, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, President Emeritus, Rockefeller
University, New York, NY.>
Dr. Vincent Gray, Climate specialist, expert reviewer for the IPCC and author of "The Greenhouse Delusion; a Critique of
'Climate Change 2001'", Wellington, NZ.
Dipl.-Ing. Peter Dietze, energy and climate consultant, official scientific IPCC TAR Reviewer, Langensendelbach, Germany.
Dr. Roy W. Spencer, Principal Research Scientist, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Dr. Hugh W. Ellsaesser, Atmospheric Consultant - four decades experience as a USAF weather officer and climate consultant
at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA.
Dr. Asmunn Moene, Former head of the National Forecasting Center, Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway.
Dr. Freeman J. Dyson, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, New Jersey.
Dr. James J. O'Brien, Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography, Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies,
Florida Sate University. Co-chaired the Regional Climate Change Study for the Southeast USA.
Dr. Douglas V. Hoyt, climate consultant, previously Senior Scientist with Raytheon/ITSS; Broadly published author of
"The Role of the Sun in Climate Change".
Dr. Gary D. Sharp, Scientific Director, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study, Salinas, California.
Prof. Dr. Kirill Ya. Kondratyev, Academician, Counsellor RAS, Research Centre for Ecological Safety, Russian Academy of
Sciences and Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, St.-Petersburg, Russia.
Dr. Paal Brekke - Solar Physicist, specialist in sun/UV radiation/Sun-Earth Connection, affiliated with the University of
Oslo, Norway.
Dr. Richard S. Courtney, climate consultant, expert IPCC peer reviewer, Founding Member of the European Science and
Environment Forum, UK.
William Kininmonth, Managing Director, Australasian Climate Research. Formerly head of Australia's National Climate
Centre and a member of Australia's delegations to the Second World Climate Conference and the UN Intergovernmental
Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Dr. Jarl R. Ahlbeck, Docent in environmental technology/science, Process Design Laboratory, the Swedish University of
Finland, Biskopsgatan, Finland.
Dr. Lee C. Gerhard, Principal Geologist, Kansas Geological Survey; Adjunct Professor, Colorado School of Mines; Noted
author and geological expert on climate history.
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