Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace, recently told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee there is no evidence humans are the cause of global warming.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes human activities are "extremely likely" to be the "dominant cause" behind rises in global temperatures.
"There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the past 100 years. If there were such a proof it would be written down for all to see. No actual proof, as it is understood in science, exists," Moore testified before the committee.
The Canadian ecologist has a long history of disagreeing with many others in the environmental field. For 15 years, he was a leader in the environmental group, until the group took what he described as "a sharp turn to the political left." Moore claims this shift began around 1985. At that point, he claims findings made by the organization were not scientifically sound.
Moore told the committee the IPCC conclusion blaming humans for increasing global temperatures was flawed. He also stated the collaboration between emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and rising temperatures is not proven.
"Perhaps the simplest way to expose the fallacy of 'extreme certainty' is to look at the historical record... When modern life evolved over 500 million years ago, CO2 was more than 10 times higher than today, yet life flourished at this time. Then an ice age occurred 450 million years ago when CO2 was 10 times higher than today. There is some correlation, but little evidence, to support a direct causal relationship between CO2 and global temperature through the millennia," Moore told lawmakers.
In an interview on Fox News, Moore said warming in the second half of the 20th Century was nearly identical to temperature changes recorded from the first half of the century. The United Nations claims humans are responsible for warming since 1950, but has not said what caused warming from 1900-1950. Moore said higher temperatures are due to the end of the little age ice, which finished 250 years ago.
"Nobody's saying that the Earth hasn't warmed a little bit. What we're saying is there's no proof that it is human activity that has caused this little bit of warming. What we're also saying is this little bit of warming is actually good for most species on planet. Ice and frost are actually the enemies of life. And for the Earth's life history, it has been much warmer than it is today and CO2 was much higher than it is today," Moore said.
Testimony to the Senate committee by Moore is raising debate around the nation about global warming.
