Dear Editor:
I want to thank Nelson Otto for publishing "tidbits" and also to share "the rest of the story."
MU Professor Lupo shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore and many scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) " for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."
The Nobel press release states: "Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over 100 countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent."
It seems odd that while the research awarded the peace prize clearly states there is a connection between human activities and climate change, Dr. Lupo says: "There is definitely a range of opinion within the IPCC from folks that agree that the climate is warming but that there is no way to define the cause, to those that are firmly committed to the idea that humanity is the primary cause. I would consider myself to be one of those scientists who is a little bit skeptical about humanity being a primary factor in climate change. We may be a factor, but it is difficult to quantify."
The Wikipedia article Otto quotes goes on to say " Lupo's skepticism and receipt of funding ($750 per month) from the Heartland Institute have generated controversy."
The international conference at which Lupo spoke was, coincidently, sponsored by the Heartland Institute, which received major funding from ExonMobile and the Koch Foundation.
Lupo's stipend is less important than the fact that the Heartland Institute seeks its climate experts from the 3 percent of climate scientists who are skeptical about how much humans contribute to climate change.
As citizens we should demand that our public policy is based on the 97 percent consensus that climate change is happening and it will be catastrophic if we do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.