For Immediate Release
Burke, VA, September 22, 2015—As Pope Francis comes to the United States this week to speak to Congress and the American people about man-made climate change, a political agenda that pushes policies that directly hurt the poor and are contrary to the best science, the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation announces the release of its new petition, Forget ‘Climate Change’, Energy Empowers the Poor, and a new supporting YouTube video series, Greener on the Other Side: Climate Alarmism—Facts, Not Fear.
The Petition argues that since climate models are the only reason to fear man-made global warming, and since those models have proven wrong—predicting twice the warming observed, 95% or more predicting more warming than observed, and none predicting the absence of warming over the last 18 years and 8 months—there is no reason to fear. In contrast, current climate change policies hurt those in poverty, reducing or prohibiting access to life-giving energy, and continuing a cycle of poverty and death. Therefore the petition urges the American people and their leaders to repeal current global warming policies, refrain from passing any further policies into law (such as the so called “Clean Power Plan”), and resist any form of global agreement at the U.N. climate summit in December.
“The tremendous reduction in absolute poverty since 1990—from about 50% to under 20% of the human race—has been driven in large part by increasing access to abundant, affordable, reliable energy derived mostly from fossil fuels,” said Cornwall Alliance Founder and National Spokesman Dr. E. Calvin Beisner. “It would be a great tragedy to slow, stop, or reverse that trend in the name of fighting global warming, a phenomenon that is turning out to be much smaller than earlier thought.”
That claim finds support in the YouTube video series, in which leading climate scientists, economists, energy experts, and other scholars discuss a host of topics ranging from the failures of alarmist climate science to the benefits of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration, the relation between science and religion, climate policy, and economic development for the poor.
In addition to the Petition and the YouTube series, the Cornwall Alliance released An Open Letter on Climate Change to the People, their Local Representatives, the State Legislatures and Governors, the Congress, and the President of the United States of America, signed by hundreds of scholars, detailing why current climate change policies are disastrous for global poverty relief efforts.
“Pope Francis and President Obama both express strong support for the poor,” Dr. Beisner said, “yet both ironically support a policy that has enormous potential to hurt them. The American people need to let them know that’s not what we want.”
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Media contact: Megan Toombs, Communications & Outreach Coordinator, Megan@CornwallAlliance.org, 703-569-4653
Revised September 29, 2015
