Copenhagen Weathers a Splash of Denial
Alternativ Klimakonference closed to critics
No day can end badly when you begin by getting thrown out of a conference on climate change denial.
Even so, it was disappointing just to know that - on the eve of COP15 - Copenhagen is playing host to such an event and more disappointing yet to learn that there is a robust, if tiny rump of homegrown denial beyond even the famous (if famously discredited) Bjorn Lomborg.
The Alernative Climate Conference on Sunday Dec. 6, 2009 was booked into a small room in Christiansborg, the Danish Parliament building. In order to gain access, you had to have signed up days ago - and there was no press table, or any avenue of appeal, even for someone with UN press accreditation. Carefully checking off names at the door, it was clear that organizers had already identified their target audience.
The speakers list was also a well-known group. Usual suspects: Roger Pielke, the infamous former scientist Fred Singer, the failed politician and former journalist Christopher Monckton, and oil and gas company director Leighton Steward filled in as the out of town talent. Locals included the astrophysicist Henrik Svensmark, Jens Olaf Pepke Pedersen, from the Technical University of Denmark, Bjarne Andresen of the University of Copenhagen and hometown boy Ole Humlum of the University of Oslo.
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