David J. Bellamy OBE (born 1933) is an English professor, botanist, author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner. In recent years he has taken up the cause of denying global warming, and he has expressed public opposition to wind farms.
His 2004 article in the Daily Mail, which lambasted mainstream positions on climate change, prompted environmental writer Mark Lynas to ask "Has David Bellamy gone mad?" [3]
A typographical error in a recent letter he published in the New Scientist (April 16th, 2005) suggested a large percentage (555 of 625) of the world's glaciers were advancing, not retreating. George Monbiot investigated and found the claim to be untrue and misleading. [4]
On May 25, 2005, The Times reported that: "Last week Plantlife International, Britain’s leading charity dedicated to the conservation of wild plants, wrote to Bellamy to say that his term of office would end in the autumn and he would not be asked to renew it."
Bellamy was a past president of Wildlife Trusts which has 562,000 members and manages 2,500 nature reserves, but may have lost his position because of his skeptical views on climate change. [5]
Although Bellamy campaigns against the construction of wind farms in undeveloped areas, he was once enthusiastic about wind power in the educational video Power from the Wind, which was produced by Britain's Central Electricity Generating Board.
In the preface to the 1989 book, The Greenhouse Effect, Bellamy stated that
"The profligate demands of humankind are causing far reaching changes to the atmosphere of planet Earth, of this there is no doubt. Earth's temperature is showing an upward swing, the so-called greenhouse effect, now a subject of international concern. The greenhouse effect may melt the glaciers and ice caps of the world causing the sea to rise and flood many of our great cities and much of our best farmland."
Bellamy has since stated that
"Global warming is a largely natural phenomenon. The world is wasting stupendous amounts of money on trying to fix something that can't be fixed." [5]
"I don’t like being called a denier because deniers don’t believe in facts. There are no facts linking the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide with imminent catastrophic global warming there are only predictions based on complex computer models." [6]
". . .it should be pointed out that glaciers in many other parts of the world are not shrinking but in fact are growing...indeed, if you take all the evidence that is rarely mentioned by the Kyotoists into consideration, 555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation have been growing since 1980." [7]
March 30, 2009
Bellamy's signature is displayed alongside a full-page ad funded by the CATO institute that appeared in numerous newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune in 2009.
The advertisement criticizes President Obama's declaration that "few challenges facing America and the world are more urgent than combating climate change," claiming that "with all due respect Mr. President, that is not true."
The ad claims "there has been no net global warming for over a decade," and that the dangers associated with global warming are "grossly overstated." [8]
March, 2008
Spoke at the Heartland Institute's 2008 International Conference on Climate Change.
February 5, 2007
Featured speaker at the press conference for the Fraser Institute 2007 Independent Summary for Policymakers. [9]
May 29, 2005
In a letter published in the New Scientist, April 2005, Bellamy had claimed that a large percentage of the world’s glaciers were advancing (555 of 625), not retreating. On May 29, 2005, Bellamy wrote a letter to the Sunday Times, that his figures were wrong and that he had "decided to draw back from the debate on global warming."
Bellamy debated the issue with George Monbiot on Channel 4 News:
January 27, 2005
Spoke at a conference organized by the Scientific Alliance titled "Apocalypse No: Assessing Catastrophic Climate Change." [10]
Past President of:
Vice President:
Source: [14]
According to a search of Google Scholar, David Bellamy has published only one article in a journal on the subject of climate change.
His article was titled "Carbon is the World's Best Friend," and was published in the Energy & Environment, a journal edited by climate change skeptic Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen and which has been criticized for its peer-review process.
Bellamy has published articles skeptical of climate change in numerous newspapers, and some in journals that don't normally cover climate change (such of Civil Engineering).
Samples include:
"Honorary Graduates of Bournemouth University" (PDF), Bournemouth University.
"Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Summary," Institute of Science in Society.
"Has David Bellamy gone mad?", Marklynas.org, July 14, 2004. Archived February 11, 2006.
"Junk Science," Monbiot.com, May 10, 2005.
"Wildlife groups axe Bellamy as global warming 'heretic'," Times Online, May 15, 2005. Archived September 6, 2008.
"The Global Warming Myth," The New Zealand Centre for Political Research, June 24, 2007.
David Bellamy. "Glaciers are cool," New Scientist, issue 2495 (April 16, 2005).
"Climate Change Reality," The Cato Institute.
"The Fraser Institute: Media Advisory; Independent Summary of UN Climate Change Report to be Released in London on Monday, 5th February," (Press Release), Marketwire, February 2, 2007.
"Climate Weekly Special Report: Apocalypse No: Assessing Catastrophic Climate Change," Proceedings of the Scientific Alliance Conference, Royal Institution, January 27, 2005. Republished by Frontiers of Freedom.
"Bellamy warms to scientists' scepticism on climate change," The New Zealand Herald, Oct 19, 2006.
"David Bellamy, former trustee of the World Land Trust," World Land Trust. Archived January 6, 2009.
"Heartland Experts: David Bellamy," The Heartland Institute. Accessed March 1, 2012.
"David Bellamy," SourceWatch.
"David Bellamy," Wikipedia.
"David Bellamy," ExxonSecrets.
"Fraser Institute Briefing Document" (PDF), prepared by DeSmogBlog.
Correspondence with David Bellamy, Monbiot.com, 19 August 2004.
"Has David Bellamy gone mad?" by Mark Lynas, 14 July 2004.
George Monbiot."Bellamy the Bearded Bungler doesn't disappoint," The Guardian, March 16, 2009.
"Junk Science" by George Monbiot, The Guardian. May 10, 2005.
"Climate Weekly Special Report," 27 January 2005. Republished by Frontiers of Freedom.
"Wildlife groups axe Bellamy as global warming ‘heretic’," The Sunday Times, May 15, 2005.
"The Fraser Institute: Media Advisory," February 2, 2007.
David Bellamy, World Land Trust, accessed September 15, 2011.
Boyle, Stewart; Ardill, John (1989), The Greenhouse Effect, London?: New English Library.
David Bellamy. "Glaciers are cool," New Scientist, issue 2495 (April 16, 2005).
"Heartland Institute/International Conference on Climate Change (2008)," SourceWatch. Accessed September 15, 2011.
Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.
There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.
This post is the second of a two part series. Read the first installment, Unreported Emissions From Natural Gas Blow Up BC's Climate Action Plan.
Methane leaks from British Columbia's natural gas industry are likely at least 7 times greater than official numbers increasing the entire provinces' carbon footprint by nearly 25%. That's like putting 3 million more vehicles on BC's roads.
As...
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