Former German Chancellor (1974-82) Helmut Schmidt of the center-left SPD Social Democrat party gave a speech at the Max Planck Society earlier this year, which in part was focused on “the responsibility of science and a personal word on the relationship between science and politics”. He also commented on the topic of global warming, see below.H/t: Benny Peiser, who starts with:
In a now disclosed Speech at the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has cast the integrity and credibility of the IPCC deeply into doubt and has called for an independent, scientific investigation of questionable practices.”
It goes without saying that the 92-year old chain-smoking Schmidt will say what is on his mind and couldn’t care less about any political retaliation or critique at this stage of his life, and so is free to speak openly. He starts by reminding us that the predictions made by Thomas Robert Malthus more than 200 years ago were false, and that many more people are being fed today than Malthus could have ever imagined.
Here it is clear that Schmidt’s focus is not on a climate that may occur in 100 years, but on today’s problems of over-crowded cities, sprawling urbanization and the threatof conflict if supply does not meet the needs. Schmidt also speaks about the challenges and “the total failure of bank supervision, supervisory boards, accountants, etc. with respect to the obscene practices of some banks, shadow banks, mortgage institutes and insurance companies.”
He then focuses on another challenge that mankind is claimed to be confronting: climate change. Schmidt says that the earth has gone through natural cycles of ice ages and warm periods, i.e. climate change is natural. He then says that nobody knows exactly what man’s contribution to warming really is, and then adds (emphasis added):
The documentation delivered so far by the international group of scientists (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) has been met with skepticism, particularly that some of the involved scientists have proven to be frauds. In any case the targets publically set by some of the governments have turned out to be less based on science. and based much more on politics.
In my view it is time for one of our leading scientific elite organisations to take a hard critical and realistic look at the work of the IPCC, and thus explain in a clear manner the yielded conclusions to the public.”
I wonder if the scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) are listening. Here Schmidt is clearly calling for a real, COMPETENT investigation by an independent expert body, and not a small group of corrupt hacks.
Schmidt points out that the development of new alternative energy is indeed a real challenge for science and research, as conventional supplies are not unlimited.
Here fundamental research is challenged to make regenerative energy sources as suitable alternatives.”
This statement is open to interpretation. Here he uses the adjective “suitable”. For me these energies first have to be made appropriate and reasonable for use. Committing economic suicide is not what I’d call “suitable”. More research on alternatives to make them affordable ? Yes! Forcing down half-baked expensive technologies with the false claim they are going to save the planet? No!
Schmidt also looks into the future and expresses his views on what to expect in the future:
– there is not going to be an end to economic growth – technonological growth is unavoidable.
– there is not going to be any global food problems as growing crops and animals will continue to be successful, as gene technology will aid this.”
The full text of Schmidt’s speech can be found here (in German).
Disappointing that he still refers to the IPCC as a “internationalen Wissenschaftlergruppe” – international group of scientists.
I need another day or so to go through the whole speech again.
You wee people don’t really need
http://themigrantmind.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-wee-people-dont-really-need.html
What happend the past week?
The people of the UK were told that having the benefit the permanent availability of electricity is so ‘last century’ that it’s going to be a comfort of the past. This despite a 15 billion pounds investment in wind power, or should I say because of a 15 billion pound investment in wind power? NASA has lost another climate satellite, forcing our hard core climate scientist to continue their use of failed computer models that still predict a warming world. And Governments finally learn that their policies fail if the consumers don’t like their Green Socialist Schemes the hard way.
In Germany for example car owners refuse to fuel up their cars with ethanol blended gasoline and the introduction of the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf has been a disaster.
Despite high subsidies, stolen from the tax payers, high fuel prices and tons of publicity the Chevey Volt, the car that was going to ‘save’ General Motors, only sold 283 times in February.
The Nissan Leaf, a full electric car with a range of 300 km that scored major publicity in the New York Times stating this car would be a ‘game changer’ only sold 66 times.
But hey, when was the last time the New York Times was right about any subject?
Obama and Angela Merkel both promised their electorate to have 1 million electric cars on the roads by 2016.
With the current sales figures of the Nissan Leaf it will take them over 2000 years to reach that target.
This is the bankruptcy of Government policy. What better proof do we need to show the flabbergasting disconnect of our political establishment with reality.
Politicians who desperately want to control our lives, our markets and the world should go. We don’t want them any longer.
Not only have their policies failed.
They are rejected by an overwhelming majority of the people and markets.
Hell, even Mother Nature doesn’t agree.
The same goes for the ‘scientific’, read propagandistic alarmist Climate Change establishment, that continues to tell us that cold in fact is warm, even if the demand for ice breakers is on the rise and de-icing gel continues to stay in short supply.
Because our zealous scientists and our totally rotten political establishment won’t give up their powers volentary, maybe the time has come for us to help them a little and push them over the edge.
Because we have arrived at a moment in history where the buck stops.
Just think about it. We have nothing to loose anyway.
R. de Haan
For the links in this article go to:
http://rarereaders.seablogger.com/2011/03/with-the-world-focused-at-north-africa-and-the-middle-east/
Couldn’t agree more, great comment and yes, we have nothing to lose and when men have nothing to lose, politicians beware.
He’s not only critical of the IPCC but also has a lengthy section where he criticizes the eurocracy, the lack of checks and balances in the EU apparatus, and the Lisbon treaty. Unfortunately, the SPD today has nobody like him.
(Imagine! A German who knows about the concept of checks and balances! I don’t think *any* of our active politicians has *ever* used that word, or for that matter, *Gewaltenteilung* with respect to Brussels!)
There’s Wolfgang Clement…or did he get booted out of the party?
Yes, they reprimanded him for his un-leftish views and he later left the party and is in the industry now AFAIK. Sane minds have no chance in today’s SPD. Sigmar Gabriel comes from the Braunschweig Ortsverband; their youth organisation is proudly marxist. No kidding.
Pierre, small typo, 4th line under the picture of Schmidt
“reminding us that the predictions mad(e) by Thomas Robert Malthus
Add the e to mad please.
Thanks – fixed.
“particularly that some of the involved scientists have proven to be frauds.”
It’s really about time the IPCC sued for these sort of comments. I have lost count how many times climate scientists have been found cleared of so called ‘fraud’.
I guess the Denial industry enjoy these investigations, since the very fact they are being investigated is a half victory, then when they are found clean they can shout “foul it’s all a stitch up!”
Cassiopeia
6. März 2011 at 20:02 | Permalink | Reply
“It’s really about time the IPCC sued for these sort of comments.”
But, Cassiopeia, in a court case there is a process called discovery… kinda like a FOIA only more serious… Be very careful what you wish for.
Cassiopeia: incompetent analysis is perhaps not fraud. In science the truth will come out sooner or later. Some of these climate scientists might better look out for other jobs, if it becomes known that there is no unnatural global warming. Something which does not exist, needs no explanation.
Good to have Helmuth Schmidt at our side.
Helmut Schmidt didn’t have an easy time in politics. He was confronted with the RAF.
He knows that a terrorist is….a terrorist.
A fraud….a fraud and a scam a scam.
Helmuth Schmidt is a realist and measured at today’s criteria that makes him a skeptic.
Yes, today, any person who has the ability to make up his own mind based on facts ad figures and does not agree with ‘the dumb ass main stream’ is called a skeptic.
Don’t you get sick and tired that we are forced to defend the principals of common sense against this army of power hungry lunatics, frauds and profiteers? These are people who believe in pyramid games, people who think warm is cold and black is white.
We are burning our energy hitting a rubber wall.
Let’s tell them what we really think and stop the efforts to make dialogue and debate.
You can find a nice example of a skeptic telling a politician what he thinks right here:
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/03/remove-from-friends.html
I also hope that Mr. Schmidt’s partymates (or he’s no longer with the party?) would heed his advice and opinion.
Schmidt is a wily old fox but he veiled his words.
Still must have been chilling reading for Agitprop lady Angie.
Edward, the exact words of Helmut Schmidt:
“zumal einige der beteiligten Forscher sich als Betrüger erwiesen haben”
“…moreso, as some of the involved researchers have proven to be frauds.”
Doesn’t sound veiled to me. And he said this in front of an audience of researchers, being aware that such an accusation is a mortal insult in research circles.
Schmidt knows what he is saying and he means it when he is saying something.
I hear you Dirk, thank you for the further explanation.
Herr Schmidt is a very astute fellow, of this fact, there can be no doubt, will this opinion have an influence, even be noticed by young Germans – I wonder?
Or do the youngsters [like in England] regard older politicians as dinosaurs?
In Hamburg he’s still a saint. That’s 2 million people. They will love him forever because he was the one who called in the army on a Katrina-style flooding event – the law forbids to use the army in non-war situations; he gave a rat’s ass for the law and saved lifes this way.
Now then facts like that, allow me to see the man, thanks.
It has been a while since Helmut Schmidt was center stage in politics but back in the day he was very famous and influential world wide. It is great that he is specifically challenging the IPCC (the weakest link of climate science due to being blatantly political, biased, and corrupt). There is no reforming the IPCC, the charter of the IPCC is to find “evidence” that man caused global warming causes catastrophes.
In the USA, the House has voted to defund the IPCC. We’ll see if it survives negotiations between the House and the President (a majority of the Senate, though controlled by Democrats) have no sympathy for CO2 regulation so they may be very skeptical about the IPCC, too.
The whole structure of the IPCC was designed to transport the flawed idea of AGW and the evils of a life giving gas, anyone on the IPCC panel who didn’t agree, was given short shrift – so scientific, ie, let’s not have pure science get in the way of politics.
Defund? The whole shebang should be wound up.
What a circus, what a joke the IPCC is – 2,500 ‘scientists’??………..More like the personal opinions of Jones, Mann, Gore and Pachauri.
Let us all hope, that the House gets it’s way on defunding, it’s a start.
For interesting inf. on global warming, don’t miss.
http://www.globaltempfacts.com
Space is stealing all of the earth’s heat!
Fortunately the windmills we have build don’t compensate the losses.
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/space-is-stealing-all-of-the-earths-heat/