Climate Scientists Question AFBF

Climate Scientists Question AFBF

Scientists Say AFBF Marginalizes Climate Change

By Chris Clayton, January 7, 2010

OMAHA (DTN) -- Scientists who study climate change have written American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman asking to meet over AFBF's "inaccurate and marginalized stance" challenging the science on climate change and the choice of a climate-change critic as a speaker at Farm Bureau's annual meeting, which begins Sunday in Seattle.

Three climate scientists penned the letter, which was co-signed by 40 other scientists, stating that with the "grave risks that climate change poses to the world and U.S. agriculture, we are disappointed that the American Farm Bureau has chosen to officially deny the existence of human-caused climate change when the evidence of it has never been clearer. Because the agriculture community has so much to lose and gain based on the actions our nation takes to address climate change, we request an opportunity to meet with you to discuss the latest climate science and your organization's official climate change position."

A spokeswoman for the American Farm Bureau Federation stated that Stallman was traveling Thursday and the organization would not be able to respond until at least Friday. Farm Bureau's annual convention is being held Sunday through Wednesday in Seattle.

Farm Bureau has been opposed to climate legislation in Congress that would work to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through cap-and-trade, which would cap emissions and establish a trading program for emission allowances and offsets. Farm Bureau's campaign is "Don't CAP Our Future," which is being highlighted at the AFBF convention.

At the convention, Farm Bureau has scheduled a seminar titled "Global Warming: A Red Hot Lie?" which will be given by an attorney from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

In an interview with DTN last fall, Stallman questioned the costs that could come from the comprehensive climate legislation passed last June by the House. Still, Stallman said Farm Bureau also has long supported a comprehensive energy policy for the U.S. that would include a component of low carbon energy.

"We can probably accomplish more in a shorter period of time with incentives than we can putting a $200-billion-a-year indirect tax burden on American consumers," Stallman told DTN in October.

Yet, in that interview, Stallman also challenged "the Chicken Little scenarios" being offered by people who are sounding the alarm on climate change. "Climate change is happening. It has happened throughout the course of this Earth's history, and will continue to happen no matter what man does," Stallman said in October. "The best insurance plan we have is the technology we have in agriculture and our ability to adapt."

The House bill would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 17 percent by 2020 and continue ratcheting down the emissions cap over time after that. The Senate has a bill that would reduce emissions 20 percent by 2020, but that bill would still need to be approved by multiple committees, and it's unclear whether the Senate will actually bring any climate bill to the floor in 2010.

The scientists challenge AFBF's position on climate change, writing that the "Farm Bureau has taken an inaccurate and marginalized stance" in Farm Bureau's position that "there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment" on the impact carbon emissions have on warming or the climate.

"Your organization's position does not reflect the consensus opinion of the science community or the scientific literature," the letter states. "Your stance represents the position taken by a relatively small number of climate change deniers, whose opinions and misrepresentations of the scientific data are typically not published in peer-reviewed scientific literature, but are instead shared in arenas not subject to rigorous scientific review."

Though some scientists have argued against the tie that humans are causing climate change, the scientists who criticize Farm Bureau highlighted some of the arguments, agencies and organizations who support the basis that the current climate cycles go beyond natural warming and cooling periods on Earth. "The evidence shows that the primary cause of the observed warming in recent decades is a result of increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, which come from human activity," the letter states.

"This letter is a wake-up call to the American Farm Bureau of the importance for them to take the concerns about climate change seriously," stated Don Wuebbles, a climate scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and one of the letter's three co-sponsoring signatories. "We think it's important to share our knowledge directly with Mr. Stallman and hope he agrees to meet with us."

To view the letter sent out from the Union of Concerned Scientists, go to http://ucsusa.org/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com.