Climate change denier, Christopher Monkton tours NZ

Celebrity foe of climate science Christopher Monckton may retire from public speaking 

‘On this side of the case, there’s no money at all’

New Zealand Herald:

New Zealand’s top climate change scientists have rallied together to slam a visiting sceptic who is touring the country to proclaim global warming as a myth that should be ignored.

Dr James Renwick, associate professor of physical geography at Victoria University, dismissed Lord Monckton’s views as “rubbish”.

“He’s a great showman and speaker, and climate change is a vehicle to self-publicise.

“But he has no training and has studiously avoided learning anything about science, I would say.”

Niwa principal scientist Brett Mullan said Lord Monckton’s views were “very damaging” for public perception.

Professor Dave Frame, director of the Climate Change Research Institute at Victoria University, described him as a “vaudeville act” to be ignored.

“Someone who goes around saying things we know are not true can actually be quite harmful.”

Lord Monckton has rejected the claims as ”hate speech”.

John Nixon in SciBlogs:

Monckton’s nightmare week in New Zealand

A week into his self-described “barnstorming” tour of New Zealand, arch-sceptic Christopher Monckton seems to be quietly licking his wounds after a string of farcical public and media appearances.

The armchair climate change expert has in the past managed to stimulate discussion of climate science on his tours of New Zealand and Australia, even if he has been criticized for manipulating and cherry-picking the science to suit his narrative on climate.

However, after his roasting in the media, his train wreck of a public discussion in Auckland and a falling out with one of his imagined allies, Monckton’s arguments against acting on climate change have received scant attention, overshadowed by his erratic behaviour. […]

Waikato Times:

Monckton tilting at windmills

Controversial British climate-change sceptic Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, is in Hamilton as part of a New Zealand speaking tour.

The tour is hosted by the New Zealand Climate Realists Network and on Monday Monckton spoke at two events.

His first engagement was breakfast with members of the Waikato Chamber of Commerce, where he told the small audience that windmills were a ''fashion statement''.

''Windmills are a fashion statement .. I would not spend a single red cent for wind farms or solar panels,'' he said.

''The truth is out, the science is done ... the game is up, the scare is over. ''

Monckton said did not claim to be a climatologist or an economist and hedged his arguments with a few choice words.

''I do not say that I am certain, I say I think it most unlikely.

''I start from the assumption that except where absolute mathematical proof is available, which it very seldom is in the physical sciences and even less in the slippery subject such as climatology, minds must remain open - including mine.''

Monckton later spoke to students at Waikato University and while there were a handful of protestors to denounce him, the address largely passed without incident.

Monckton is on the record as saying that human-emitted carbon emissions were not warming the planet and that increased sun activity accounted for recent higher temperatures.

His beliefs are at odds with the majority of climate change scientists, but have attracted attention wherever he goes.

However, Monckton is planning to wind up his role of climate change speaker shortly.

The Network has dubbed Monckton's tour the 'Climate of Freedom' tour and said it addresses the underlying ideological framework of global warming, the United Nations position on global warming and ''the threat this is to freedom".

If you want to hear what the man has to say, here is an interview he did with Radio New Zealand

Lord Christopher Monckton and his views on the state of the world's climate and why he believes that the current political responses to the harm of a 'climate changed by carbon dioxide due to human interactions' are in fact, injurious to society and a functioning economy.