Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG)

Background

The Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG) was founded on October 17, 2015, at the “International Conference on Geoethics” in Prague, according to its website. [1]

Shortly after its creation, the Independent Committee on Geoethics co-sponsored the “Paris Climate Challenge,” an event hosted by the Heartland Institute in December of 2015 designed as a “counter-conference” to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21). [29]

Climate change denier Nils-Axel (‘Niklas’) Mörner described the launch of the Independent Committee on Geoethics in his presentation introducing the ICG:

“The idea of a CO2-driven Global Warming has escalated ‘in absurdum’ become a religion and turned into an AGW monster (disgracing Science and Geoethics),” Mörner said. The purpose of the ICG is to counteract this “disgrace” of science. “CO2-driven (anthropogenic) Global Warming has become a religion and spread around the globe like a plague or revival movement,” Mörner adds. […] “what we now need is a total REFORMATION back to Science and away from “Anti-science.” [2]

According to ICG‘s founding statement, “The ethical principles that refer to nature and natural sciences are covered by the term ‘Geoethics’.” ICG claims that these “ethical principles are often violated in Science as well as in Society and Politics,” which is why there is an “urgent need for an Independent Committee on Geoethics to promote ethical principles in the Earth and planetary sciences and their correct reflection in social and political life.” [1]

The Independent Committee on Geoethics’s (ICG) Steering Committee is made up primarily of climate change deniers including Canada’s Patrick Moore, Australian blogger Joanne Nova, and Rev Philip Foster from the U.K. Prominent climate change denier Lord Christopher Monckton is a notable member.

“Honorary President” Darwin

The Independent Committee on Geoethics appointed British naturalist Charles Darwin as its Honorary President. Desmog interviewed Darwin’s great-great grandson Chris about the appointment of Darwin to the group: [3]

“Hopefully Charles can change their minds,” said Chris Darwin.
“This seems in line with what they’re about. That is, using smoke and mirrors to confuse the real science. I can understand why they would grab a big name from history to give their case some respect, but it seems a silly thing to do and it’s a ridiculous choice of person.
Charles was all about verifiable evidence and, on climate change, the verifiable evidence is pretty clear. If you adopt any of Charles Darwin’s thinking systems then you would have come to the conclusion long ago that climate change is occurring and that we have to take it very seriously.” [3]

Stance on Climate Change

“The inconvenient truth of the matter is that CO2 is not causing our Earth to get hot, it is not causing glaciers and ice caps to melt, and there is not a radical rise in sea level.”
[…]”Climate change is the normal state of things which drives weather. And what makes the weather? Why, our Sun, of course! When the Sun is in a warm phase the Earth is warmer; when the Sun moves into a cooler phase the Earth is cooler or even very cold. The Ice Ages happen during solar cool phases. We are currently living in an inter-glacial period. This sequence of events has been going on for millions of years and humans have managed to adapt nicely. Today, humans live on every part of the Earth except Antarctica.
The Earth has been warmer in historic times and a whole lot colder too. The glaciers melting in the mountains are relics of the last Ice Age; it is perfectly okay for them to melt. Their melting is not going to cause sea level to rise up and drown New York City, London, the entire state of Florida, the Maldives, or the Greek Islands!
Since 1998, world-wide temperatures have remained static, no statistically significant rise. But you already know this. Sea levels have risen in the order of millimeters, not the threatened catastrophic rises predicted by the fear mongers. You already know this too. If lower Manhattan or the Fiji Islands were being regularly submerged, it really would be news! The media would be running film on this 24/7. Have you seen anything even close to this?
Seriously, weather prediction is good for the short term; they usually get it right for about a week. If forecasters can’t accurately predict what the weather is going to do in two weeks do you really believe anyone can accurately predict what will happen on the Earth in 10, 20, 30, years or more? Common sense tells you that the answer is a resounding NO!
So relax, stop worrying about the weather, you can’t change it anyway. Go exhale some carbon dioxide on your house plants, and plan a nice ocean getaway because you can be sure the beach will be there when you arrive.” [4]

Funding

The Independent Committee on Geoethics does not appear to publicly release its funding sources. Additional information will be posted here as it becomes available.

Key People

As of July, 2016, the Independent Committee on Geoethics listed the following members: [5]

Honorary President

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Steering Committee

Philip Foster (UK)
Madhav Kandekar (IN/CA)
Franco Maranzana (IT)
Christopher Monckton (UK)
Patrick Moore (CA)
Nils-Axel Mörner (S)
Joanne Nova (AU)
Niichi Nishiwaki (JP)
Leonello Serva (IT)
Roger Tattersall (UK)
Ole Humlum (NO) – Previously Listed (PDF) [2]

Webmaster

Roger Tattersall

Special Advisors

A.D. Ahluwalia (IN)
Vivian Forbes (AU)
Attila Grandpierre (Hu)
Giovanni Gregori (It)
Jens Morten Hansen (DK)
Anthony Hope (AU)
Hans Jelbring (S)
Pavel Kalenda (Cz)
Bjarne Lembke (S)
Ian Laidlaw (GB)
Lidmila Nemcova (Cz)
Cliff Ollier (AU)
Albert Parker (AU)
Ian Plimer (AU)
Jan-Erik Solheim (N)
Willie Soon (USA)
Thomas Wysmuller (USA)
Wyss Yim (CN)

Actions

September 8–9, 2016

The Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG) proposed to host a London Conference titled “Climate Change: Science and Geoethics.” The initial venue was listed as the University College, London. [6]

DesmogUK reports that once a visiting professor at the college was made aware of the content of the conference, they cancelled the booking as they did not think the conference would be appropriate to be hosted at UCL. The venue was subsequently changed to the Main Hall of Conway Hall at Red Lion Square (Holborn). [7], [28]

According to the description, the event will see discussion on common themes such as the influence of the sun and the planets on climate change along with a presentation by Piers Corbyn on “the total failure of the ManMade Climate Change story.” Monckton’s keynote speech is titled “Genocidal climate science.” [7]

While UCL clarified that the event is “totally independent and has no connections to UCL,” it continued to be advertised for several days as being hosted at the University. The event graphic, as of July 26, still reflected the University College location although the event details text had been amended. [7]

Rex Knight, Vice-Provost of operations at UCL, said: “I was in email contact with the organisers a few days ago. They confirm that the conference will not take place at UCL, they are looking for an alternative venue, and they will amend the website when they have secured one. “I have, of course, asked them to amend it immediately but we don’t really have any way of compelling them to do so,” Knight said. [7]

December 2015

Lord Christopher Monckton reported that he would be part of a “expert team” setting out to “prosecute the climate fraudsters.” [8]

Monckton’s “expert team” appeared to consist largely of those who attended a “counter-conference” hosted by the Heartland Institute that took place shortly before the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21).

The so-called Paris Climate Challenge, taking place from December 1 – 3, 2015, was reported as an associated project of the Heartland Institute, newly-formed Independent Committee on Geoethics, and Collectif des Climato Réalistes. The conference’s website offered the following summary: [9]

“We call on governments, NGOs and universities to stop pursuing policy and dogma based ‘evidence’ gathering.

“That they stop scaremongering.
“That they dissolve the IPCC and the UNFCCC.
“That governments focus instead on encouraging means of ensuring that under-developed and developing nations have full access to the cheapest reliable energy (particularly electricity), regardless of whether fossil fuels are used, so as to improve their access to clean water, low pollution cooking facilities and good medical services.
“That once respected academic institutions and scientific publications put their own houses in order and once again allow the free exchange of scientific ideas and results without prejudice.
“That those involved in alleged cases of scientific fraud, which have resulted in huge financial costs, causing greater poverty and many deaths among the poorest, be brought before the relevant Court of Law.” [9]

According to Monckton, Heartland’s conference “came to a unanimous conclusion that a fraud investigation team should be established to gather evidence of outright criminality on the part of the surprisingly small scientific clique that has until now got away with foisting its anti-scientific nonsense on just about all nations.” [8]

Monkcton said the group would “assemble the evidence into a prosecution file and then to submit the file to the professors for their consideration.”

October 17, 2015

According to their website, the Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG) was founded the “International Conference on Geoethics” in Prague. [1]

The climate change denial blog Tallbloke’s Talkshop reported on the conference, writing that “Apparently, some organisations which usually attend have boycotted the event because our group has been invited to speak about the unethical behaviour of the IPCC and Copernicus-the innovative science unpublishers.” [10]

Speakers at the event (listed as of October 8) included the following (see abstracts here): [11]

F. Pistella
F. V. Petrov
G. Syzdykova
G.A. Sarychev
I. G. Tananaev
L. Němcová
L. Neumann
N. A. Mikhailov
N. Khatiev
P. Kalenda
S. M. Radushinskiy
T. Bakalova
V. Kremlík
Z. Petáková
A. Hope
A. Kurmankozhaev
A.- D. Ahluwalia
B. Lembke
Christopher, Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
E. B. Solntseva
E. Pokojská
F. Maranzana
G. A. Yurgenson
G. P. Gregori
H. Jelbring
I. N’diaye
J. Chyba
L. Mualchin
L. Němcová
L. Serva
M. Khandekar
M. Lokajíček
N. – A. Mörner
N. Nikitina
N. Nishiwaki
P. Foster
P. Kalenda
P. Louda
R. Tattersall
V. K. Chistyakov
V. Němec
Z. Petáková

Tallbloke’s Talkshop

Roger Tattersall (AKA Tallbloke), the web-master of the ICG, also runs the blog TallBloke’s Talkshop. He set up his blog in November 2009, around the time of the first release of hacked e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia. [12], [13]

Climate Denial Connections

The Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG) shares a number of key individuals with a range of climate change denial journals and other groups including:

Name	ICG^{[19], [20]}	PRP^[21],[22]	NCGT^{[15],[23],[24]}	PSI^{[25],[26],[27]}
Albert Parker (aka Alberto Boretti)	Y	Y	Y	Y
Cliff Ollier	Y		Y	Y
Giovanni P. Gregori	Y	Y	Y
Hans Jelbring	Y	Y
Jan-Erik Solheim	Y	Y
Nils-Axel Mörner	Y	Y	Y	Y
Pavel Kalenda	Y		Y
Philip Foster	Y			Y
Roger Tattersall	Y	Y
Willie Soon	Y	Y
Ole Humlum	Y	Y	Y	Y

Pattern Recognition in Physics (PRP)

Pattern Recognition in Physics was a journal originally published by Copernicus Publications in March 2013. The journal was terminated in January 2014 by Copernicus due to “the apparent misuse of the originally agreed aims & scope of the journal as well as the malpractice regarding the review process.” [14]

Copernicus Publications pointed to one particular issue entitled “Pattern in solar variability, their planetary origin and terrestrial impacts.” According to the journal’s termination notice: [14]

“Besides papers dealing with the observed patterns in the heliosphere, the special issue editors ultimately submitted their conclusions in which they ‘doubt the continued, even accelerated, warming as claimed by the IPCC project’ (Pattern Recogn. Phys., 1, 205–206, 2013).” [14]

New Concepts in Global Tectonics (NCGT)

New Concepts in Global Tectonics’s (NCGT) Aims include: [15]

“1. Forming an organizational focus for creative ideas not fitting readily within the scope of Plate Tectonics.
2. Forming the basis for the reproduction and publication of such work, especially where there has been censorship or discrimination.
3. Forum for discussion of such ideas and work which has been inhibited in existing channels. This should cover a very wide scope from such aspects as the effect of the rotation of the Earth and planetary and galactic effects, major theories of development of the Earth, lineaments, interpretation and prediction of earthquakes, major times of tectonic and biological change, and so on.
4. Organization of symposia, meetings and conferences.
5. Tabulation and support in case of censorship, discrimination or victimization.”

Despite this focus on plate tectonics, NCGT has also published papers denying man-made climate change, and the journal includes a “Global Climate Corner” section written by Albert Parker that regularly features articles counter to the mainstream views on climate science. [16]

Principia Scientific International (PSI)

Principia Scientific International (PSI) is a UK climate change denial organization that promoties the view that carbon dioxide is not a greenhouse gas. PSI was formed in 2010 around the time they published their first book, titled Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory. [17]

PSI claims it provides its members with a “reliable port of call to ascertain the facts behind the news stories to better judge whether information being presented by third parties is accurate information and reflects a balanced view of all facets of the subject.” [18]

Resources

“Founding Statement,” Independent Committee on Geoethics. Archived October 16, 2019. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DftAd
Nils-Axel Morner. “When Science becomes disgraced, it’s time for a new Independent Committee on Geoethics,” Retrieved from ResearchGate.net. PDF archived at Desmog.
Graham Readfearn. “Exclusive: Darwin’s Descendant Attacks Climate Science Deniers For Appointing Great Naturalist As ‘Honorary President’,” Desmog, February 3, 2016.
“Climate Change: Nothing to Fear,” Independent Committee on Geoethics, March 22, 2016. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ySONC
“Membership,” Independent Committee on Geoethics. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/8bMJ0
“Climate Change: Science and Geoethics,” Independent Committee on Geoethics. Archived July 13, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/aJrz8
Kyla Mandel. “Monckton’s Independent Committee on Geoethics’ Climate Science Denial Conference ‘Will Not Take Place at UCL’,” DesmogUK, July 22, 2016.
Lord Monkcton. “It’s Time to Prosecute the Climate Fraudsters,” WND.com, December 6, 2015. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/xPMvf
“The Paris Climate Challenge,” PCC15.org. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/OMEVI
“International Conference on Geoethics,” TallBloke’s Talkshop, October 9, 2015. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/d6xrb
“ASSOCIATION OF GEOSCIENTISTS FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGID WORKING GROUP FOR GEOETHICS ABSTRACTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GEOETHICS” (PDF), retrieved from TallBloke’s Talkshop. Archived at DeSmogBlog.
“The Talkshop: second anniversary,” TallBloke’s Talkshop, November 29, 2011. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vKkQA
Brad Johnson. “Watergate Redux: Break-ins Reported At Another Top Climate Research Center,” ThinkProgress, December 4, 2009. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/MJD52
“Termination of the journal Pattern Recognition in Physics,” Pattern Recognition in Physics, January, 2014. Archived July 28, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/W7TDl
“ABOUT NCGT JOURNAL,” Archived July 30, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/6HRtp
“NCGT Journal Issues,” NCGT Journal. Accessed July 30, 2016.
John O’Sullivan. “Principles of Association,” Principia Scientific International. Last updated Jan 5, 2016. Archived July 30, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mIoSc
John O’Sullivan. “Support & Advice,” Principia Scientific International, July 19, 2011. Archived January 7, 2014. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog. Archive.isURL: https://archive.is/Xdygt
“Membership,” Independent Committee on Geoethics. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/rjViW
Nils-Axel Morner. “When Science becomes disgraced, it’s time for a new Independent Committee on Geoethics” (PDF), December, 2015. Retrieved from ResearchGate. Archived at Desmog.
“Volume 1, issue 1,” Pattern Recognition in Physics. Archived Aug 1, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/p1GSp#selection-109.0-109.17
“Editorial Board,” Pattern Recognition in Physics. Archived March 29, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UJQxB
NCGT Journal v. 3, n. 4 (December, 2015). Archived at Desmog.
“Authors index,” NCGT Journal. Archived July 30, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mXgwl
“A Selection of Member Biographies,” Principia Scientific International. Archived July 30, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/KZGwB
“A Selection of Member Biographies,” Principia Scientific International. Archived July 17, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ya1jV
“A Selection of Member Biographies,” Principia Scientific International. Archived July 1, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/WLGIA
“Climate Change: Science and Geoethics,” Independent Committee on Geoethics. Archived July 26, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/NCD39
“About PCC15,” Paris Climate Challenge. Archived March 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/XLATV

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