News Release

December 2, 2003

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Cato Hosting Definitive Global Warming Conference
On Dec. 12, panel of specialists will discuss the politics, economics, and science of climate change

WASHINGTON -- In light of the importance of global warming, the Cato Institute will host some of the best and brightest experts on both sides of the global warming debate for a day-long conference on Friday, Dec. 12. The event, entitled "Global Warming: The State of the Debate," will feature discussions on the current state of the science, economics, and politics of global climate change.

All four scientists on the first panel, dedicated to the science of global climate change, are members of the U.N.-sponsored International Panel on Climate Change. They are also frequent contributors to peer-reviewed scientific journals addressing the topic and leading academics in the field of climatology or meteorology.

The economists on the second panel, which will address the costs and benefits of greenhouse gas emission controls, are widely published experts on the economics of climate change policy. The four policy analysts on the program are among the sharpest and most provocative voices in the public debate.

The program is committed to a review of what we know and don't know about climate change. The conference is a balanced roster of speakers representing both the skeptics and advocates of more aggressive government intervention to control greenhouse gas emissions.

Speakers at the event include: John Christy, professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama-Huntsville; Patrick J. Michaels, professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and senior fellow at the Cato Institute; William Cline, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development; Robert Mendelsohn, professor of forest policy and professor of economics at Yale University; and Thomas C. Schelling, distinguished university professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland.