Over 500 people met in New York this week to discuss why they believe global warming theories presented by Al Gore and the U.N. are a pile of rubbish. The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, organized by the Heartland Institute, featured papers written by more than 100 environmental scientists that claim global warming is occurring naturally and is not being caused by human activity.

Environmental scientist S. Fred Singer kicked off the conference by releasing a report entitled, "Nature, Not Human Activity Rules the Climate," summarizing a three-year international scientific research project conducted by the Nongovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or NIPCC, that Singer headed. "There are many factors that affect the climate," Singer told WND. "What we can now exclude by scientific evidence is the argument that greenhouse gases are an important factor in causing global warming."

"Global warming is attributable to natural causes," Singer told WND, "so in that sense global warming is unstoppable, regardless what measures Al Gore or the U.N. want to impose on us with new international governmental regulations."

Singer is the author of Unstoppable Global Warming - Every 1,500 Years, in which he and co-author Dennis T. Avery discuss a 1,500 year cycle that sees the earth's atmosphere go through periods of warming and cooling despite greenhouse gas levels.

Organizers say the conference was intended to offer a different perspective on one of the most prominent issues facing the world today.

"The purpose of the conference is to provide a platform for the hundreds of scientists, economists, and policy experts who dissent from the so-called 'consensus' on global warming," said Joseph Bast, president of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute. "This is their chance to speak out."

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