A few weeks back I noted in my column that when times get tough, Americans will stop worrying about whether polar bears have enough ice and start asking whether those white, furry critters are edible.  That comment caused quite a stir, and I would like to thank everyone, in particular the folks from Alaska, for the great recipes they forwarded—“Bear Claw Cordon Bleu” for instance. 

A smaller number of folks were offended by my bear remarks.  They considered them a veiled swipe at their fellow global warming zealots.  My only regret is that they thought my swipe was . . . veiled.  I guess I should have taken a cue from General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz who recently told a group of reporters that, in his opinion, global warming is a “total crock of ****.”  Nothing veiled about that.  And, despite efforts by the climate change mob to silence Mr. Lutz, the man from Detroit refused to back down. 

News coverage of Mr. Lutz’s politically incorrect “crock-of-doo-doo” declaration caused me to wonder just how many American business executives harbor the same opinion about global warming, but are too cowardly to utter the words in public?  How many parrot the environmental slogans du jour and spout platitudes about corporate social responsibility because they would rather appease the activists than fight to protect their companies and shareholders from the scourge of eco-socialism?  I will be keen to watch these corporate Neville Chamberlains squirm when manmade global warming takes its place in the Guinness Book of World Records under the category “Biggest Fraud Perpetrated on Mankind.” 

The squirming may commence sooner than later.  Apparently Mother Nature hasn’t been influenced by the “we’re-all-going-to-fry” doomsayers.  According to a column published this week in Canada’s National Post:

• Snow cover over North America, much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966;
• The average temperature in January was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20^th century) average;
• China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century;
• The Artic Sea ice that had melted to its lowest levels on record . . . is back and, according to the Canadian Ice Service, “is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year;”
• Respected scientists from Canada and Russia are now predicting a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon.

The author of the National Post column, Lorne Gunter, noted, “It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.  But if environmentalists and environmental reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter’s weather stories to wonder whether the alarmists are being a tad premature.” 

The alarmists are likely to become really alarmed when they read about the International Conference On Climate Change that will begin deliberations in New York City tomorrow.  More than 400 scientists, economists and experts are scheduled to attend the three-day event organized by the Heartland Institute for the purpose of challenging the claim that global warming is a “crisis.”  According to the sponsors, some 19,000 American scientists have signed a petition saying global warming is probably natural and not a crisis—so much for the often touted consensus that the global warming lobby keeps yapping about.

It’s time for some business group to create a petition for skeptical corporate executives to sign if they question the validity of manmade global warming.  The petition could be called the Crock of Doo-Doo Declaration in honor of Bob Lutz.  I would bet good money that someday signatories to the petition will be hailed as business leaders who had the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the eco-evangelists and reject their sermon that to save the planet the economy must be destroyed.  If the global warming juggernaut isn’t sidetracked soon, I fear we will all be feasting on Bear Claw Cordon Bleu.