According to a just released poll from the Gallup Organization, 41 percent of Americans believe the seriousness of global warming is exaggerated. That is the highest percentage of “skeptics” since 1998. The exaggerated statistic has been steadily rising since 2005 after a drop from 2004 to 2005.

At the conference in New York, almost everybody was a skeptic. It felt bizarre to hear that the claims of global warming are grossly exaggerated, while at the same time, media frolic on future catastrophes.

The Swedish government has just issued a climate proposition to reduce Sweden’s CO2-emissions by 40 percent. The already high CO2-tax will be raised even further. In 2030, all cars in Sweden are supposed to run on other than gasoline or diesel. Worth knowing is that Sweden’s CO2-emissions make up for 0.2 percent of total global carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, the Swedish government is out there to save the world.

Parallelly with the Heartland conference, there was a big AGW-meeting in Copenhagen. AGW-people signalize that we are facing an even greater disaster than previously anticipated. Greenland is melting fast. The CO2 will stay in the atmosphere forever. The world as we know it is about to end. At the same time, the sun remains quiet, and the temperatures refuse to rise. And no matter how hard I try, I still cannot see the emperor being other than stark naked.

Lunch speakers will be Bob Carter and John Theon. Unfortunately, I will be unable to cover the last speech by Lord Christopher Monckton. I need to catch a flight home. The broadcast will start around 12.15pm.

This morning’s speakers are Hon. John Sununu and Willie Soon. The broadcast will start at around 7.00am EDT.

Update: I am very sorry. The wireless connection in the sessions rooms is too bad for live broadcasting. I will be sending live from the lunch session, when Harrison Schmitt and Arthur Robinson will be speaking. That session starts at 12.15 EDT. Once again, sorry for not being able to send live from the sessions.

I have the great pleasure to attend the 2d International Conference on Climate Change in New York. The event is starts this evening and is sponsored by The Heartland Institute.

Tonight’s Opening Dinner, starting at 6.30 pm EDT, features Hon. Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, and Richard Lindzen, one of the most prominent climate researchers in the world.

I am hoping to be able to broadcast live from tonight’s dinner, as well as parts of the proceedings during Monday and Tuesday. You will find more information here later during the day.

The Guardian’s Leo Hickman has been studying registration details for the 2d International Conference on Climate Change, arranged by Heartland Institute in New York, March 8-10. What bothers him is that Heartland offers a 20 percent discount off the registration fee for those who have signed the Oregon Petition, a well-known list of skeptics to AGW.

According to Leo Hickman, signing the petition is worth the massive amount of 144 dollars. No wonder there are so many climate skeptics in the world.

What Leo Hickman forgets to mention is, however, that free admission is available to all qualified journalists. Why then bother putting your name on a petition and risking to look like a fool? It’s enough to get a part-time reporter job at some obscure local paper.