Weather Channel co-founder: 'Hello, everybody! There is no global warming!'

John Coleman

The idea that there is significant man-made global warming is "a whole lot of baloney," Weather Channel co-founder John Coleman insisted on CNN's Sunday morning.

"The government only gives money to scientists who will present their hypothesis," said Coleman, a meteorologist who helped found The Weather Channel 32 years ago. "They don't have any choice; if you are going to get the money, you have to present their position. Those are the ones the government pays for. That doesn't make it right, that only means it's bought and paid for."

But Coleman, who debunked climate change in a letter to UCLA last month , told show host Brian Stelter Sunday that he resented him introducing him as a climate change "denier."

"That is a word meant to put me down," he told him. "I'm a skeptic about climate change, and I want to make it darned clear that [Weather Channel CEO David] Kenny is not a scientist, I am."

He also told Stelter that CNN, like The Weather Channel, has come to a consensus on global warming.

"There is no consensus in science," said Coleman. "Science isn't a vote. Science is about facts. If you get down to the hard cold facts, climate change is not happening. There is no significant man-made global warming now."

The matter has "become a big political point of the Democratic Party," Coleman continued, and he regrets "that it has become political and not scientific, but science is on my side."

When Stelter attempted to tell Coleman that it was unlikely that there would be an agreement on his show, the former Weather Channel executive agreed.

"I know we're not, because you wouldn't allow it to happen on CNN," Coleman told him. "But I'm happy that I got on the air and got a chance to talk to your viewers. Hello, everybody! There is no global warming!"

Coleman said he and other scientists will "keep battling" but meanwhile, he hopes that people will research online and find websites that "present the papers that show that none of this alarmism about ice and heat waves and droughts, none of it is happening."

Coleman said he is "terribly disappointed" that his old network stands behind climate change, but he's not surprised.

"The Weather Channel has bought into it, they've drunk the Kool-Aid," he told Stelter. "But so has all the media. That's no big surprise."

After Coleman made similar statements on Fox News last week, his former network issued as statement that while Coleman has a place in the company's history, it still stands behind the idea of climate change.

"That's a reasonable statement, not full of the sky is falling," Coleman told Stelter. "The programming they put on the TV is not reasonable. They put on their climate geeks. Those aren't scientists, they're nuts."

And Coleman says he's "terribly disappointed" with what The Weather Channel has become over the years.

"I created a channel to give people their weather, tell them what the weather is now and what it's going to be where they live in their region and keep them posted on their weather and to serve a real purpose," he said. "That channel has become totally distorted and has become as strange as it can be."

Kenny, appearing after Coleman, told Stelter that "the science is pretty clear about climate change," and that The Weather Channel hasn't changed its position on the matter since 2007.

"Some people were confused to hear a statement from somebody who is noted as co-founder of The Weather Channel," said Kenny. "He hasn't been with us in 31 years, and he's not speaking for The Weather Channel in any way."

Further, said Kenny, he's concerned "whenever the subject veers from science."

"I would prefer people use the credentials they have today, not the credentials they had three decades ago," Kenny commented. "It's a free country, and people can use their resumes, and other people can put their titles on them. What I care more about is our viewers come to us and fully trust us. I care that the scientists of the world continue to take part with us."

And while his network has come under criticism that extreme storms are good for ratings, Kenny insisted that "we never like to see a loss of life, a loss of property. Safety is an important mission. It is true, there is more drought, more flood, more extreme weather as the science evolves."