It’s the end of climate change debate as we know it

The upcoming UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen is causing a storm before it has even begun. Skeptics claiming global warming is a hoax have come up with their own ideas on what's really heating up the planet.

With just over a week before the Copenhagen summit on climate change starts, some of the web-surfing public have already tired of the arguments for and against man-made global warming – and turned instead to farce.

Some of the hundreds of videos mocking climate change posted on YouTube and other video sites, deal with the debate in general, some make it personal. Others range from science to politics, and some mock, rave – or even rap.

Lord Christopher Monckton is a prominent climate change skeptic, who will be attending the conference in Copenhagen to persuade delegates that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does not lead to an increase in temperature.

“The climate has always changed. The climate is changing. The climate will continue to change. Humankind does not have the power to do very much about it and we would be arrogant to assume that we can. In every opinion poll, now a majority of those polls say they do not believe that global warming is significantly or dangerously caused by humankind,” Monckton says.

Monckton has been demanding a debate on climate change with Al Gore ever since Gore released his film “An Inconvenient Truth”. Monckton says the film is riddled with errors – but he has never got to challenge Gore about them.

Now, thanks to the magic of YouTube, he has his chance. But neither Gore nor Monckton come out of the rap battle very well.

The videos have thousands of hits, proving they are striking a chord with some web surfers. And with this issue heating up at least as much as the earth's surface, there's going to be plenty more inspiration for online comedians in the years ahead.