Do we seem to be enduring a period of redundancy? Instead of a daily changing stream of interests and events, we seem to be bogged down with un-endurable repetition! If I have to listen to one more newscast dedicated to Health Care Reform, I will surely scream, surely vomit. And running second behind health care, and still in hot contention, Global Warming! For a while the issue seemed settled, but, lo, it is back in full force. So rather than staunchly writing another ponderous article on Health Care, I shall opt for Global Warming.
Al Gore, American Vice President under Bill Clinton, and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2007 for his Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, produced a movie, An Inconvenient Truth, to illustrate what he felt was the catastrophic threat of climate change to life on Earth. After the movie won an Academy Award for "Best Documentary", Gore then sought to have the movie shown in Public Schools. The use of the movie in schools was ruled upon by High Court (London) Judge Justice Burton. This High Court London Judge called An Inconvenient Truth "alarmist" and "exaggerated". He said the film was “one-sided" and would breach education rules unless accompanied by a warning. Ruling that the film could be shown in schools as part of the climate change resource pack, Mr. (Judge) Justice Burton warned it must be accompanied by new guidance notes to balance Mr. Gore's partisan views. Without the warning, he said, the film would breach education rules. At that time the London Judge pointed out nine specific errors in the Oscar Winning motion picture. To elaborate:
1. Gore said the sea level could be expected to rise — owing to melting ice sheets — by 20 feet in the "near future". The Judge said this change would only take place only over millennia.
2. Gore said low lying atolls would need be, and already have been in some cases, evacuated. Burton said no such evacuations have taken place.
3. Gore: The Gulf Stream that warms the Atlantic will shut down. Burton: Unlikely that the Stream will shut down, although it may slow in coming years.
4. Graphs that Gore produced were shown irrelevant.
5. Gore said the disappearance of snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro was the result of "Human-induced climate change." Burton: That claim can not be proved nor corroborated.
6. Al Gore: "The drying up of Lake Chad is a prime example of the catastrophic result of Global Warming". Burton: " No evidence to prove the contention"
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
A critique of Justice Burton's "nine errors".
"In mitigation one might point out that when the ocean currents change, the polar weather warms and the glaciers melt, there is a corresponding and countering effect. The large floating ice-blocks enter the adjoining ocean waters, travel south to a degree, and act much as the ice cubes in our lemonade, cooling the waters. The waters cool, the air is cooled, and the global warming is thwarted " all very self-contained."
And we all lived happily ever after. Nice analogy up to a point, but what happens, John, if you let your iced lemonade sit for a while? Does it remain cool?
Your best point is the one about natural selection. We're a conservative species, and it's hard to look past our natural instinct to save what we know. The Earth will survive and thrive with or without us, that's for sure.
Lastly, your viewpoint "from the BBC" is actually that of a skeptical scientist (a petroleum geologist, to be precise) who happened to be writing on the BBC's website. He's not an employee of the Corporation. I may appear to be quibbling, but your sourcing needs to be more robust if your arguments are to have credibility.
2 - Christine
I wondered about this when I saw this video...
Daring to Question Al Gore
3 - John Lake
Thanks for your comments!
Dr. Dreadful is a perceptive and precise reader. That's unusual these day's.
As to Christine, I look forward to watching the video, but am not at the moment set up for sound.
Have a great day.
John Lake
4 - John Lake
A tiny correction:
Strange to report, just a few short years ago the rising level of Greenhouse gases was blamed on cattle and their related flatulence