British court case punches holes in Al Gore's fantasy climate movie

[Amianthus]

Alan Ferguson, The Province
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2007
In his dreams, Al Gore wins the Nobel peace prize and is propelled into the White House on a wave of popular acclaim.

His waking moments these days are probably slightly less euphoric.

A judge in Britain's High Court has ruled that Gore's apocalyptic movie on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, should come with a warning that it promotes "partisan political views" and is riddled with errors.

The case was brought by truck driver Stewart Dimmock, who accused the British government of "brainwashing" children by requiring that Gore's movie be shown in schools.

While Judge Michael Burton declined to ban the movie outright, he did order the government to rewrite its guidelines to highlight the movie's falsehoods.

These were identified in court as follows:

Gore's claim: A retreating glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is evidence of global warming.

Finding: The government's expert witness conceded this was not correct.

Gore: Ice core samples prove that rising levels of carbon dioxide have caused temperature increases.

Finding: Rises in carbon dioxide actually lagged behind temperature increases by 800-2000 years.

Gore: Global warming triggered Hurricane Katrina, devastating New Orleans.

Finding: The government's expert accepted it was "not possible" to attribute one-off events to global warming.

Gore: Global warming is causing Africa's Lake Chad to dry up.

Finding: The government's expert accepted that this was not the case.

Gore: Polar bears had drowned due to disappearing Arctic ice.

Finding: Only four polar bears drowned, due to a particularly violent storm.

Gore: Global warming could stop the Gulf Stream, plunging Europe into a new ice age.

Finding: A scientific impossibility.

Gore: Species losses, including coral reef bleaching, are the result of global warming.

Finding: No evidence to support the claim.

Gore: Melting ice in Greenland could cause sea levels to rise dangerously.

Finding: Greenland ice will not melt for millennia.

Gore: Ice cover in Antarctica is melting.

Finding: It is, in fact, increasing.

Gore: Sea levels could rise by seven metres, causing the displacement of millions of people.

Finding: Sea levels are expected to rise by about 40 centimetres over 100 years.

Gore: Rising sea levels caused the evacuation of Pacific islanders to New Zealand.

Finding: The court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

Canadian students who have been force-fed Gore's fantasy in classrooms across the nation may have some awkward questions for their credulous teachers in the wake of the British court case.

On the other hand, it may already be too late.

The damage has been done.

alan.f@telus.net
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=50e42b47-ca21-47c1-bbb1-caf456348677&k=21371

[fatman]

That's interesting, I was aware of the Kilimanjaro falshood, but not the others.  There was a big scandal at the University of Washington in Seattle because one of the climate change researchers had released some rather shoddy data about falling snowpack levels and deglaciation in the Cascades, especially the N. Cascades.  There are a lot of undocumented, conflicting, and factually erroneous factors in the debate to call it settled one way or another.

[Brassmask]

 

What's the source on that, The National Enquirer?  They talk all about the government's experts but did the defence's experts miss the bus to the trial?

That judge is a moron.

[Amianthus]

What's the source on that, The National Enquirer?

I posted a link.

[Brassmask]

I think every one of those "findings" by the government are bullshit.

[Amianthus]

I think every one of those "findings" by the government are bullshit.

Thanks for your opinion. I'll note that it conflicts with science.

[Brassmask]

I think every one of those "findings" by the government are bullshit.

Thanks for your opinion. I'll note that it conflicts with science bought and paid for by OIL COMPANIES.

You left off part of your sentence. I helped you out there. 

[Amianthus]

You left off part of your sentence. I helped you out there. 

My sentence was correct when I wrote it. Your rewrite made it incorrect.

[Universe Prince]

You left off part of your sentence. I helped you out there.

Ah yes, the oil companies are paying to have the ice cap of Antarctica increased in size. Why? Because they want to frak with the global warming experts, obviously. There are probably Freemasons behind this. And they're probably using money left by Prescott Bush. Oh, and that guy who really was on the grassy knoll, he's probably involved as well.

(I know, I know, I'm being sarcastic again, but sometimes I just can't help myself.)

[Xavier_Onassis]

might not be true

no evidence

false claim.

yada

yada yada.

TWO WORDS:   NOBEL.   PRIZE.

[Henny]

TWO WORDS:   NOBEL.   PRIZE.

I think that we are going to quickly see the Nobel Prize become a victim of Right Wing rhetoric, where it suddenly will be worthless and inconsequential.

No, really. Just wait and see. 

[_JS]

It is big news here, with the native son winning a Nobel Prize and all.

I watched Gore's movie, it was quite good. I mean, Michael Crichton wrote a fictional novel on the conspiracy of Global Warming and then did a lecture tour on why Global Warming is false. At least Gore uses scientific studies 

[Xavier_Onassis]

There are really two issues to start with, to wit:

Is there global warming?

What caused global warming?

It is pretty obvious that there is global warming, and that it will be disruptive to a greater or lesser degree of many people on this planet.

Either humans caused global warming, or it didn't. Despite Ami's "science", the National Geography Society agrees with Al Gore that it does exist and we are causing it. I think it is best to go with the National Geography Society's experts that those unearthed by Ami.

The assumption is that what we cause, we can ameliorate by ceasing to do certain things, like lowering emissions of the 1 to 1?% of the atmosphere that is not Oxygen, Nitrogen or trace gases, such as CO2, Methane and such.

But the REALLY IMPORTANT QUESTION is despite who caused it, what can we do to reduce it?

After all, a doctor's job is to cure the disease, not to clobber the patient with the responsibility of eating the wrong foods, sleepijng with the wrong people, or allowing themselves to be bitten by the wrong bugs. The cure is more important than the cause.

I seriously doubt that the US ratwing has the power to discredit Al Gore's Nobel Prize. They didn't manage to make him look unworthy of the Oscar, either.

Eventually, the dinosaurs will die off and become extinct. The rest of the world sees them fading from view pretty rapidly.

[Amianthus]

Either humans caused global warming, or it didn't. Despite Ami's "science", the National Geography Society agrees with Al Gore that it does exist and we are causing it. I think it is best to go with the National Geography Society's experts that those unearthed by Ami.

I didn't have to "unearth" them - most of them work on the various global change projects sponsored by the government. You know, the guys who are paid by the government to study global change?

[Xavier_Onassis]

You know, the guys who are paid by the government to study global change?

========================================================
Would these guys be scientists hired by the Juniorbush administration, by the way?

Are you saying that by virtue of getting a paycheck from the US govt., that I should consider them more credible than other scientists on the payrol of the National Geographic Society?

I would wager that if they found the opposite was true, and they had been hired by the Clinton Administration, you would be pointing this out as a reason to disbelieve whatever they said.