Re: [asa] The Great Global Warming Swindle

An interesting excerpt which may help explain why the film basicaully
is nothing more that the repetition of some 'arguments' against global
warming. Many of which have been thoroughly debunked, on this group or
elsewhere.

<quote>
Martin Durkin, for his part, achieved notoriety when his previous
series on the environment for the channel, called Against Nature , was
roundly condemned by the Independent Television Commission for
misleading contributors on the purpose of the programmes, and for
editing four interviewees in a way that "distorted or mispresented
their known views".

Channel 4 was forced to issue a humiliating apology. But it seems to
have forgiven Mr Durkin and sees no need to make special checks on the
accuracy of the programme. For his part, the film-maker accepts the
charge of misleading contributors, but describes the verdict of
distortion as "complete tosh."

His programme uncovers no startling new information, any more than
does Mr Gore's film. The documentary repeats many of the arguments put
in Britain by, among others what appears to be be something of a
family cottage industry.

Standing with Dominic Lawson on the sceptic's barricades are his
father (or to give him proper deference, Lord Lawson of Blaby) and his
brother-in-law Christopher Monckton, Lord Monckton of Brenchley.
Surprisingly, there is much common ground between sceptics and the
environmentalists. Lord Lawson, for example, says that there is
"little doubt that the 20th century ended warmer than it began".

He adds, similarly, that "there is no doubt that atmospheric
concentrations of carbon dioxide increased greatly" during it.

He even agrees that it is "highly likely that carbon dioxide
emissions" have played a significant part" in heating up the Earth.

He could hardly do otherwise. The measurements of what has happened
are clear, and the basic science has been established, unchallenged
for 180 years. Instead, the debate is about precisely what
contribution to warming the pollution has made, whether it will
continue and what to do about it.

</quote>

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2326210.ece

The article ends with some he said/she said and we say

<quote>Temperature

DURKIN SAYS: Studies of gases in bubbles of air in polar ice sheets
reveal that in prehistoric hot periods temperatures began rising
before C02 levels. So increasing concentrations of the gas are the
result, not the cause of global warming.

GORE SAYS: "It's a complicated relationship, but the most important
part of it is this: when there is more C02 in the atmosphere, the
temperature increases." He shows two graphs of rising temperature and
C02 levels over the past 600,000 years and says they "fit together".

WE SAY: Temperature and C02 are bound together. When one goes up, the
other will follow. In prehistory temperatures often started rising 800
years before levels of the gas, and Gore evades this point. But it is
irrelevant to what is happening now, because for the first time ever
enormous amounts of extra C02 are being released.

The Arctic

DURKIN SAYS: Recent reports of how the amount of ice in the Arctic is
shrinking have been exaggerated. The Arctic has always contracted and
expanded over history.

GORE SAYS: The Arctic is a "canary in the coal mine". Since the 1970s
,the extent and thickness of its ice cap has "diminished
precipitously". If we continue as we are, it will disappear during
summers, profoundly changing the climate.

WE SAY: The amount of the ice ebbs and flows with natural warmings and
coolings of the climate, and part of this shrinking is probably due to
that. But this is being increased by global warming caused by rising
levels of greenhouse gases, and these continue to go up. The Arctic is
likely to be free of ice by 2050, for the first time in millions of
years.

The sun

DURKIN SAYS: The sun is the main cause of global warming. The sun's
activity increases from time to time, with increased solar flares,
cutting down on cloud formation and raising temperatures on Earth.
This activity correlates well with warmer periods over the past
several hundred years.

GORE SAYS: The culprit is humanity's emissions of "huge quantities" of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which trap more of the
infrared radiation of the sun that would otherwise escape out into
space.

WE SAY: Variations in solar activity may have been responsible for
past warm periods, though it's hard to be entirely sure because we
have been taking good measurements of it only since 1978. But recent
solar increases are too small to have produced the present warming,
and have been much less important than greenhouse gases since about
1850.
</quote>

As for some of the 'players' mentioned:

Dominic Lawson:
<quote>Lawson is married to the The Honourable Rosamond Mary Monckton,
daughter of the 2nd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. The Lawsons have 2
daughters (another daughter, Natalia, was stillborn some years ago),
Domenica and Savannah; Domenica has Down's syndrome.

Since 2006, he has been a columnist for the Independent newspaper,
where he has become known as a right-wing provocateur taking lines
contrary to the newspaper's general political position. Most notably,
he has denied global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions,
and argued there should be a mass conversion to Islam by the British
people.</quote>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Lawson

Christopher Monckton: His comments have been thoroughly debunked on
such websites as Deltoid (Tim Lambert) and RealClimate.

Hope this helps us as Christians understand that there is science and
then there is 'science'. Relying on people who describe global warming
as 'the big lie' does a disservice to both science and religion.

On 3/5/07, Alexanian, Moorad <alexanian@uncw.edu> wrote:
> "In a polemical and thought-provoking documentary, film-maker Martin Durkin argues that the theory of man-made global warming has become such a powerful political force that other explanations for climate change are not being properly aired."
>
> http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/G/great_global_warming_swindle/index.html
>
>
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Received on Mon Mar 5 12:37:30 2007