An Inconvenient Truth

[Thalassamania]

Couldn't be better timing...

Congratulation to Al Gore!

Absolutely!

 

[drbill]

Congrats to my former classmate Al Gore on winning the Nobel Prize.

 

[aquaticmatt]

yasser arafat, jimmy carter, algore...

at this point... who cares??

 

[Thalassamania]

yasser arafat, jimmy carter, algore...

at this point... who cares??

I guess you don't ... but have you done something in the last year that compares? I know I haven't.

 

[aquaticmatt]

I guess you don't ... but have you done something in the last year that compares? I know I haven't.

If by compare you mean make a bogus movie filled with exaggerations and inaccuracies while living in a house that doesn't come close to the "green friendly" lifestyle algore advocates, then you are correct. I haven't.

I also did not campaign to win this award.

 

[DuboisP]

If by compare you mean make a bogus movie filled with exaggerations and inaccuracies while living in a house that doesn't come close to the "green friendly" lifestyle algore advocates, then you are correct. I haven't.

I also did not campaign to win this award.

what's inaccurate ? example ? be precise

 

[Thalassamania]

If by compare you mean make a bogus movie filled with exaggerations and inaccuracies while living in a house that doesn't come close to the "green friendly" lifestyle algore advocates, then you are correct. I haven't.

I also did not campaign to win this award.

I don't know what your expertise is, but as an oceanographer I'd be hard pressed to style "An Inconvenient Truth" as a "bogus movie filled with exaggerations and inaccuracies."

I hope that you can demonstrate some level of accomplishment that could lend creditability to such a libelous characterization.

If you had campaigned do you think you'd have been in the running?

 

[fweber]

If by compare you mean make a bogus movie filled with exaggerations and inaccuracies while living in a house that doesn't come close to the "green friendly" lifestyle algore advocates, then you are correct. I haven't.

I also did not campaign to win this award.

Alarmist, perhaps. But, that was the point of the film. Bogus, exaggerated, inaccurate? How? Please, be specific.

 

[dlndavid]

what's inaccurate ? example ? be precise

Here were the nine pertinent errors reported by the Telegraph Thursday:

Mr Gore claims that a sea-level rise of up to 20 feet would be caused by melting of either West Antarctica or Greenland "in the near future". The judge said: "This is distinctly alarmist and part of Mr Gore's "wake-up call". He agreed that if Greenland melted it would release this amount of water - "but only after, and over, millennia"."The Armageddon scenario he predicts, insofar as it suggests that sea level rises of seven metres might occur in the immediate future, is not in line with the scientific consensus."
The film claims that low-lying inhabited Pacific atolls "are being inundated because of anthropogenic global warming" but the judge ruled there was no evidence of any evacuation having yet happened.
The documentary speaks of global warming "shutting down the Ocean Conveyor" - the process by which the Gulf Stream is carried over the North Atlantic to western Europe. Citing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the judge said that it was "very unlikely" that the Ocean Conveyor, also known as the Meridional Overturning Circulation, would shut down in the future, though it might slow down.
Mr Gore claims that two graphs, one plotting a rise in C02 and the other the rise in temperature over a period of 650,000 years, showed "an exact fit". The judge said that, although there was general scientific agreement that there was a connection, "the two graphs do not establish what Mr Gore asserts".
Mr Gore says the disappearance of snow on Mt Kilimanjaro was directly attributable to global warming, but the judge ruled that it scientists have not established that the recession of snow on Mt Kilimanjaro is primarily attributable to human-induced climate change.
The film contends that the drying up of Lake Chad is a prime example of a catastrophic result of global warming but the judge said there was insufficient evidence, and that "it is apparently considered to be far more likely to result from other factors, such as population increase and over-grazing, and regional climate variability."
Mr Gore blames Hurricane Katrina and the consequent devastation in New Orleans on global warming, but the judge ruled there was "insufficient evidence to show that".
Mr Gore cites a scientific study that shows, for the first time, that polar bears were being found after drowning from "swimming long distances - up to 60 miles - to find the ice" The judge said: "The only scientific study that either side before me can find is one which indicates that four polar bears have recently been found drowned because of a storm."That was not to say there might not in future be drowning-related deaths of bears if the trend of regression of pack ice continued - "but it plainly does not support Mr Gore's description".
Mr Gore said that coral reefs all over the world were being bleached because of global warming and other factors. Again citing the IPCC, the judge agreed that, if temperatures were to rise by 1-3 degrees centigrade, there would be increased coral bleaching and mortality, unless the coral could adapt. However, he ruled that separating the impacts of stresses due to climate change from other stresses, such as over-fishing, and pollution was difficult.
For those interested, here were the two errors listed in the NewsBusters article that the judge ended up not specifically addressing:

The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.
The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7m causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40cm over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.
Regardless, it is indeed fascinating the American media seem quite disinterested in sharing this ruling with the public. In fact, apart from Fox News and NewsMax, no major stateside press outlet has felt this decision newsworthy.

 

[Kim]

Judge Michael Burton is far less qualified to comment on the accuracies or inaccuracies of the film than are many people who regularly post on this board, I can't take his "rulings" seriously. I agree, however, that the film, because of established economic interests and their political influence and shortsightedness, should be viewed as polemical and evaluated on that basis.

I agree. Actually the judge only said that the film couldn't be shown without a little extra "user instruction".....it's still going to be shown in the schools......the government won! (do you think the kids will actually listen to the "pre-film" blurb????? )