Gore Film Unfairly Attacked By UK Court

By James Donahue

Litigation by a UK citizen that asked a court to ban the showing of Al Gore's controversial film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, in schools across not only the UK but in Canada, has caused a fresh media stir among the pack of folks still in denial.

Obviously Justice (no given first name) Burton, who ruled on the case, and the many writers who have jumped on the court's list of alleged scientific "errors" appearing in the film, have not been following current world events.

The justice ruled that the Gore film can be shown in the schools, but only with a disclaimer in which students are told that the documentary is "a political work" that "promotes only one side of the argument."

Teachers who fail to show the film without the disclaimer will be guilty of political indoctrination, as described in the Education Act of 1996.

In making his decision, the judge posted a list of "inaccuracies" that must be specifically drawn to the attention of the school children. These so-called inaccuracies have been gleefully listed by media writers all around the globe, with claims of proof that if this judge can't accept the information, and a "government scientist" who gave testimony in the case agreed, then the "inaccuracies" must be valid and that Gore has been wrong.

That Gore has received high acclaim and this week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for his work in bringing the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming to the attention of the world, apparently failed to sway the opinion of Justice Burton.

In the interest of fairness, we took a close look at the list of "inaccuracies" and found that there appears to be a lot of scientific evidence to support Gore's statements in his film.

--The court ruled that warnings of rising sea levels from melting glaciers and ice caps that will flood coastal cities are "alarmist" statements without foundation. He said such flooding is not expected to occur for at least a millennium. A report by NASA only a few days ago, however, noted that a research team from Queen's University were shocked by extreme high temperatures in the High Arctic this summer and are now revising earlier forecasts. The meltdown is happening faster than anybody ever expected.

--The court said the story of people being evacuated from low lying Pacific atolls because of rising water levels is false, and is not happening. Perhaps the judge needs to talk to the thousands of people forced to move from the Polynesian islands of Tulun, Takuu and the six tiny Carteret Islands because of rising water levels. People also have been evacuated from the small Pacific island chain of Vanuatu and up to 40,000 people are faced with evacuation from the Duke of York chain, all low-lying atolls in the South Pacific.

--The teachers are ordered to assure the students that there is no danger of the Gulf Stream shutting down and causing extreme cooling, and possibly a new ice age to sweep the Northern Hemisphere, especially affecting the UK and Northern Europe. Actually the quick melting of the Greenland ice has mixed so much fresh water in the North Atlantic that the Gulf Stream, which brings warm climate to Europe, has not only been slowing, but nearly came to a complete stop earlier this year. European leaders are so alarmed by this that they are calling for immediate action to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in a last-ditch effort to prevent something like this from happening.

--The court disputed Gore's charts predicting a rapid rise in carbon dioxide levels because of new industrialization going on in China, India, Brazil and other world nations. A new report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, however, is revealing startling new data showing that Gore was correct. An Australian climate change expert, who leaked this information, says the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is already above the threshold that can cause dangerous climate change. He said carbon dioxide levels are rising at an alarming rate and "we are already at great risk."

--The court said there is no evidence that the disappearance of snow on Mt. Killmanjaro is caused by global warming. Apparently the rapid melting of massive glaciers in China, South America and other parts of the world also isn't being caused by a warming planet.

--Teachers are ordered to tell students that there is no evidence that global warming is responsible for the drying of Lake Chad, once the largest freshwater lake in Africa. A NASA report says the lake has dramatically decreased in size because of climate change and the human demand for water. Lake Chad, located at the corners of Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, has been a source of water for massive irrigation projects. But the area has been hit by an increasingly dry climate in the past 50 years.

--The court disputes Gore's statement that Hurricane Katrina and other storms of that magnitude are caused by global warming. While science may not be able to yet prove the s torm was caused by climate change, they can't say Katrina wasn't caused by changing weather forces. What we do know is that there has been an increasing pattern of severe storms sweeping not only the North American coast, but the Asian coast. There also are new powerful storms slamming into Southern Hemisphere lands like Australia.

--The story that polar bears are drowning because of the melting ice in the Arctic regions also is disputed. Researchers, however, have expressed great concern for the plight of the bears because their natural hunting grounds are melting. The situation has appeared so grim that the US has proposed listing the bears as an endangered species. That anyone has actually observed drowning bears may be disputed, however.

--The court also disputed the Gore report that links the dying of coral reefs with our warming seas, a result of a warming planet. A recent report by National Geographic noted that warming seas have caused the worst coral die-off on record, and that the health of the reefs are showing no sign of recovery. This, in turn, is creating a destruction of fish diversity and is threatening the world's food chain. But in the UK and Canada, teachers are not allowed to mention this, or support what Gore had to say about it.