Many people who watched the channel four programme 'The Great Global Warming Scandal' broadcast on 8th March will have been left confused and understandably annoyed to learn that all they have been told about the dangers, and causes, of global warming is, apparently, a lie. The programme purported to expose global warming as an international scientific conspiracy aimed at scaring the media, public and Governments to, inter alia, limit the economic growth of third world countries because of their perceived threat to western markets, increase investment in specific areas of scientific and technological research and maliciously undermine the petrochemical industry (for reasons not made clear).

For we environmentalists who have struggled so long to get the problem of Climate Change onto the political and social agenda, it was a night of despair as we realised that we would have to face all the scepticism of the last 5 years all over again.

So - what is the truth and what should we tell people who are genuinely bewildered about what the 'experts' are telling them? It is time to debunk the Channel Four myth once and for all. Lets take each so called 'fact' in turn.

• “The current increase in global temperatures is caused, not by rising levels of greenhouse gases but by sun activity - specifically the cyclical activity of sun spots (the shorter the cycle, the higher the temperature).” This was based on scientific papers published by Dr Eigil Friis-Christensen and colleagues whose work was subsequently exposed as erroneous; in fact, later data proved that temperatures continued to rise even when the length of the solar cycle increased. Even the team's later work, based on the idea that cosmic rays affected cloud formation was dismissed by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) because cosmic radiation is insignificant compared to the impact of greenhouse gases.
• “The climate is always changing and changes predicted for the next century are within the range of normal variability.” The IPCC 4th assessment Report Summary states 'Paleoclimate information supports the interpretation that the warmth of the last half century is unusual in at least the previous 1300 years.'
• “Volcanic eruptions produce more carbon dioxide then fossil fuel burning”. None of the large volcanic eruptions over the last 50 years can be linked to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• “Climate models are too complex and uncertain to provide useful projections of climate change”. This was based on a statement made by Professor Smagorinsky - a pioneer climate modeller - in the 1980s. Climate modelling is now considerably more mature and the 30 or so modelling groups around the world are in constant communication to ensure their projections are as accurate as possible.

The material presented in the programme was a mixture of truth, half truth and falsehood aimed at discrediting the meticulous work undertaken by the main world community of climate scientists and by the IPCC. Most importantly, the programme omitted two critical pieces of evidence which underpin the entire case for greenhouse gases causing global warming i.e. the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuel is higher than at any time in the last 600,000 years and observations of global warming at the earth's surface over the last 200 years mirror exactly the increase in carbon dioxide levels.

The programme was aimed at creating a sensation to boost viewing figures. In that, it undoubtedly succeeded but we should remember that there will always be sceptics, especially in science where absolute proof is sometimes hard to find. At the end of the day we should ask ourselves whether we are prepared to risk the future of our planet on an unvalidated assertion that over 90% of the worlds scientists are wrong. Now is not the time for procrastination but for urgent action and if anyone is still in doubt - go to see Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth' and be persuaded!!!

Denise Thompson

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