"The Great Global Warming Swindle," a British documentary by Martin Durkin, released this past March, is a disturbing film and well worth watching, no matter which side of the aisle you're on. It is unabashedly a one-sided polemic, somewhat like a Michael Moore film but a bit more restrained, better edited, and with no Michael Moore making us squirm in our seats.
The opening statement from Professor Tim Ball of the University of Winnipeg sets the stage: "When people say, 'We don't believe in global warming,' I say, 'No, I believe in global warming -- I don't believe that human CO2 is causing that warming.'"
Durkin interviews a cadre of well-respected climate scientists who refute the notion that carbon dioxide resulting from mankind's industrial and automotive development is responsible for the warming. Instead, they say, in essence, that variations in the sun's forces are much better correlated to warming trends, and that mankind's contribution to the present warming cycle is not very significant. They go on to say that the environmental movement is now in fact primarily a political and moneymaking movement, dependent on grants, ignorant of science, vicious to intellectual opposition, and oblivious to the harmful effects of blind environmentalism on progress and quality of life in developing countries. (The scientists interviewed, by the way, denied having accepted any money from oil companies or other industries interesting in seeing the notion of human-made warming debunked.)
Only a small percentage of us who have put our shoulders behind the environmental movement have the scientific credentials to speak intelligently about these matters, and it's easy enough to agree with the obvious: There are a lot of unqualified people trying to make a buck on this bandwagon. Still, when you witness the debate between so many scientists who do have the credentials, you begin to think of a variation on a theme: "There are lies, damned lies, and scientific models."
No matter what the cause of global warming, and no matter how far toward climate change this warming trend takes us, we humans should be doing as much as we can to reduce pollution, reduce waste, reduce litter and trash, conserve energy, control population, live more simply, and be less attached to growth and consumption for their own sakes.
More immediately, no matter where you stand on the causes of global warming (or which sources of expertise you choose to believe -- and really, for most of us non-scientists it's just a choice) -- here's one of those rare moments where people from all across the political spectrum in the US can get together. If you scoff at global warming, fine -- you can still go green to help undermine the terrorists who would do us harm. Deny the bad guys money from OPEC oil revenues, and you'll help strangle them where they sit.
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