Dr Who Created Al Gore, And Other Global Warming Science
GLOBAL warming news as the Times’ survey into British attitudes towards man-made climate change excite both sides of the heated debate. Richard North reviews the science.
Before he does, know that Dr Who is on the side of the Al Goreans:
GIANT MAGGOTS AS ECOLOGICAL WARNING (THE GREEN DEATH, 1973)
Doctor Who reflected growing environmental awareness in the 1970s, when Jon Pertwee battled giant, man-eating maggots created by toxic waste. The villains are the suits who run Global Chemicals, and the heroes are the hippy drop-outs of the “Nut Hutch”. It may have been a simple depiction of big issues, but for popular television (attracting about eight million viewers) aimed at a young audience, this was radical political and social drama disguised as adventure fiction.
Dr Who created Al Gore! Now read on:
LEAD item for The Times today is a survey the paper has commissioned on attitudes to global warming.
It finds that only 41 percent accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Almost a third (32 percent) believe that the link is not yet proved; 8 percent say that it is environmentalist propaganda to blame man and 15 percent say that the world is not warming.
Interestingly, while The Times makes a big deal of its own survey, that was that smaller survey reported in September, which had 29 percent of those questioned thinking the evidence on global warming had been exaggerated – double the number who held the same opinion in 2003.
That is vaguely comparable with this later survey, but The Times groups its various categories together to come up with the conclusion that less than half the population believes that human activity is to blame for global warming.
The paper observes that ministers have failed in their campaign to persuade the public that the greenhouse effect is a serious threat requiring urgent action, and it thus “will make uncomfortable reading for the Government as it prepares for next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen”.
But what is most significant is the response of the warmist community. Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, interprets the survey as evidence that “growing awareness of the scale of the problem appeared to be resulting in people taking refuge in denial”.
Ed Miliband, climate change secretary, resorts to the usual warmist mantras, saying: “The overwhelming body of scientific information is stacked up against the deniers and shows us that climate change is man-made and is happening now.”
Predictably, therefore – rather like the EU – he believes the answer to the “deniers” is more propaganda. “We know that we still have a way to go in informing people about climate change,” he says, “and that is why we make no apologies about pushing forward with our new Act on CO2 campaign.”
And therein lies the great divide. Never once do the warmists concede that many of their so-called “deniers” have adopted their stance on the basis of good evidence. In their foetid minds, we must all be misinformed, and thus must be “educated” so that we can correct our errant ways. If we all row faster, they say, we might just get on board the Titanic before it sinks. – EU Ref
Posted: 14th, November 2009 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
