The Global Warming Swindle

First of all I’d like to make it clear that I am in no way attempting a rebuttal of this program, I have my criticisms but I also have my criticisms of the Global warming/Climate change movement too. Not necessarily because I think their conclusions are wrong but because I think the reasoning they used in order to get there may be incorrect and also I find the hysterical approach used by both sides in this debate quite un-scientific and immature. There are still many inconsistencies and gaps in current climate theory and modelling so with so much still to learn it seems quite stupid to be utterly dogmatic with either argument.

One of the principal arguments used in the program was the “medieval warm period”, a period in which temperatures in the Northern hemisphere reached values quite similar to what we observe today. I’m glad they brought it up as so many environmental scientists have been conveniently ignoring it (Mann et el) in their data. There is some debate as to whether this was a global event but I think on balance [given other studies] it was however I was disappointed how the program presented its data to make it appear more dramatic than it really was. What was not mentioned in the program was that this period of warming was not accompanied by large scale extinctions, disappearance of inland seas or expansions of dessertified regions which we are seeing in the current warming scenario. For some reason the planet was better able to cope with this period of warming than it is today and that question needs answering.

Another argument presented in the program was the connection between global temperature and solar activity, which I was glad to see because this factor is often not given the importance it deserves. It is this effect on our climate which makes it very hard to accurately determine if our climate is really changing beyond the solar effect as any data has to be normalised against this fluctuation but again the program disappointingly ignored the correlation between sun-spot activity and geothermal activity, in spite of the fact it [correctly] cited volcanoes as the primary planetary producers of carbon dioxide. I should however add that studies of our most recent temperature changes suggest that they are rising much stronger now than solar activity would suggest.

Probably the most compelling argument presented was the 800 year lag between temperature change and carbon dioxide levels, which casts doubt on the notion of the gas being the driver of climate change. This one is highly contested amongst scientists as to whether it proves theory or disproves it and in all honesty both sides are quite compelling; it was however a shame that the program failed to really get this across and it was rather left to the annoying voice-over to leave the viewer with a layman’s explanation.

Overall it was good to see a some TV which challenges the current hysteria, in spite of the fact that it borrowed some of the poor techniques used by opponents. Nevertheless I am still convinced that our climate is changing beyond what it would do under normal circumstances and at a faster rate than it would do naturally and that human activity is driving this change. What I do agree with is that the evidence that CO2 is a principal driver in this climatic change is not conclusive and must be researched further, I may even venture that I think that CO2 is an indicator of temperature/climate change rather than a cause but in larger concentrations starts to contribute to it as a feed-back mechanism but I might discuss that further in another post.

In the mean time I can see no reason for either party in this debate to be crowing the other’s defeat, because whatever you think is causing our environment to change - we are clearly in trouble.

Linkage
 
If “global warming” is real, what could be causing it?
 
What does the lag of CO2 behind temperature in ice cores tell us about global warming?
 
Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age Myths.
 
The Great Global Warming Swindle (The Video).

Gordon Brown : New World Order, One World Government, … [?]