Gore climate film's 'nine errors'

[Lostinthestates]

[web]https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7037671.stm[/web]

I thought this was fairly interesting - especially the polar bear thing. The polar bear has been moved to being an endangered species, which is mainly due to them not finding enough food!

https://www.un.org/works/environment/ani ... rbear.html

[luke]

i was reading about this earlier, theres an interesting aspect that the bbc has missed out ...

It’s the story many hacks and sceptics have been waiting for: To shoot down Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth. Last night, the BBC’s flagship news programme, the Ten O’Clock news, led with the story that a British High Court Judge had ruled that Gore’s film had made “alarmist” and “exaggerated” claims.

As the trailers finished the BBC’s Anchorman Huw Edwards said: “A controversial film on climate change being shown in British schools is heavily criticized by a high court judge for making alarmist and exaggerated claims”.

The overriding theme of the piece, by the BBC’s environmental analyst Roger Harrabin, was that Gore’s film was flawed with nine significant errors. The judge had pointed out it was “a political film.”

However what the BBC spectacularly failed to do in its programme last night was give any background to the “political” nature of the attack against the film. The BBC reported that the fact the High Court case against the film was brought by Stewart Dimmock, a “school governor in Kent” who called the film a “political shockumentary”.

However what the BBC failed to do mention Dimmock’s own political connections. Dimmock is a member of the political group, the New Party. The founder and chair of the New Party is Robert Durward, who is so right-wing he has been labeled a “fascist” by the Scottish Tories.

More importantly, there is a cross-fertilisation between the New Party and Durward’s other pet project - he is the founder of the anti-environmental Scientific Alliance. Both the New Party and Scientific Alliance work closely with the PR company Foresight Communications.

The Alliance is one of the leading sceptic organizations in the UK, that campaigns against climate change, against Al Gore’s film and promotes the heavily criticized alternative film “Great Global Warming Swindle”.

It has also forged links with skeptics in the US. For example in 2005, the Alliance held a conference on Climate Change called “Apocalypse No: Assessing Catastrophic Climate Change.”

Leading climate skeptics such as Richard Lindzen, Fred Singer Nils-Axel Morner and Benny Peiser spoke. The keynote speaker was David Bellamy, the British naturalist, who believes climate change is “poppycock”. At the time the Alliance’s Scientific Advisory Forum also included Sallie Baliunas, one of the world’s leading climate sceptics.

Pity the BBC failed to inform viewers of the political nature of this attack..

[Lostinthestates]

Not really all that surprised about that! Why else would you attack a film which says we need to look after the environment a bit more? Personally I thought the film was dull and didn't really show anything I didn't know already.

[Skylace]

I haven't seen the film. But I do agree with any type of film that is controversial both sides do need to be presented.
However, we do need to take care of our environment and I think that there are even better ways to teach that then to show Gore's film. Especially in schools. We had programs started up at my schools that showed the importance of recycling and of course there were always art projects and other types of things that required used items.
You can teach children and adults to take care of the environment without an award winning film.

[nekokate]

theres an interesting aspect that the bbc has missed out ...

That's a very good point, Luke. Puts the situation nicely in perspective. Plus the point that the list of "facts" that were judged to be spurious were infact pretty insignificant in comparison to the big picture. I mean, just because some polar bears might not have drowned in a certain way that's hardly a coup for the people who want to discredit Gore's entire film!

[eefanincan]

I haven't seen the film. But I do agree with any type of film that is controversial both sides do need to be presented.
However, we do need to take care of our environment and I think that there are even better ways to teach that then to show Gore's film. Especially in schools. We had programs started up at my schools that showed the importance of recycling and of course there were always art projects and other types of things that required used items.
You can teach children and adults to take care of the environment without an award winning film.

Some good points. I think the major things in this film are good for people to know, but in reality, it's the small things that we can do ourselves that are really going to have the bigger impact--- things like the three "r"'s -- reduce, reuse, recycle.

[faceless]

I've not heard those three r's before, but I like it -

[eefanincan]

I've not heard those three r's before, but I like it -

Really? It's quite popular here...... kind of drilled into our heads. But it makes sense if you think about it.

[faceless]

I can imagine that phrase would easily get drilled in - bring on the environmental brainwashing! haha

[Skylace]

I've not heard those three r's before, but I like it -

Really? It's quite popular here...... kind of drilled into our heads. But it makes sense if you think about it.

We have that saying here as well eefan. And it does make sense. As a matter of fact we even have whole lesson plans in the schools here based on the reduce, reuse, recycle program.


Here is a website for it

[web]https://www.epa.gov/msw/reduce.htm[/web]

[Mandy]

The early BBC reports from yesterday 10-Oct-2007 14:54:54 had "Judge backs Gore film in schools" .. "Schools in England are free to show the climate change film by Al Gore under certain conditions, a judge confirms."

This initial BBC report clearly missed the point ...

I have been involved in a number of threads on CouchTripper where I have been saying the governments are using Global Warming as an excuse to further their political (& fascist) agenda. That the British government wanted to force this film UNEDITED and UNQUALIFIED onto all students in the UK is a sign of their attempt to brainwash all UK students. Note that the British government would have had to oppose this application to the courts all the way .. it must have cost MANY THOUSANDS to contest this case .. the government got costs awarded against them .. but only lawyers win .. and tax payers pay ...

"The judge awarded Mr Dimmock two-thirds of his estimated legal costs of more than £200,000, against the government."

[faceless]

The only reason they would have to force anyone to watch it is because it's so mind-numbingly dull. If I was 15 and was told I had to watch it I'd have looked forward to it as much as the night-out to the local theatre to watch a badly performed version of Macbeth as part of the Literature class. That wouldn't take away from the importance of the two items, but it does show that it's all about presentation.

btw - it's not 'UK' students, just English ones.

[Mandy]

btw - it's not 'UK' students, just English ones.

Unsure if ruling applied to only England .. but the "government(s)" clearly intended this for the whole UK

"The government has sent the film to all secondary schools in England, and the administrations in Wales and Scotland have done the same."

It will be interesting what the "administrations in Wales and Scotland " (and also N. Ireland) do about the film ..

[Marcella-FL]

I've not heard those three r's before, but I like it -

WH-WH-WHAT?! iS THAT POSSIBLE? Oh wait - you don't have children. Bob the Builder is HUGELY into the new 3 Rs. It's kindof cool since I am a bit of a hippie chic for the new millenium ...

[Marcella-FL]

I think it is one's own personal responsibility to investigate any "documentary" evidence. I guess I am just a skeptic at heart and though I LOVE Al Gore I KNOW he has an agenda. Anyone with an agenda is going to spin it to their benefit. It's just a matter of which "tilt-a-whirl" makes me hurl!