National Review on Al Gore
U.S. Fiscal Policy

More in the Never-Ending Stream of Swill From National Review!

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Planet Gore on National Review Online: The British government decided that it would be a good idea to send copies of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to all schools, with then Environment Secretary (now Foreign Secretary) David Miliband declaring that “the debate over science is over.” Well, it may be, but not in the way Gore portrays it.... The judge has decided that this is indeed the case and that the Government’s guidance notes that accompanied the film exacerbated the problem. For the film to be shown in schools, therefore, several facts would have to be drawn to students’ attention.... Eleven inaccuracies... specifically.... This is a far better result than refusing to allow the film to be shown at all. It requires that students be told by teachers that Al Gore is factually inaccurate, misleading.... These inconvenient truths for the former Vice President have been covered up.... Students will now realize that there are significant shortcomings and inaccuracies in the way the global warming scare has been presented to them...

Here's what the judge said in Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education & Skills [2007] EWHC 2288 (Admin) (10 October 2007):

Mr Justice Burton: [An Inconvenient Truth] is... based substantially on scientific research and opinion... [and also] a political film, albeit of course not party political. Its theme is not merely the fact that there is global warming, and that there is a powerful case that such global warming is caused by man, but that urgent, and if necessary expensive and inconvenient, steps must be taken to counter it, many of which are spelt out....

Mr Downes... submits that, in order to comply with its duty under s407 to "offer a balanced presentation of opposing views", a school must give what he calls, by reference to the position in the media, "equal air time".... The balanced approach does not involve equality. In my judgment, the word "balanced" in s407 means nothing more than fair and dispassionate....

I turn to AIT, the film. The following is clear:

It is substantially founded upon scientific research and fact, albeit that the science is used, in the hands of a talented politician and communicator, to make a political statement and to support a political programme.... The Film advances four main scientific hypotheses, each of which is very well supported by research published in respected, peer-reviewed journals and accords with the latest conclusions of the IPCC: (1) global average temperatures have been rising significantly over the past half century and are likely to continue to rise ("climate change"); (2) climate change is mainly attributable to man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide ("greenhouse gases"); (3) climate change will, if unchecked, have significant adverse effects on the world and its populations; and (4) there are measures which individuals and governments can take which will help to reduce climate change or mitigate its effects. These propositions... are supported by a vast quantity of research published in peer-reviewed journals worldwide and by the great majority of the world's climate scientists....

There are errors and omissions in the film... and respects in which the film, while purporting to set out the mainstream view (and to belittle opposing views), does in fact itself depart from that mainstream.... Mr Downes produced a long schedule of such alleged errors or exaggerations and waxed lyrical.... I was persuaded that only some of them were sufficiently persuasive to be relevant... 9....

[I]n order to establish and confirm that the purpose of sending the films to schools is not so as to "influence the opinions of children" (paragraph 7 above) but so as to "stimulate children into discussing climate change and global warming in school classes" (paragraph 6 above) a Guidance Note... which, to my satisfaction, addresses all of the above 9... by way of example... in respect of scene 21....

Note: Pupils might get the impression that sea-level rises of up to 7m (caused by the complete melting of Greenland or half of Greenland and half of the West Antarctic shelf) could happen in the next decades. The IPCC predicts that it would take millennia for rises of that magnitude to occur. However, pupils should be aware that even small rises in sea level are predicted to have very serious effects. The IPCC says that "many millions more people are projected to be flooded every year due to sea-level rise by the 2080s" (i.e. within pupils' own lifetimes)....

The Defendant will not be promoting partisan political views by enabling the showing of AIT.... In the circumstances, and for those reasons, in the light of the changes to the Guidance Note which the Defendant has agreed to make, and has indeed already made, and upon the Defendant's agreeing to send such amended Guidance Note out in hard copy, no order is made on this application...

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