– I conduct a lot of discussions with friends via E-mail and one of my correspondents in these exchanges has been reluctant to accept many of the positions put forth by those who think Global Warming is caused by mankind and bodes ill for our joint futures. These exchanges among the group of us make for some interesting discussions and can test our skills at remaining open-minded, fair-minded and unemotional with each other as we interact.
– Recently, my semi-skeptical friend passed me a link to a video shown on Channel 4 in Britain on March 8th entitled, “The Great Global Warming Swindle” and asked me to watch it. Well, I did and I found it very troubling. It attacks many core assumptions of those who believe Global Warming is caused by mankind and it appears to do a credible job of it.
– Before I go any further, here’s the link to the video. I encourage you to watch it – regardless of your POV on Global Warming. The information it provides is part of the debate and deserves our attention whether we agree with it or not.
–Here it is: ➡
– When we lay people try to evaluate the information brought before us, we are at a major disadvantage. Unless we’ve been to the ends of the earth and done the physical research ourselves, unless we are college professors whose lives and livelihoods revolve around tracking every bit of information that arises in our area of expertise, unless we have the time to dip deeply in the huge river of information flowing by all of us on the shores of the Internet, and unless we have made a strong commitment to challenging and reviewing our own belief systems periodically and systematically, we are necessarily at a disadvantage in trying to discern where truth and reason actually might lie in complex debates such as the one currently going on regarding Global Warming and its causes.
– One of the points made in the film is that the idea that Global Warming is happening and that it is caused by mankind has gained great traction in the world – unreasonable traction. As someone who has thought for sometime that humanity has been very slow to react to the Global Warming Crisis, this seems like a strange POV to me – but I can see how some might think so.
– But, now they’ve made a strong counter-stroke in the debate. This film pulls many of the criticisms against Global Warming theory together and presents them articulately.
– Obviously those who are deeply ‘committed’ to anti-environmentalism or to environmentalism will have predictable reactions. If you scan the Internet for commentary on the film, now that it’s been around a few days, you’ll find tons. Conservatives feel that finally their side of the story’s been told and environmentalists feel that they’ve been done dirty by a ‘hit’ film.
– I think most folks who hold extreme views in either direction can and should be ignored. They are not going to bring much new to those who really want to deepen their understanding of where the truth lies here. They are far too entrenched in their points-of-view to do anything other than dig in and protect their intellectual turf.
– The pro-global warming folks have had a long time to build their arguments and now the anti-global warming folks have made a great foray onto the field. But regardless of how well the story is told by either side, they are both still ‘stories’ and somewhere, back behind all of the stories and points-of-view, is the actual physical truth of what’s happening and whether we as a species realize it or not, creating an accurate perception of that truth is in all of our best interests.
– Hence it is in our best interests to not become entrenched in ‘f’ixed’ view-points because that takes us off the only road that can possibly lead to more accurate perceptions – and off into the bushes of irrelevance.
– But, one of the ways to get at how much credibility one should give to something like this video is to look at who made and contributed to it. What is their history, their credentials? Do they have relationships or a history that might make you doubt their reliability?
This documentary was done for Britain’s Channel 4 by Martin Durkin. Unfortunately, Martin is not known for his even-handed reporting. Check out these links; some of which predate anything to do with his current project.
Martin panders to sensationalism and a great desire among a large segment of the population to believe that the Global Climate Crisis is not real, or that it isn’t our fault, or that it is natural and, in any case, there’s nothing we need do about it or change for. Denial, some folks might call it.
For an analysis of Martin Durkin and his work, see this: ➡
One of the scientists, Carl Wunsch, who appeared in the broadcast has since strongly claimed that his views were badly misrepresented by unethical editing and has written a letter about it here: ➡
– To locate related posts on this site, search for the term swindle.