Global Warming - Al Gore's new movie

Based on the previews, "An Inconvenient Truth" is a SciFi thriller (end of the world horror story) similar to "10.5" (a really crappy SciFi film recently shown on tv where an impossible 10.5 earthquake destroys half the US and sends California out to sea - most of the "science" was completely bogus).

In actuality, it is a political campaign ad for .... Al Gore.


Overview

Well ... it WAS a sales pitch I guess it was too much to expect more.


New data

There were several new pieces of data I had not seen before


Fires across Africa

There was a very nice composite photo of the Earth showing where the lights are (where the cities are) and where the fires are. In this photo, about 30% of Africa was shown as being on fire.

It is really pretty scary.

However, in other photos I've seen, the fires are not as bright as the city lights ... but in this photo they were brighter. (I assume that they were enhanced.) But Gore never used this data to support any specific point.

There have been a number of claims that the Arctic ice is melting because of soot (unburned hydrocarbons) settling on the ice. This causes it to absorb more heat and, therefore, to melt. (These are reasonable claims.) What if this soot actually came from these fires. Boy, I would sure like to see more data on this. It would be ironic if the melting Arctic ice cap was caused by African primitives and not the evil rich Americans. (Gore claims that they are having no effect ... but then shows a picture indicating that they are the primary source of soot. Which is it?)

This NASA data shows fires around the globe. However, notice that the data is false colored to show how many fires were detected per unit area over a 10 day period and displayed on a composite photo. You definitely should NOT assume that this is what you would see if you took a photo from space - this is data displayed on a photo.

In all, there is an image for every 10 day period since early 2000. (Pretty cool data.)

It is likely that this is the same data that Mr. Gore showed ... but he said (implied ?) that his data showed a composite photo. Actually, its not clear exactly what Gore's point was ... except that is was pretty scary.

Mixing lights and fires made a very nice image ... too bad there is no point to it.


650 Kyr old Ice Cores

I've done a lot of research - the oldest ice core data I previously knew of was only 414 thousand years old. Thanks to this film, I found references to the 650 Kyr old ice cores.

Previously, the only data that went back that far were the foraminifera sediment cores.

At any rate, the data is similar to that from other sources. Unfortunately, he never mentioned that the interpretation is still disputed - for instance

Since Mr. Gore spends more time on this graph than on any other piece of data, and because of the numerous errors, I have to say that I have serious questions about his ability to actually tell the truth.


More

Some African towns were built high enough that there were no mosquitoes. (He claims that this is because it was too cold.) However, because of local warming ... there are now mosquitoes. I would love to see more data on this. I understand that mosquitoes are a problem in tropical Canada, but in the African ice fields ... ?

A number of large African lakes have dried up due to expanding desert.

A very large number of people in central Asia get almost all of their drinking and irrigation water from melting glaciers ... and these glaciers will be completely gone in a few decades. Again, this is due to expanding deserts.

In Antarctica, holes in an ice shelf made it fail faster ... and Greenland has the same holes. Therefore, we should expect the Greenland ice cap to suddenly disappear. (this is very questionable)


Relevant data

There actually was a small amount of useful data.


Gas Mileage

This was interesting - other countries have laws which require that cars get better gas mileage when compared to US averages. Of course, that means that those cars have to be smaller (much smaller), but he did not mention that.

Regardless of your position on Global Warming, most people agree that using less gas (oil) is a good thing. However, since the Clinton administration did nothing to fix this problem, President Bush is the bad guy. (I don't understand his logic either.)

In my opinion, the fix is easy - add a $2 per gallon tax to every gallon of gas and give 100% of that money to the county (company) that produces the most efficient cars. The problem would be solved in 2 years. (Of course, cars would never exceed 25 miles per hour.)


Expanding Deserts

Expanding deserts are a serious problem. Satellite images show cities in the middle of the Sahara. There were once forests in the Middle East.

Perhaps 80% of glacier loss is due to expanding deserts and not human caused Global Warming. (I actually do NOT have a reference for that number - I simply present it as an example.)

But to blame current problems on something that happened in the last 50 years is totally off the wall.


Totally Irrelevant data


Hole in the Ozone

I couldn't believe it, near the end of the film - he compared Global Warming to the hole in the ozone. Actually, Gore was countering arguments that it would be impossible to solve a global problem by saying that international cooperation allowed us to solve the hole in the ozone problem ... except that ozone never was a problem.

This needs another comment - the "hole in the ozone" was "discovered" by big business (DuPont Co.). Then big business convinced the US government (the Reagan administration) to fix a problem that NASA still claims never existed. (The hole was real ... and it still is. It is a natural phenomena that has always existed. And Dupont made a fortune.)


Hansen Interrogation

There is a clip where someone (I think it was Gore) was questioning Dr. Hansen (a vocal Global Warming proponent). But I could never figure out what the point of the clip was. It looked like the additional material needed to set up the clip was removed.


Data that Promotes Al Gore

Give me a break There was a lot of this - probably more than 20 minutes, spread out a little here and a little there.

None of this makes sense if this is a documentary on Global Warming ... however, if he is running for office ... this is exactly what I would expect.

Pretty cleaver to get people to pay to see a political add.


Data that is Wrong or Misleading

Whatever position you hold, this was a propaganda film ... not a documentary. There was not one piece of data questioning any position held by Gore.

These are some of the points that were either misleading or just plain crap.


Mt Kilimanjaro

The glacier on the top of Mt Kilimanjaro is melting. It will be gone in a few years. Yes, you can argue that any weather change is caused by Global Warming, and Gore does argue that expanding deserts are one of the effects. But he does not make that connection in this case. He also does not mention that Africans have cut down all the trees near Mt Kilimanjaro and, in fact, that is the primary reason that it no longer snows there. Basically, Global Warming plays no part in this misleading information.


All Scientists support Gore

Gore's people have performed a literature search ... and guess what Well that is just crap. He claims that there were NO articles against global warming ... well how can there be if the government (NSF) refuses to fund any studies. (Remember, his party controlled government grants for 8 years.) He makes several claims in this vain ... but every one can be argued both ways - for and against.

In fact, many scientists claim that they could not get funding or that they had to modify their articles just to be published.

Even for theories that are known to be true, some respected scientists will argue the opposite point. That is the way true science works. If everyone is on the same side, then you know for sure that the data has been tampered with.

A real question is "What, exactly, was Gore looking for?" Is it possible that, with a slightly different question, the same set of articles might show 20% against Gore? Maybe 60%? The problem is that Gore's data mining method is not documented ... therefore, no conclusions can be accepted. (I call this fraud.)


Hurricanes

Well, storms are worse when there is more energy to feed the storm system. We know that ... that is why there are no hurricanes in the winter ... duh.

However, there is no evidence that the current warming trend is enough to have any measurable effect. The top hurricane scientists have already said that there is no evidence at all that there are more or stronger storms than should be expected with normal variations.

But that did not stop Al Gore from milking this for all it is worth.

This is worse than misleading ... it is simply more fraud.


Coral Bleaching

This is a common claim - increased heat is killing the coral and destroying the habitat of many species.

However, no one, including Al Gore, has bothered to produce a map showing how bad this is supposed to be.

And NO ONE has indicated that new coral is growing anywhere. However, there are dead reefs all over the world that were active during earlier warm periods. Funny that no one seems to be aware of that. Of course, if those existed (and they do), it would prove that this is NOT the worst warming in the history of the planet.


Fake Temperature Data

Al Gore showed 1,000 year temperature data - I don't know where that data came from, but it was a complete fabrication. It does not agree with data from any other source I've seen.

In particular, Gore pointed to the Medieval Warm Period and made it look like a joke. Yet, data from other sources (those published before Global Warming became an issue) show, without a doubt, that today is still not as hot as in the recent past.


Tobacco

The part about Gore growing up on a tobacco farm did tie into his comparison between the tobacco companies saying that cigarettes are safe and the oil companies influencing President Bush.

However, to be fair, he should have listed all the companies that influenced the Clinton administration - there were hundreds.

But this film is propaganda ... not a true documentary.

Bush, oil, bad ... vote for me - can be heard loud and clear.

If the oil companies are faking the data, then show us the evidence. Comparisons between tobacco and oil are just misleading and emotional.


Cheap Shots

There were a number of cheap shots - they added some humor, but they were used in ways that were more than a little misleading.

For instance, he mentioned a teacher that told his class that South America and Africa were never connected ... and then said that the same teacher is a part of the current administration - implying that President Bush hires only stupid people. He did not bother to mention that ALL teachers at that time had been told to tell students that answer ... including those scientist that support his own position. This was definitely funny, but it was a very misleading cheap shot.

Another cheap shot was explaining that when some other Bush administration scientist was forced to quit, he got a job with an oil company the next day. This implied that the oil companies are controlling the Bush administration's position on this issue.

But maybe the oil companies just pay better than Green Peace, some university, or the Democratic Party. Or maybe the oil companies recognize good people and hire them ... leaving the not so smart to support political agendas.

Why is only one possible interpretation possible ... and why is Gore's interpretation the only correct one? Just how stupid does he think the voters are? (Yes, I know they went to public school ... but, given a chance, they are able to understand the facts.)

The data should be able to support itself - the source of funding should not be that big an issue.


??

It bothers me how Gore connects several concepts in a way that does not permit questioning the association. It is a fact that short term warming is happening and it is a fact that this warming is modifying various ecosystems.

However, it is wrong to claim that northern trees have been killed by beetles because of Global Warming.

Specifically, forest destruction by various parasites (beetles and the like) was blamed on Global Warming. I agree the that warming is the problem ... but it was worded in such a way that it blames you and me.

It is his basic assumption - that Global Warming is caused by humans - that colors every statement. Any effort to describe it as an unproved theory is ridiculed.


Additional Notes

Through out this page I have made estimates on how much time was spent on various points in the film. Please don't shoot me, these are just very rough estimates. I did not have a stop watch when I saw the picture. And I do not have a copy. I absolutely refuse to pay to see it again ... but I will probably buy a DVD copy when it becomes available.

To be truly effective, this film should have focused on how to solve the problem not on convincing people that there is a problem. He did spend about 2 minutes on solutions (big deal) but nothing that the average person could do. Nothing the average person could vote on. (Hey, maybe we should vote for him since he won't share the answer with us ... or was the answer simply that Bush is the problem ... yes, that was the REAL message.)

After all, his group was in the white house for 8 years and they did nothing to fix the problem. (The Kyoto treaty will punish the bad ... but it is NOT a fix.)


There were a number of graphics showing what will be flooded when Greenland looses its ice cap - he really pushed this. Funny that he is not asking anybody to start building levies where they would help.

All the coming attraction previews were for other leftwing type documentaries - talk about a targeted audience. There was not a single main stream movie preview.

His primary lecture hall had a great display behind him - very well done. The bit with the elevator was very good.

If this was a true documentary, then his data would be publicly available ... with references ... so that other people would be able to verify or dispute any and every claim.


Additional Related Al Gore Quotes

I have not been able to find a transcript of the film ... so I've decided to respond to some statements that Mr. Gore has made when discussing the film.

These are a few quotes from Larry King Live - Aired June 13, 2006.

That is a complete lie. He simply refuses to acknowledge that there is still a lot of debate ... wait, it takes 2 to debate and his side refuses to acknowledge the differences. I love it ... if you disagree with Gore, you are "irresponsible".

If you present actual facts that big Al doesn't like - you are running a "disinformation campaign".

Every claim Al Gore makes about his opponents can also be made against him.

Scientific arguments are not won by name calling - you actually need a few facts.


What Really Matters

To give credit where it is due - Al Gore has raised the bar for all future political issues. I hate seeing democracy decided by who goes to what movies ... but this was a very effective film. Even though I don't agree with it, I think that everyone should see it - I just don't believe that voters should have to pay to see propaganda.


Author: Robert Clemenzi
URL: http:// questionable-science.com / Global_Warming / tv_programs / Al_Gore_2006_06.html