In May [2006], our nation was exposed to perhaps one of the slickest science propaganda films of all time: former Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. In addition to having the backing of Paramount Pictures to market this film, Gore had the full backing of the media, and leading the cheerleading charge was none other than the Associated Press.
On June 27, the Associated Press ran an article by Seth Borenstein that boldly declared, “Scientists give two thumbs up to Gore’s movie.” The article quoted only five scientists praising Gore’s science, despite AP’s having contacted more than 100 scientists.
The fact that more than 80 percent of the scientists contacted by AP had not even seen the movie or that many scientists have harshly criticized the science presented by Gore did not dissuade the news outlet one bit from its mission to promote Gore’s brand of climate alarmism.
I am almost at a loss as to how to begin to address the series of errors, misleading science, and unfounded speculation that appear in the former vice president’s film. Here is what Richard Lindzen, a meteorologist from MIT, has written about An Inconvenient Truth:
“A general characteristic of Mr. Gore’s approach is to assiduously ignore the fact that the Earth and its climate are dynamic; they are always changing even without any external forcing. To treat all change as something to fear is bad enough; to do so in order to exploit that fear is much worse.”
Numerous False Claims
What follows is a very brief summary of the science that the former vice president promotes in either a wrong or misleading way:
He promoted the now-debunked “hockey stick” temperature chart in an attempt to prove man’s overwhelming impact on the climate.
He attempted to minimize the significance of the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age.
He insisted on a link between increased hurricane activity and global warming that most scientists believe does not exist.
Ice Myths
He asserted that today’s Arctic is experiencing unprecedented warmth while ignoring that temperatures in the 1930s were as warm or warmer.
He claimed the Antarctic was warming and losing ice but failed to note that it is only true of a small region, and the vast bulk [of Antarctica] has been cooling and gaining ice.
He hyped unfounded fears that Greenland’s ice is in danger of disappearing.
He erroneously claimed the ice cap on Mt. Kilimanjaro is disappearing due to global warming, even while the region cools and researchers blame the ice loss on local land-use practices.
Water Myths
He made assertions of massive future sea level rise way outside of any supposed scientific “consensus” and not supported in even the most alarmist literature.
He incorrectly implied that a Peruvian glacier’s retreat is due to global warming, while ignoring the fact that the region has been cooling since the 1930s and other glaciers in South America are advancing.
He blamed global warming for water loss in Africa’s Lake Chad, despite NASA scientists concluding that local population and grazing factors are the more likely culprits.
He inaccurately claimed polar bears are drowning in significant numbers due to melting ice when in fact they are thriving.
Political Agenda
He completely failed to inform viewers that the 48 scientists who accused President Bush of distorting science were part of a political advocacy group set up to support Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.
Now that was just a brief sampling of some of the errors presented in An Inconvenient Truth. Imagine how long the list would have been if I had actually seen the movie–there would not be enough time to deliver this speech today.
— Sen. James Inhofe
