Nowadays there are only a few stubborn die-hards hanging around Internet bulletin boards, and even fewer "real" scientists, who don't believe that the Earth's climate is going to hell in a hand basket. But it wasn't always like that. 30 years ago the fears weren't about global warming, but rather the dawn of a new ice age. In this 3-part series for BBC Two, popular science presenter Dr Iain Stewart (who brought us Earth - The Power Of The Planet) turns his attention to the climate debate, beginning back then when it all started. When evidence was being pieced together and those in the know were starting to get a bit worried.
It's pretty clear now that we've avoided a new ice age by a mile, so how did the scientists of the seventies get it so wrong? That's what Dr Iain sets out to find out in this first part of three.
He talks to Dave Keeling - the man who first started taking measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide way back in 1958, and whose data provided the first real evidence that levels were increasing.
Although concern quickly grew, it wasn't a message that many people were prepared to believe. In this first episode, Iain also examines the early scientific research into the phenomenon, reveals some of the pioneers of climate-change science, and uncovers secret reports going as far back as 1979. And he blows the dust off the arguments that today's sceptics are still using, showing that most of them are based on a single, little-known report written in 1981.
Earth - The Climate Wars: BBC Two, Sunday 7 September, 9pm
Global Warming Propaganda by the BBC
The three-part BBC ‘documentary’ program “Earth: The Climate Wars,” which was presented in September, 2008 is a blatant propaganda piece for the promotion of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).
The program’s presenter, forty-two year old Scottish geologist Dr Iain Stewart, employs a lot of trendy expressions, a ‘gee whiz’ style, and a snide, deprecating attitude toward anyone who dissents from the theory of AGW. Stewart’s presentation might impress children or adolescents, but critical thinkers can see through the faulty logic and misinformation which Stewart attempts to conceal with his bluffing, bullying style.
After presenting evidence of rising global temperatures during the past thirty years, Stewart proclaims that the cause is AGW, without mentioning that the increase in global temperatures may have been due to natural causes. During the entire three hours of “Earth: The Climate Wars,” there are no references to the established scientific record of paleoclimatology, which demonstrates that today’s global temperatures and CO2 levels fall within the normal range to be expected within the natural Ice Age cycle. Nor do the programs present a balanced discussion of the credible theory that variations in solar output may account for the recent global warming.
Stewart exclaims his envy for the privileges which are provided to the members of the JASON Defense Advisory Group, a scientific think-tank based in San Diego that is funded by the US Department of Defense. In 1979 the DoD and the corporate sponsors of JASON delegated its members to investigate AGW, even though at the time none of the scientists at JASON had any experience in the field of climatology. It was the scientists at JASON who developed the computer models on which much of the speculation and prognostications about AGW are based.
The Northern Hemisphere winter of 2007-8 marked a downturn in the global heat spike which began about thirty years ago, and the current winter of 2008-9 may turn out to be even colder. In response to the current downturn in global temperatures, the advocates of the theory of AGW have retrenched, and now they are claiming that AGW is causing the global cooling.
-- Gregory F. Fegel