Hello all,
Does anyone have the backstory on The Great Global Warming Swindle, a
"contrarian" climate change video aired in the UK recently and now
available on DVD? My understanding is that many of the scientists in
the video objected to how their on-camera comments were manipulated
in the editing process. I've also gleaned from the web -- from
totally unreliable sources I might add -- that both Channel 4, which
aired the movie, and the producers distanced themselves from the
production because of data falsification, and that the show has not
been run in the U.S. (even by Fox News) because of this.
But most of this comes to me through third-person contacts or random
web sites. Do any of you have the larger story, or can you point me
in the right directions?
I ask because a colleague of mine at Allegheny, in response to a
request from students who feel silenced by the energy Al Gore has
generated, is thinking of screening this video as a formal,
College-sanctioned event to "bring balance to the debate on campus."
As an aside, I think The Great Global Warming Swindle can be a useful
addition to teaching tool-box of those of us who teach the
climate-change controversy. And I myself wouldn't object to the
video if it's used to teach the debate. I'm more wary of Swindle as
a definitive, credible "counter-balance" to Inconvenient Truth or the
material that my colleagues and I present in the classroom, in large
part because of its accusations of conspiracy and intentional
distortion of data.
Feel free to reply to me off-list. I'll summarize the helpful
replies and repost them for all to see.
Yours,
Mike Maniates
Allegheny College
