A few weeks ago I was watching the Oscars, and I remember smiling when Al Gore got the award for An Inconvenient Truth. It was comforting to see a political, yet truly dedicated man educating the public on a serious environmental issue, with the stars of Hollywood embracing it. At the time I had not yet seen the documentary on his traveling presentation about global warming, but I knew from all the media coverage in the last year that this was a serious issue. After all, everyone from Wired magazine to the New York Times had been publishing articles about ‘going green’. One terrifying program on the History Channel, Last Days on Earth, counted down 7 ways the world could end rather unpleasantly, with global warming checking in at #1. Serious indeed, and worst of all, it was my fault, and my job to fix it for future generations.

When the issue of global warming was gaining steam a few years ago, I recall Bill Maher making an off color comment on his show, Real Time. He said something about how people weren’t causing global warming, and it had in fact been a natural part of our planet’s life cycle for many thousands of years. I’m careful with Bill, as he is opinionated and leans towards the liberal side, but it did make me feel skeptical about global warming. In the last year, my opinion had changed to full belief in Al Gore’s message. That is, until last week. Now, I’m not so sure about our role in global warming.

Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely no argument that global warming is happening. It’s just that we might not be the ones causing it at all. My investment in learning more was renewed last week when I saw The Great Global Warming Swindle, a documantary film first broadcast on Channel 4 (UK) on March 8th, 2007. It brings together the arguments of leading scientists who disagree with the prevailing consensus regarding man-made global warming. The film claims that in his film, Al Gore has misrepresented the data and the actual relationship between carbon dioxide and the temperature is the other way round (rise in temperature causes an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere).

My skepticism was back, and I made a point to check out An Inconvenient Truth, currently on Showtime. I was surprised to see how accurate some of the claims in the BBC special were. With the origins of the global warming movement dating back to Margaret Thatcher, to the true validity of the IPCC’s scientific findings floating around my mind, I watched Gore’s film with a weird voice in the back of mind. Yes, the environmental impact of global warming is fantastic and somewhat terrifying, but knowing the contradicting opinions made it sometimes feel… like scare tactics. There was some very interesting, scientific information. Although without sources, the documentary didn’t seem like a complete lie either. And still, I have to now ask:

Could man-made global warming be complete bullshit? I’m really starting to believe it.

Alicia, a web developer I work with, by chance mentioned this issue to me last week. I had thought I was locally alone in my musings on this now great ‘moral’ issue of our time, but no- and she made me consider it a step further: Al Gore is posed to profit from his campaign. A little Google magic, and I ran across a great article concerning this notion on BillHobbs.com. It leans a bit towards pointing fingers at Gore for his own poor practices, but notes the key in my new line of thinking:

(Al Gore) is chairman and a founding partner of Generation Investment Management LLP, a boutique international investment firm that invests other peoples’ money, for a fee, into the stocks of ‘green’ companies. … So when Al beats the drum for possible future global warming, he’s also drumming up business.

And there it would be- if the The Great Global Warming Swindle is true, and An Inconvenient Truth indeed bends truth to really inspire people all over the world to invest in a green, earth friendly future, what does Al Gore have to gain from his campaign? Profit. And here’s the tricky part, which will be a bit more clear to you if you check out both features- one of which I’ve embedded below.

While it’s plausible that man is not helping the natural global warming cycle move at a normal pace, he is not necessarily causing it. While Al Gore isn’t bending the truth so far as to be a flat out liar, he’s still going to profit from it. On the other hand, by paying into this, we might reduce the actual problems global warming could cause regardless; notably, severe changes in weather and oceanic changes which affect the makeup of our continental shores.

I’m not trying to lose you as a reader here- and I’d like to to see more people inform themselves. Today it might be a minor issue, but when laws are passed and lifestyles are changed, the politics of this moral issue might have more impact than before. What once was something we should do for future generations for morality’s sake might turn into an expense, when in reality we as a species had no real control over in the first place. And yet again I wonder, is it better to buy into the lie to ensure a more pleasant earth anyway? It’s an interesting question.

In any case, here’s The BBC documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle. I encourage you to also see An Inconvenient Truth and decide for yourself.

Please contact me if the video no longer appears above. Comments are most welcome.

Filed under: Society, Speak Easy