Martin Durkin produced a programme for Channel 4 entitled the Great Climate Change Swindle which seemed to offer a counter view about climate change – that is is all down to the activity of the sun. For all of us who are not scientists, most specifically climatologists or oceanographers this is confusing and I have no doubts that ‘the extent to which man’s activities are responsible for climate change’ will be debated for some time to come – which is good.
However, I have now assured myself that Martin Durkin seems to have been looking for his pay cheque more keenly than looking to report for the good of mankind, and you might also be interested in finding out more via these links….
Carl Wunsch contributed to the programme, but was misled and misrepresented and responds here:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/swindled-carl-wunsch-responds/
Sir John Houghton (Co-chair of the Scientific Assessment Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Responds as follows:
http://www.jri.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=83
A background of programme maker Martin Durkin and his previously discredited work can be found here
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2000/03/16/modified-truth/
and here:
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=39
For a summary rebuttal of each of the programme’s scientific arguments see here:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/swindled/
Which for me means that, we may still debate whether the lifetime carbon costs of say nuclear power are better or worse for the environment (read also Solar PV cells in our temperate climate, certain models of windturbine etc etc), but we absolutely should be debating this and researching it further. And doing something about it…….
