Posted By Zaphod I know this is a H&S forum but given that many of you are SHE advisors, I wanted to tell you about a film I saw over the weekend. I went to see the Al Gore film 'An Inconvenient Truth' - which is all about global warming. It was basically Al Gore doing a PowerPoint presentation - so was a bit dry for a Hollywood film. Putting that aside, I would strongly recommend that everyone sees it - not just SHE advisors - everyone. Should be compulsory viewing in schools. It is really frightening - he should the fluctuations in temperature and carbon dioxide going back 600,000 years and it has never peaked in the way it has in the last few years. He also showed many famous landmarks. e.g. there is a fraction of the snow left on Mount Kilimanjaro compared to 1970, and major sections of the antarctic have gone. I took my 11 year old son and his friend to see this film. They were a bit fidgity because it was rather grown up and dry for their age group but it really left us all coming out of the cinima more determined to do our bit for the environment.

Posted By Gordon Thelwell Hello Zaphod, I saw this too and i was very moved and disturbed by the facts the movie reveals. I strongly advise you see this. If you have environmental responsibilities as well as H&S, you need to see this. If however you wish to keep your head in the sand about how global warming is now a reality, then ignore this post and carry on.

Posted By Zaphod Sagalout, fair point, but if you watch the film, you find that he explains his motives. The evidence of global warming directly related to the rise in CO2 as presented in the film is overwelming - even if you think there could be some other cause of the intense rise in CO2 that is not caused by deforestation and excessive energy use. The film quoted a 10 % sample of global warming studies (involving over 900 studies) and not one study disagreed with the rise in global warming. He also showed leaked memos where US government officials had altered summaries of the studies to give the impression of doubt that was never in the original studies. While we mess around having debates about whether our way of life is recking the planet, we delay taking obvious steps that could save the planet. Still, best advice is go and see the film, then make your own mind up.

Posted By GJB I don't think I can bare to watch it. I mean, I saw Jaws as a kid and now I won't even go in a swimming pool! Scarey stuff indeed. Take care!

Posted By Zaphod Rob, I would be interested to see the source of the information about 90% of south pole getting colder. Would you mind telling me where this came from. I agree that we need to base opinions on sound scientific evidence. Hence I find your bigoted and insulting remarks about 'fanatical tree-huggers' incongruous with your other comments which seem to be striving for impartiality?

Posted By sagalout There you go, the problem with polarised views. One persons fanatic is another persons insult. A "fanatical tree hugger" is surely just a generalist description of one of the views that exists in the 21st century? A little bit of shorthand for "committed environmentalist"; easier to spell and paints a picture that lots of us recognise so it gets used a lot. Maybe doesn't make it right in some eyes but it happens. As I said before, there is always a balancing view. If anyone out there believes that "global warming" is a simple subject then they have not read the research fully. Even if one accepts the "global warming" theory, so what? Predictive theory is just that--theory. I remember reading as a kid that space travel was just a myth because the science made it impossible. So if I accept the premise that we need to "control" and "change" to survive why do I have to accept carbon management as the only way forward? One simple example, How many of you will stop using aircraft to go anywhere as a result of watching the film? Or if it is that serious why are governments not banning air travel now? Of course we know why not. Perhaps we are just going in the wrong direction over something that I still feel is not yet clear.

Posted By Descarte Its fair to say that studies can be commisioned by various "interested" parties to show what ever they like, how ever open your eyes to the ever changin world around you and you can soon see as I have that global warming whether a natural or man made phonomenon (oer) is happening during my life time. Things like flooding, sea level rise sataleite maps of ice sheets, glacial retreating are all hard evident which has been gathered over years which cannot be faked but show the effects of a warming climate. Things which I have noticed personnaly is butterflies and bees etc very early on in the year, flowering of plants and nesting of birds all getting earlier. Winters are not so harsh, summer temperature records consistently broken nearly every year and if you live in parts of york, the south west or yorkshire I belive weather has been getting a bit more extreme with regards to flooding. Note I have not blamed any of this on greenhouse gases, as there are many factors effecting our climate to which we do not fully understand including those external to the earth (no not ET but sun spot and solar cycles)

Posted By Martin Mulholland If you are already aware of the effects globalisation is having on the planet then this film will do absolutely nothing for you. There was nothing "new" in this presentation - and that's what it was really - a presentation. What was amusing was that when not presenting at a PC/Screen he was seen as a single passenger in a 4WD or on a plane!! Im not questioning Mr Gore's motives as it was obvious that he isn't recently jumping on some sort of eco bandwagon but really the title of this could have been ...'An Inconvenient Truth - A Presidential Campaign Presentation for Al Gore' Sceptically, Martin

Posted By Zaphod Here's an interesting link: http://timlambert.org/2005/04/gwsbingo/ This is for the sceptical views on the sceptics! At the same time, I accept that for every 'scientific' opinion, there will be an equal and opposite 'scientific' opinion. Short of winning the Lottery, giving up the day job to spend months reading the 10,000 or so global warming studies, I am stuck with listening to the opinions of people like Al Gore. Regardless of how sceptical you are, I cannot see what you have to loose by being frugal with energy and our dependence on oil - even if the only benefits turn out to be reduced electricity bills and conflict with the middle-east. I agree with Jonathon and Gordon.