Al Gore, Climate Change & Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth: A Skeptical Tour By Marlo Lewis Senior Fellow Competitive Enterprise Institute 1001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1250 Washington, DC 20036 202-331-1010 [email_address]

“ By far the most terrifying movie you will ever see.” ,[object Object]

What An Inconvenient Truth (AIT) is…and is not ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Carbon dioxide (CO2): a “pollutant”? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Kilimanjaro: a victim of global warming? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

The Snows of Kilimanjaro have been disappearing since 1880—decades before mankind could have had much impact on global climate ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Even in recent decades there has been virtually no warming at the Kilimanjaro summit ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Within the next half-century…40% of the world’s people may well face a very serious drinking water shortage…”(AIT, p. 58) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“… as Dr. [Lonnie] Thompson’s thermometer [analysis of the ratio of oxygen-16 to oxygen-18 in ice cores] shows, the vaunted Medieval Warm Period [MWP]...was tiny compared to the enormous increase in temperatures of the last half-century” (AIT, p. 64) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ It’s a complicated relationship, but the most important part of it is this: When there is more CO2 in the atmosphere, the temperature increases because more heat from the Sun is strapped inside.” (AIT, p. 67) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],AIT implies that changes in CO2 levels were the key driver of climate change over the past 650,000 years. In reality, temperature changes preceded CO2 level changes by hundreds to thousands of years. Source: Fischer et al. (1999)

“ And in recent years the rate of increase has been increasing. In fact, if you look at the 21 hottest years measured, 20 of the 21 have occurred within the last 25 years.” (AIT, p. 72) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ We have already begun to see the kind of heat waves that scientists say will become much more common if global warming is not addressed. In the summer of 2003 Europe was hit by a massive heat wave that killed 35,000 people.” (AIT, p. 75) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ There is now a strong, new consensus emerging that global warming is indeed linked to a significant increase in both the duration and intensity of hurricanes.” (AIT, p. 81) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ The emerging consensus linking global warming to the increasingly destructive power of hurricanes has been based in part on research showing a significant increase in the number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes.” (AIT, p. 89) ,[object Object],[object Object]

Scientists’ “Statement on the Hurricane Problem” ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Textbooks had to be re-written in 2004. They used to say, ‘It’s impossible to have hurricanes in the South Atlantic.’ But that year, for the first time ever, a hurricane hit Brazil.” (AIT, p. 84) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Did global warming make the water cooler than normal and the air even colder ?

“ Also in 2004, the all-time record for tornadoes in the United States was broken.” (AIT, p. 87) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Over the last three decades, insurance companies have seen a 15-fold increase in the amount of money paid to victims of extreme weather.” (AIT, p. 101) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ In July 2005, Mumbai [Bombay], India, received 37 inches of rain in 24 hours—the largest downpour any Indian city has received in one day.” (AIT, p. 110) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

AIT blames global for the disappearance of Lake Chad. (AIT, p. 117) ,[object Object],[object Object]

“ Temperatures are shooting upward [in the Arctic] faster than at any other place on the planet.” (AIT, p. 126) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Arctic climate is naturally variable ,[object Object],[object Object]

“ A new scientific study shows that, for the first time, polar bears have been drowning in significant numbers.” (AIT, p. 146) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Some scientists are now seriously worried about the possibility of this phenomenon [a shut down of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation] recurring.” (AIT, p. 149) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Global warming is disrupting millions of delicately balanced ecological relationships among species in just this way.” (AIT, p. 153) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

AIT predicts doom for coral reefs from CO2-induced warming and acidification (AIT, pp.166-69) ,[object Object]

“ In the Baltic Sea…many resorts had to be closed in the summer of 2005 as a result of [toxic] algae [blooms].” (AIT, p. 170) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ In Kenya…I heard growing concerns about the increased threat from mosquitoes and the diseases they can transmit in higher altitudes that were formerly too cold for them to inhabit.” (AIT, p. 141) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Some 30 so-called new diseases have emerged over the last 30 years. And some old diseases that had been under control are now surging again.” (AIT, p. 174) ,[object Object],[object Object]

“ Each [green] splotch [identified by year] represents an ice shelf the size of Rhode Island or larger that has broken up since … [1978].” (AIT, pp. 181-182) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ Two new studies in 2006 showed overall volumes of ice in Antarctica appear to be declining…”(AIT, p. 190) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ If [the West Antarctic Ice Sheet—WAIS] melted or slipped off its moorings into the sea, it would raise sea levels worldwide by 20 feet… scientists have documented significant and alarming structural changes on the underside of the ice shelf.” (AIT, p. 190) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

How long until the WAIS vanishes beneath the waves? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Greenland and Sea Level Rise ,[object Object]

“ When the [melt-]water reaches the bottom of the ice, it lubricates the surface of the bedrock and destabilizes the ice mass, raising fears that the ice mass will slide more quickly toward the ocean.” (AIT, p. 192) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Moulins: nothing new under the sun ,[object Object],[object Object]

“ If Greenland melted or broke up and slipped into the sea—or if half of Greenland and half of Antarctica melted or broke up and slipped into the sea, sea levels worldwide would increase by between 18 and 20 feet.” (AIT, p. 196) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

How alarming is the current ice loss rate in Greenland? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

How alarming is the overall ice loss rate? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ The United States is responsible for more greenhouse gas pollution than South America, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Japan, and Asia—all put together.” (AIT, pp. 250-251) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],*2004 World total = $ 41.2B U.S. total = $ 11.7B World Development Indicators, World Bank

“ Of the three quarters [of the 928 abstracts examined by UCSD Prof. Naomi Oreskes] that did address these main points, the percentage that disagreed with the consensus? Zero.” (AIT, p. 262) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ On June 21, 2004, 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists accused President Bush and his administration of distorting science.” Gore quotes them as criticizing Bush for “ignoring the scientific consensus on critical issues such as global climate change.” (AIT, pp. 269-270) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ The European Union has adopted this U.S. innovation [emissions trading] and is making it work effectively there.” (AIT, p. 252) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Despite high gas taxes (and prices), EU transport-sector CO2 emissions are growing rapidly ,[object Object],[object Object]

“ Ironically, we cannot sell cars made in America to China because we don’t meet their environmental standards.” (AIT, p. 272) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

“ It’s the companies building more efficient cars that are doing well.” (AIT, p. 273) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

AIT claims we could reduce CO2 to 1970 levels by 2054 with “affordable” technologies. (AIT, p. 280) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

AIT never addresses the obvious criticism of the Kyoto Protocol and other regulatory climate policies. ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Is energy suppression moral? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Kenya’s Energy System Energy Source Energy Transmission Energy Use

Al Gore, Climate Change & Inconvenient Truth

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Al Gore, Climate Change & Inconvenient Truth