Global Warming Sets New Records

From a post on Watts Up With That with the headline:

A cold start to fall: over 4500 new snowfall, low temp, and lowest max temp records set in the USA this last week

I never cease to be amazed at how warming leads to colder temperatures. But the global weather alarmists reassure me that what feels cold is actually record highs because the climate models assure us that we are into runaway global warming. So don't believe your eyes, trust the "science", trust the models... you know, just like those Wall Street types trusted their financial models.

Meanwhile, there is a documentary that gives the anti-global warming message. I haven't seen it. It could be complete crap. But here's the promo:



It could be just propaganda from the right financed by oil companies for all I know. But I'll give it a peek later today to give it a try. But I don't want propaganda. I want facts. I want to see a real debate. I want people who understand the science and the models to honestly engage in a debate so I can sharpen my own viewpoint. I'm tired of one-sided presentations. I'm afraid this might be just another bit of propaganda. What the world needs is information and informed debate. Not paid-for advertisements.

Update 2009oct18: I watched the documentary. The first half was so-so. The second half did introduce some scientists and exposed the issues. It wasn't a "debate" since the film advocated the anti-global warming viewpoint. The only factual error appeared to be with regard to DDT. They made several claims. The one that DDT was now reaffirmed by WHO was new to me, so I did a quick Internet search, and sure enough, despite a global ban (see here), the WHO is now advocating DDT for malaria control (see here). So most of my qualms were assuaged. I can agree with the documentary that Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, stirred up the environmental movement. But the film leaves the impression that there was no factual basis for the concerns about lingering poisons in the environment. There was and still is. The poisons had deleterious effects. The point I will agree with on the film is that the hysteria didn't encourage a rational discussion of costs and benefits or a review of options.

What I did like about the documentary was its emphasis on people, that policy actions must line up with the needs of real people and not just the Hollywood activists or the environmental fanatics. I really enjoyed the comments from Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace who left the group (or was tossed out?) because he didn't agree with their radical agenda (which in the documentary he calls their anti-human agenda, i.e. they love fish eggs more than people).

So, on the whole, the documentary was good. It wasn't blatant propaganda. It was heavy on sentiment and image (which I understand is needed to motivate people, but this is too much like propaganda to leave me happy) but it did have a fairly strong section on the underlying science (mostly focused on the misuse of data by the global warming fanatics in producing the infamous 'hockey stick' graph, and provided a bit of interview and background on Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick. I did enjoy the fact that the documentary focused on 'the poor' and 'the average person'. These people are lost in the debate. I especially enjoyed the bit in Uganda where two American women lectured a Ugandan woman who lost her son to malaria and was trying to raise political action to re-introduce DDT. The Americans hectored her with completely wrong 'facts' and their ignorant opinions. I took this as a metaphor by the film maker for the radical environmentalist who hector the world with their agenda while ignoring the needs of real people -- a woman who lost her son to a disease -- as they push their misguided agenda. That was a deft point.