MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media

March 13, 2007


MEDIA ALERT: PURE PROPAGANDA - THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE


The Scientists Are The Bad Guys

On March 8, Channel 4 screened The Great Global Warming Swindle, a
documentary that branded as a lie the scientific consensus that man-made
greenhouse gasses are primarily responsible for climate change.

The film was advertised extensively on Channel 4 and repeatedly previewed
and reviewed in newspapers. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Christopher
Booker declared:

“Only very rarely can a TV documentary be seen as a pivotal moment in a
major political debate, but such was Channel 4's The Great Global Warming
Swindle last Thursday. Never before has there been such a devastatingly
authoritative account of how the hysteria over global warming has parted
company with reality.” (Booker, ‘A turning point in climate change,’
Sunday Telegraph, March 11, 2007)

Peter Hitchens commented in the Daily Mail:

“If you were worried about those snaps of polar bears clinging to melting
ice-floes, sentenced to a slow death by global warming, you may now relax.
They'll be fine. Channel 4 has paid in full for its recent misdemeanours
by screening, last Thursday, the brilliant, devastating film The Great
Global Warming Swindle.” (Hitchens, ‘Drugs?’, Daily Mail, March 11, 2007)

Doubtless like many who saw the film, the Financial Times’ reviewer was
left bewildered:

“Not so long ago, the venerable David Attenborough on the Beeb was telling
us that human-driven global warming was real and was coming for us. So
that was settled. Now Channel 4, like a dissident schoolboy, is scoffing
at the old boy's hobbyhorse and I don't know what to believe.”
(’Slaughterhouse three,’ Financial Times, March 10, 2007)

The film opened with scenes of wild weather and environmental disaster
accompanied by dramatic captions:

"THE ICE IS MELTING. THE SEA IS RISING. HURRICANES ARE BLOWING. AND IT’S
ALL YOUR FAULT.

“SCARED? DON'T BE. IT'S NOT TRUE."

This was immediately followed by a series of equally forthright talking
heads:

"We can't say that CO2 will drive climate; it certainly never did in the
past."

“We imagine that we live in an age of reason. And the global warming alarm
is dressed up as science. But it’s not science; it’s propaganda.”

And:

“We’re just being told lies; that’s what it comes down to.”

The commentary added to the sense of outrage: “You are being told lies.”

This was indeed superficially impressive - when several experts make bold
statements on the same theme we naturally assume they must be onto
something - but alarm bells should already have been ringing. This, after
all, was ostensibly a film about science - about evidence, arguments,
research and debate. Why, then, the language of polemic and smear?

The remarkable answer is provided by the film’s writer and director,
Martin Durkin:

"I think it [the film] will go down in history as the first chapter in a
new era of the relationship between scientists and society. Legitimate
scientists - people with qualifications - are the bad guys. It is a big
story that is going to cause controversy.

“It's very rare that a film changes history, but I think this is a turning
point and in five years the idea that the greenhouse effect is the main
reason behind global warming will be seen as total bollocks.” ('“Global
Warming Is Lies” Claims Documentary,’ Life Style Extra, March 4, 2007;
 http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CZ434669U&news_headline=global_warming_is_lies_claims_documentary)

Compare and contrast this with the aim as described in a letter sent by
the makers of the film, Wag TV, to Professor Carl Wunsch, a leading expert
on ocean circulation and climate who subsequently appeared in the film:

“The aim of the film is to examine critically the notion that recent
global warming is primarily caused by industrial emissions of CO2. It
explores the scientific evidence which jars with this hypothesis and
explores alternative theories such as solar induced climate change. Given
the seemingly inconclusive nature of the evidence, it examines the
background to the apparent consensus on this issue, and highlights the
dangers involved, especially to developing nations, of policies aimed at
limiting industrial growth.”
( http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/channel4response)

Wunsch comments:

"I am angry because they completely misrepresented me. My views were
distorted by the context in which they placed them. I was misled as to
what it was going to be about. I was told about six months ago that this
was to be a programme about how complicated it is to understand what is
going on. If they had told me even the title of the programme, I would
have absolutely refused to be on it. I am the one who has been swindled."
(Geoffrey Lean, ‘Climate change: An inconvenient truth... for C4,’ The
Independent, March 11, 2007;
 http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2347526.ece)

We will hear more from Wunsch in what follows.


Deeply Deceptive

The film presented viewers with an apparently devastating refutation of
the "theory of global warming". And these were not picky, esoteric
criticisms. Durkin insisted that the world’s climate scientists are guilty
of the most fundamental error imaginable: increased atmospheric carbon
dioxide (CO2) is not the cause of higher temperature, as the experts
claim. Quite the reverse: increasing atmospheric CO2 is itself the
+result+ of rising temperature.

As evidence for this contention, Durkin argued that global surface
temperature dropped dramatically between 1945-1975, at a time when CO2
emissions were rapidly rising as a result of the postwar economic boom.
According to Durkin, if CO2 emissions were responsible for increasing
temperature, then temperature should not have fallen between 1945-1975.
Clearly, then, some factor other than CO2 emissions must have caused the
subsequent global temperature rise.

But Real Climate, an internet site run by climate scientists, such as
NASA’s Dr Gavin Schmidt and Dr William Connelley of the British Antarctic
Survey, describes Durkin’s discussion of the 1945-75 period as “deeply
deceptive”. (Real Climate, March 9, 2007;
 http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/swindled)

In this section of the film, Durkin focused heavily on a graph depicting
temperature changes. The graph, Real Climate comments, “looks rather odd
and may have been carefully selected”. It appears to show a dramatic
cooling between the 1940s and 1970s. But try flipping between the film’s
version of the global temperature record:

 http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/izzy_bizzy_photo/capture.jpg

and the temperature plot that normally appears in the scientific literature:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Instrumental_Temperature_Record.png

The supposed cooling looks rather less evident in this second graph.

Without knowing more details of how Durkin may have manipulated the data
plotted in his graph, it is difficult to comment on the presentation. What
we can say is that Durkin’s "four decades of cooling", implying a
relentless temperature drop over 40 years, is not an accurate description
of the trend over this period. There was some cooling for +part+ of this
time but also some plateauing, with fluctuations up and down.

But why did the temperature not simply rise in line with the post-war
increase in greenhouse gas emissions?

In fact, as is well-known, the absence of a global rise in temperature
between 1945-75 is explained by the release of large amounts of industrial
pollutants, called sulphate aerosols, into the atmosphere. These particles
have a braking effect on global warming, known as “global dimming”. By
shielding some of the incoming solar energy, sulphate aerosols mask the
underlying warming effect generated by rising levels of CO2. By the 1980s,
however, stronger warming had exceeded this masking effect and global
temperature has since continued to rise. As Real Climate notes, by failing
to explain the science behind this phenomenon the programme makers were
guilty of “lying to us by omission.”


The Ice Cores

The film repeatedly gave the impression that mainstream science argues
that CO2 is the +sole+ driver of rising temperatures in the Earth's
climate system. But this is not the case. Climate scientists are well
aware that solar activity plays a role, though a minor one at present, as
do long-term periodic changes in the Earth's orbit, known as Milankovitch
cycles. (See:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles)

The point is that there is a vast body of evidence that very strongly
supports the hypothesis that greenhouse gas emissions, of which CO2 is the
most important, are +primarily+ responsible for +recent+ global warming.
The 4th and most recent scientific assessment of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes:

"Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the
mid-20th century is very likely [.i.e. probability greater than 90%] due
to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations."
('Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis,' Summary for
Policymakers, IPCC, February 2007, page 10;
 http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf)

We then come to one of the film's most misleading arguments. Antarctic ice
cores show that rises in levels of CO2 have lagged 800 years behind
temperature rises at specific times in the geological past. This, argued
Durkin, +proves+ that CO2 cannot be responsible for global warming -
instead global warming is responsible for increasing levels of CO2. But
this was a huge howler.

What Durkin's film failed to explain was that the 800-year lag happened at
the end of ice ages which occur about every 100,000 years. (See:
 http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/co2-in-ice-cores)

Scientists believe that the end of an ice age is likely triggered when the
amount of heat reaching the Earth rises as a result of a periodic change
in the Earth's orbit around the sun. Jeff Severinghaus, Professor of
Geosciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, explains why the rise
in CO2 initially lags behind the temperature rise:

"The reason has to do with the fact that the warmings take about 5000
years to be complete. The lag is only 800 years. All that the lag shows is
that CO2 did not cause the first 800 years of warming, out of the 5000
year trend." (Real Climate, 'What does the lag of CO2 behind temperature
in ice cores tell us about global warming?’, December 3, 2005;
 http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/co2-in-ice-cores/)

The best current explanation for the lag of 800 years is that this is how
long it takes for CO2, absorbed by the ocean in an earlier warm period, to
be "flushed out" at the end of an ice age. Once that CO2 has been released
into the atmosphere its heat-trapping properties as a greenhouse gas lead
to even stronger warming: an example of positive feedback. (See Caillon et
al., 'Timing of Atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic Temperature Changes Across
Termination III,' Science, 14 March 2003: Vol. 299. no. 5613, pp. 1728 -
1731)

Professor Severinghaus summarises:

"In other words, CO2 does not initiate the warmings, but acts as an
amplifier once they are underway."

Durkin’s analysis, then, was way off the mark.

The film’s claim that solar activity might account for recent warming is
also without credibility. In September 2006, the Times reported the latest
findings from researchers writing in the top journal, Nature:

“Scientists have examined various proxies of solar energy output over the
past 1,000 years and have found no evidence that they are correlated with
today's rising temperatures. Satellite observations over the past 30 years
have also turned up nothing. ‘The solar contribution to warming... is
negligible,’ the researchers wrote in the journal Nature.” (Anjana Ahuja,
‘It's hot, but don't blame the Sun,’ The Times, September 25, 2006)

The film's other scientific claims can be similarly dismissed. Carl Wunsch
- who, as discussed, appeared in the film - comments:

“What we now have is an out-and-out propaganda piece, in which there is
not even a gesture toward balance or explanation of why many of the
extended inferences drawn in the film are not widely accepted by the
scientific community. There are so many examples, it's hard to know where
to begin, so I will cite only one: a speaker asserts, as is true, that
carbon dioxide is only a small fraction of the atmospheric mass. The
viewer is left to infer that means it couldn't really matter. But even a
beginning meteorology student could tell you that the relative masses of
gases are irrelevant to their effects on radiative balance. A director not
intending to produce pure propaganda would have tried to eliminate that
piece of disinformation.”
( http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/channel4response)

For further help in understanding the weakness of the film’s claims, see
the following resources:

Real Climate, 'Swindled',
 http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/swindled

Campaign Against Climate Change, including a rebuttal to the film by Sir
John Houghton, who chairs the Scientific Assessment Working Group of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
 http://portal.campaigncc.org/node/1820

Royal Society: Facts and fictions about climate change:
 http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=4761


“I Was Duped” - Déjà Vu?

Many readers will be aware that Durkin has previous ‘form’. In 1997,
Channel 4 broadcast his three-part series, Against Nature, which suggested
present-day environmentalists were the true heirs of the Nazis. (See
George Monbiot, ‘The Revolution Has Been Televised,’ The Guardian,
December 18, 1997;
 http://www.monbiot.com/archives/1997/12/18/the-revolution-has-been-televised/)

Several interviewees who appeared in the film felt they had been misled
about the programme-maker’s agenda. Responding to complaints, the
Independent Television Commission (ITC) found that the editing of
interviews with four contributors had "distorted or misrepresented their
known views". (Geoffrey Lean, ‘Climate change: An inconvenient truth...
for C4,’ The Independent, March 11, 2007;
 http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2347526.ece)

In addition, the ITC found: "The interviewees had also been misled as to
the content and purpose of the programmes when they agreed to take part."
(Paul McCann, ‘Channel 4 told to apologise to Greens,’ The Independent,
April 2, 1998)

Ten years on, it appears that history may have repeated itself. In his
letter of complaint to the film-makers cited above, Carl Wunsch writes:

“I have some experience in dealing with TV and print reporters and do
understand something of the ways in which one can be misquoted, quoted out
of context, or otherwise misinterpreted. Some of that is inevitable in the
press of time or space or in discussions of complicated issues. Never
before, however, have I had an experience like this one. My appearance in
the ‘Global Warming Swindle’ is deeply embarrassing, and my professional
reputation has been damaged. I was duped---an uncomfortable position in
which to be.

“At a minimum, I ask that the film should never be seen again publicly
with my participation included. Channel 4 surely owes an apology to its
viewers, and perhaps WAGTV owes something to Channel 4. I will be taking
advice as to whether I should proceed to make some more formal protest.”
( http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/channel4response)

Eight of the scientists in the film - John Christy, Paul Reiter, Richard
Lindzen, Paul Driessen, Roy Spencer, Patrick Michaels, Fred Singer and Tim
Ball - are linked to American neo-conservative and right-wing think-tanks,
many of which have received tens of millions of dollars from Exxon.

Greenpeace provides a fascinating online ’map’ detailing how Exxon funds
these climate sceptics. Go to:
 http://www.exxonsecrets.org/index.php?mapid=831 (click ‘Launch’ then click
‘skip intro’)

In his book, Green Backlash, environmental journalist Andrew Rowell noted
that Fred Singer has also attacked scientific and environmental stances on
other green issues such as ozone, acid rain, automobile emissions and even
whaling. Singer has worked for companies such as Exxon, Shell, Arco,
Unocal and Sun.

According to the Environmental Research Foundation, a non-governmental
organisation:

“For years, Singer was a professor at the University of Virginia where he
was funded by energy companies to pump out glossy pamphlets pooh-poohing
climate change.” (Quoted, Sharon Beder, Global Spin, Green Books, 1997,
p.94)

Rowell wrote that a quarter of Patrick Michaels’ research funding was
reportedly received from companies such as Edison Electric Institute, the
largest utility trade association in America. Michaels’ magazine, World
Climate Review, was funded by the Western Fuel Association and a video
produced by him was funded by coal companies and distributed by the Denver
Coal Club. (Rowell, Green Backlash, Routledge, 1996, p.143)

Both Singer and Michaels represented the fossil fuel lobby’s Global
Climate Coalition and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a leader in
global warming scepticism.

Journalist Ross Gelbspan noted that in May 1995, Richard Lindzen and
Patrick Michaels were hired as expert witnesses to testify on behalf of
Western Fuels Association, a $400 million consortium of coal suppliers and
coal-fired utilities. Gelbspan said of Lindzen:

“I don't know very many supporters of Mr Lindzen who are not in the pay of
the fossil fuel lobby. Dr Lindzen himself, his research is publicly
funded, but Dr Lindzen makes, as he told me, $2,500 a day consulting with
fossil fuel interests, and that includes his consulting with OPEC, his
consulting with the Australian coal industry, his consulting with the US
coal industry and so forth. That's not to say Dr Lindzen doesn't believe
what he says, but it is to say that he stands in very sharp distinction to
really just about virtually all of the climate scientists around the
world.” (Tony Jones, ‘Journalist puts global warming sceptics under the
spotlight,’ Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 7, 2005;
 http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2005/s1318067.htm)

Journalist George Monbiot wrote of Philip Stott:

“Professor Stott is a retired biogeographer. Like almost all the prominent
sceptics he has never published a peer-reviewed paper on climate change.
But he has made himself available to dismiss climatologists' peer-reviewed
work as the ‘lies’ of ecofundamentalists.” (Monbiot, ‘Beware the fossil
fools,’ The Guardian, April 27, 2004;
 http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1829315,00.html)

Paul Driessen is a fellow at two right-wing think tanks in the US, which
are part of the Wise Use movement. One of the think tanks is headed by Ron
Arnold, who has spent the last twenty years attacking the environmental
movement. His fellow director is a fundraiser for America's gun lobby. The
list goes on...

By contrast, Greenpeace spokeswoman Mhairi Dunlop said her organisation
had been interviewed by Durkin but none of the material had been included
in the film:

"They interviewed us but I guess what we said didn't fit in with the
[story] they were peddling." (McCandless, op. cit)

Following the film’s broadcast, Professor Martin Rees, president of the
Royal Society - the government-sponsored academy of sciences for the
United Kingdom - has said that many factors contribute to global warming
but it is clear that emissions of "greenhouse gases," particularly CO2,
are to blame for most of the current temperature rise. Rees added:

"Those who promote fringe scientific views but ignore the weight of
evidence are playing a dangerous game. They run the risk of diverting
attention from what we can do to ensure the world's population has the
best possible future." (Ibid)

On March 11 the Observer published a letter from a group of climate
scientists responding to Durkin’s film:

“This programme misrepresented the state of scientific knowledge on global
warming, claiming climate scientists are presenting lies. This is an
outrageous statement...

“We defend the right of people to be sceptical, but for C4 to imply that
the thousands of scientists and published peer-reviewed papers, summarised
in the recent international science assessment, are misguided or lying
lacks scientific credibility and simply beggars belief.” (Alan Thorpe,
Natural Environment Research Council, Brian Hoskins, University of
Reading, Jo Haigh, Imperial College London, Myles Allen, University of
Oxford, Peter Cox, University of Exeter, Colin Prentice, QUEST Programme,
letter to the Observer, Sunday March 11, 2007;
 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,2031117,00.html)

Viewed from one perspective, Channel 4 has done a huge public disservice
in spreading absurd and mendacious arguments guaranteed to generate
confusion. This at a time when a fragile momentum is building on the need
to take urgent action on the very real threat of catastrophic climate
change.

But from another perspective it may well be that this film does for
climate scepticism what Tony Blair’s “dodgy dossiers” did for the pro-war
movement ahead of the invasion of Iraq. Wildly distorted propaganda often
does have a powerful initial impact. But stretched beyond a certain point
of unreality, it also has a tendency to turn on, and bite, the
propagandists.

Durkin’s grandiose prediction that his film “will go down in history” will
surely prove correct, although perhaps not for the reasons he imagined.


SUGGESTED ACTION

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for others. If you decide to write to journalists, we strongly urge you to
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See material on 'Complaining to C4', including a model letter, at
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