Is it true that Al Gore had major factual errors in "An inconvenient truth" and if so... what and why?

Question

Please just stick to the actual question.... stay on topic.

Answer 1

He also used Micheal Mann's hockey stick graph which has been discredited, and claimed it was derived using ice core samples (actually he did a politicians trick of standing in front of it and pointing to it while talking about data from ice core samples so technically he didn't lie in the literal sense.).

Answer 2

There are to many to list on this forum (word limits) - but you can go to this web page and review for yourself:

35 Inconvenient Truths.

http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images...

You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Answer 3

He made a few "errors" (some were not false statements, simply unproven ones) about details (like disappearing snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro), but was right about the main points:

global warming is real, mostly caused by us, a serious problem, and capable of being solved by us.

Some of the "errors" were because that's what science said at the time, others used a "worst case analysis" instead of the mainstream view.  None affect the main four points.

This was all proven in a famous court case dreadfully misrepresented by right wing extremists.  A man sued to stop the film being shown in British schools.  He LOST the suit.  Details here:

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admi...

"It is clear that the Defendant understandably formed the view that AIT was an outstanding film, and that schools should be enabled to show it to pupils."

Answer 4

not major ones but he did have a few. the judge did not even use the term errors he called them inaccuracies and still maintained that the doco is "broadly accurate". these are the nine objections to the Gore movie, which are as follows::

   1.  Burton found that Gore's assertion of a rapid rise in sea-levels caused by the melting of icecaps in Antarctica was overly "alarmist."

   2. Gore claimed that the disappearance of year-round snow from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa was expressly attributable to global warming. The court was not convinced. According to Burton, the scientific "consensus" is that the reasons for the snow recession on Kilimanjaro cannot be established.

   3. Gore cited a scientific study showing that polar bears had drowned by "swimming long distances--up to 60 miles--to find the ice." Evidence backing up this claim was not produced to the British court. The judge wrote that the only scientific study shown to him indicated "that four polar bears have recently been found drowned because of a storm."

   4. Gore attributed the Hurricane Katrina devastation to global warming. The judge found that there was "insufficient evidence to show that."

   5. The Gore movie depicted the drying up of Lake Chad as a prime example of the effects of global warming. Expert testimony in front of the British court suggested that "far more likely causes" were "population increase, over-grazing, and regional climate variability."

   6. Gore suggested an "exact fit" between the rise in carbon dioxide levels and the rise in temperatures over a period of 650,000 years. According to the judge, scientists generally agree that there is "a connection," between the two phenomena, but claims of an "exact fit" cannot be established.

   7. An "Inconvenient Truth" claimed that citizens of some low-lying inhabited Pacific atolls "have all had to evacuate to New Zealand" because of the inundation of their islands caused by global warming. The judge said that he found no evidence of "any such evacuation having yet happened."

   8. The movie suggested that global warming could shut down "the Ocean Conveyer," a process by which the Gulf Stream is carried over the North Atlantic to Western Europe. The judge cited a study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the co-winner of the Nobel Peace prize, which concluded that it was "very unlikely" that the Ocean Conveyer would be shut down completely, although it might slow down.

   9. Gore argued that coral reefs all over the world were bleaching because of global warming and other factors. The judge cited the IPCC view that it was difficult to separate the impact of stresses on coral reefs caused by climate change "from other stresses such as over-fishing and pollution."

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edit johndoe3...

1. thats funny because the data ive seen only puts 2 out of 19 populations increasing

http://pbsg.npolar.no/status-table14.htm

2. you are thinking about the us.

the hottest year was 05 followed by 07 and 98.

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/2...

3. care to provide sources because im not sure what you are saying.

4. irrelavent. the warming of mars could be due to many things. eg dust storms changing the amount of sunlight reflected or maybe changes in its orbital cycles.

5. was this volcano triggered by the CIA ? where is that foil hat, i know i put it somewhere here? in short there is no everdence that there is a volcano down there.

6 thats funny because the stern report fund that it would cost about 1% of global GDP to fix this prolbem but it would cost between 10 and 20% of global GDP not to.

Answer 5

Hes wrong on the thought that people would want to prove him wrong just to prove him wrong.

its pretty scary that the 'conservative' view is that the planet

is doing fine while driving an SUV. There is only ONE PLANET.

Talk to a polar bear they will give you the best answer.

Answer 6

Every sane person should have known that the film was in error on every major point.

1. The polar bear population is at an all time high. Check it out with every reputable report.

2 While Gore claims the earth's temperature is increasing he fails to point out that the highest avg. temperature on earth in recorded history was 1934. This does not sit well on the man made global warming theory.

3. While Gore dwells on 2% of both Antartica and the Artic losing ice sheets he fails to mention the other 98% has ice sheets either remaining constant or increasing.

4. Gore fails to note that the temperature on Mars has increased significantly more over last several decades than Earth's. I guess he does not care that the Martians must be burning too much fossil fuel.

5. Going back to 3 above he fails to mention that many scientists have blamed the 2% loss of ice sheets under Antartica on an underground volcano which has propbably erupted underneath.

These inconventient facts would not help Mr Gore financially or politically so they are conveniently left out of the movie.

6. He seems to ignore the consequences of fighting a problem that does NOT exist. What is known that the costs would be in the billions if not trillions of dollars. It would conservatively cause the premature deaths of at least 2,000 people per day worldwide mostly in developing contries and mostly children.  Almost all economist will agree with the above statement.

If you still want to believe in this hoax that is your right but do not force your wacko beliefs on to others.

Enough said.

Maybe the ones who believe the global warming hoax are the same one's who think they could talk to polar bears.

Answer 7

You must be referring to the alleged 'factual errors' that became part of a court case in England last October..

From abc.com [2]:

One day before Friday's announcement that he was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a British High Court judge ruled that Gore's global warming film, "An Inconvenient Truth," while "broadly accurate," contained nine significant errors.

The ruling came on a challenge from a UK school official who did not want to show the film to students. High Court Judge Michael Burton said that the film is "substantially founded upon scientific research and fact" but that the errors were made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration."

:end excerpt



but there is an answer to this... what really constitutes errors here??

taken from peer reviewed scienceblogs.com [1]:

If you noticed the quotation marks around 'error' then you are more observant than all of the journalists I listed above. Burton is not saying that there are errors, he is just referring to the things that Downes alleged were errors. Burton puts quote marks around 'error' 17 more times in his judgement. Notice also the emphasised part -- Burton is not even trying to decide whether they are errors or not. This too seems to have escaped the journalists' attention. (And yes, that was Bob Carter mentioned there.)

All the answers to this question as I understand it, can be found here...

“A UK High Court judge has rejected a lawsuit by political activist Stuart Dimmock to stop the distribution of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to British schools. Justice Burton agreed that…” see more[1]