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Complaint to Ofcom Regarding “The Great Global Warming Swindle”

2. Complete Transcript and Rebuttal

[Professor Syun-Ichi Akasofu, Director, International Arctic Research Centre]

CO₂ began to increase exponentially in about 1940, but the temperature actually began to decrease 1940 and continued ’till about 1975. So this is the opposite relation: when the CO₂ is increasing rapidly and yet the temperature decreasing then we cannot say that CO₂ and the temperature go together.

[Comment 44: While the post–World War II period did experience rapid emissions growth, the temperature changes experienced over the past 100 years are consistent with global warming theory and are accurately reproduced in the climate models (see Comment 43, page 38).]

(In breach of Ofcom 5.7)

[Comment 45: Professor Akasofu is a respected astronomer, but his credentials with respect to the specific subjects that he discussed in the programme were exaggerated. For full details, see Appendix C.15, page 140.]

(In breach of the 2003 Communications Act Section 265, Ofcom 5.7, 5.8)

[Dr Tim Ball]

Temperature went up significantly up to 1940 when human production of CO₂ was relatively low; and then in the post-war years, when industry and the economies of the world really got going, and human production of CO₂ just soared, the global temperature was going down; in other words, the facts didn’t fit the theory.

[Comment 46: While human production of CO₂ did increase dramatically after WWII, this statement is misleading, since only the CO₂ that remains in the atmosphere can influence the climate. The actual growth in atmospheric CO₂ during this period was much less dramatic (see http://tinyurl.com/2n7s6w [Global Warming Art]), since natural sinks (see Comment 52, page 47) started to absorb a larger fraction of the human emissions. Moreover, the assertion that “the facts didn’t fit the theory” actually just refers to the fictitious, “straw man” theory that only CO₂ affects the climate, while ignoring the other factors that have operated over the past century (see Comment 43, page 38 and Comment 55, page 50).]

(In breach of Ofcom 5.7)

[Nigel Calder]	Just at the time when, after the Second World War, industry was booming, carbon dioxide was increasing, yet the earth was getting cooler and starting off scares of a coming ice age – it made absolutely no sense – it still doesn’t make sense.
[Narrator]	Why do we suppose that carbon dioxide is responsible for our changing climate? CO₂ forms only a very small part of the earth’s atmosphere. In fact we measure changes in the level of atmospheric CO₂ in tens of parts per million.

[Bookmarks on this page: Click any of the following links to go to that bookmark. You can then copy and paste the bookmark’s url from your address bar, and send it to someone as a link straight to that bookmark:
Comment 44: Misrepresentation of link between economic growth and global warming / Comment 45: Akasofu’s credentials / Comment 46: Neglect of the role of carbon sinks]


Page 39 of 176	Final Revision	Last updated: 11 Jun 2007