The topic of global warming is an extremely complex one with many conflicting views. There is considerable debate in the literature and on the web about whether or not global warming is taking place and the role of humans in this process. On this page I will try and guide you through the debate and point you at some resources that you can use.

*New* -  The BBC have collected their coverage of the global warming debate into a single web page which can be found here, this includes discussion of the "hockey stick" diagram. They also discuss some recent controversy about global warming, or the lack of it, here.

The movie "An Iconvenient Truth" presents a number of arguments about the effects of global warming. These can be found on the official web site. Some of those claims are addressed in a National Geographic article where the views of a range of scientists are presented. The web site junkscience.com also addresses some of the issues raised in the movie and the whole concept of global warming. The movie was even the subject of a court ruling in the UK after a school Governor tried to have it banned from schools. Some discussion of the impact of this ruling and the attempts by both sides of the arument to "spin" the story can be found here (Friends of the Earth) and here (globalwarminghoax.com). To further complicate things it has been suggested that the court case was funded a "fuel and mining magnate". If you are interested you can download the actual ruling here.

Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economics Service and Adviser to the Government on the economics of climate change and development, has just released his report to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Economics of Climate Change. This report has generated a lot of interest. The full report is 700 pages but there are some highlights, including an executive summary,  that are worth looking at as well as some background research.

The Debate 

On August 12, 2006 The Globe and Mail published an article about the use of public relations companies to create doubt about the science of global warming. While the article only appeared in the print edition of the paper, a copy can be found on the author's website. I would encourage you to read the article and visit some of the relevant web sites, as they provides an interesting view of the the global warming debate and how politics can influence science.

In the article Charles Montgomery discussed the role played by a group called Friends of Science who's stated aim is to "offer critical evidence that challenges the premises of the Kyoto Protocol and present alternative causes for climate change". The groups sources of funding are not clear but according to The Globe and Mail article there are a number oil company donors, however as the money is filtered through the Calgary Foundation and the Science Education Fund at the University of Calgary this is hard to prove.

The article also discussed the work of Kevin Grandia, who is funded by a public relations company to "examine the connections between fossil-fuel companies, the climate skeptics and the PR industry itself". The results of these investigations are highlighted on the web site Desmogblog.com.

Some quotes from the article:

"Environment Canada can't even predict the weather! How can you tell me that they have any idea what it's going to be like 100 years from now if they can't tell me what the weather is going to be like in four months, or even next week?" - Dr. Tim Bell. Dr. Bell is an Emeritus professor from the University of Winnipeg who according to the Globe "hasn't published on climate science in any peer-reviewed science journal in more than 14 years"

"Bell says that our climate models do not [account for the warming effects of] water vapour. That's absurd. They all do." - Andrew Weaver, Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria.

"We all had experience dealing with Kyoto, and we decided that a lot of it was based on science that was biased, incomplete and politicized." - Albert Jacobs discussing the founding of the Friends of Science Society. Jacobs is a geologist and retired oil-explorations manager.

"For years, there have been these kind of campaigns that are aimed at manipulating public opinion...... It happened with the tobacco industry. It happened with the chemical industry. It happened with the asbestos industry. And now it's happening with climate change."- James Hoggan, a public relations consultant and the man who pays Kevin Grandia's salary.

Other links

Gary Braasch has been documenting the effects of environmental change for a number of years and this site contains some excellent images as well as some discussion of the causes of climate disruptions.