Who swindles who?

My initial reaction to the first 15 minutes of The Great Global Warming Swindle was surprise - at the seeming strength of the programme's argument that the consensus view on climate change, and at the credentials of some of the interviewees. The programme, which aired on Channel 4 (UK) on 8 March (and More4 12 March) was created by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, and presented what seemed a coherent argument against the anthropogenic CO2-based greenhouse warming theory, based on the influence of sunspots and solar activity.

As the programme progressed, accusing the west of using this climate change argument to prevent the global south developing (there obviously being only one route to 'development'), my skepticism increased and as soon as it ended, I went to the internet to poke around - if there's discrediting to be done it's happening in real time on the internet somewhere. And sure enough, the 'environmental journalists' criticised by the programme had responded. Robin McKie's article in the Observer illuminated the backgrounds of some of the those interviewed and reminded readers of the apology issued by Channel 4 following the airing of a previous Martin Durkin documentary.

According to the Independent, Professor Carl Wunsch of MIT is considering making a formal complaint after being misrepresented by the programme-makers, claiming in a statement posted on his website that the programme 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."

So it becomes clear that this is another example of a debate covering both the scientific community and the media in which the truth is not clear cut, and where the media is used to manipulate people's opinions. And it is here the there is some value in a programme like The Great Global Warming Swindle.

As a student of geography with an active interest in environmental issues, I tend to side with those termed environmentalists when confronted with a black and white choice. The Great Global Warming Swindle reminds us that we should remember the intimate link between knowledge and power, and not to be blind to this connection even amongst those working on issues close to our own hearts. Environmental awareness and 'protection' is now a massive industry, and as such now shares the same power-laden discourse status as many other issues where our skepticism might be more healthy.