The first episode of The Climate Wars, shown on BBC2 on Sunday, proved to be a fascinating story of what appeared to be conflicting science, but in reality turned out to be a change of opinion based on improving knowledge.
The title of the first show is 'The Battle Begins' and showed the early history of climate change science.
In the first episode Iain Stewart covers the early mistaken predictions of a new ice age, the work done by David Keeling accumulating CO2 data from the atmosphere, the report put together by the 'Jason' group of scientists on Global Warming and towards the end of the epsisode James Hansen is seen giving his outspoken speech to the US government. Probably the most amazing part of the episode, were the words spoken by Margret Thatcher about Global Warming in one of her speeches.
All in all the first episode was a good show, the question is, will the final two episodes be as balanced as the first?
If you missed the first episode, then you can still watch it via iPlayer:
Plans for some 14,000 homes, the building of offices and shops, is being planned by Portsmouth City Council. Such large scale developments have an impact on environmental issues, including emissions, flooding risks etc.
Leaflets are available at Libraries and at the Civic Offices.
For more information and to make comments on the environmental impacts visit the City Council page at:
A major new series about Climate Change issues and debate starts this Sunday (9pm, BBC2). Called Earth - The Climate Wars, the series of 3 programmes is hosted by Dr Iain Stewart famous for the series Earth - The Power Of The Planet.
The press release says that the series '...presents a definitive guide to the history of climate change'
More research indicates that sea level rises predicted by the IPCC recently are somewhat optimistic. A research team at University of Winconsin-Madison have worked out the melting ice at the end of the last ice age rose sea levels by 1 metre per century.
The now famous Global Warming hockey stick graph produced by Michael Manns scientific team at Penn State University has been revived using new data looking further back in time. Many critics of the graph have suggested that the Medieval period contradicted Global Warming predictions, however new data has been investigated that reinforces the relative accuracy of the original graph. 1,200 new proxy data records go back over a 2000 year period and back up the original graph.
Michael Mann has also co-authored a book with Lee Kump. Called 'Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming', the book has had the help of Dorling and Kindersley graphics specialists, to make the Climate Change data more palatable to students and the general public. The book should be available from most book retailers in the UK, including Amazon.
In the US, John McCains running mate appears to have denied that Global Warming is anthropogenic. Sarah Palin was interviewed by NewsMax recently and apparently did not think Global Warming was attributed to human activities. The governor has in the past opposed Polar Bears being put on an endangered species list.
This week the the NSIDC reported Arctic ice at second lowest on record.
The appointment by McCain appears to undermine any environmental credentials he may have had.
