Weather Channel Founder wants to sue Al Gore for fraud.

[KentaRawr!]

Article

John Coleman wants to sue Al Gore for fraud. Coleman, who founded the Weather Channel in 1982, thinks taking legal action against Al Gore would be a great "vehicle to finally put some light on the fraud of global warming." Coleman rejects the notion that people must take drastic actions to reduce their energy use.

Speaking at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change on Monday, Coleman sharply chastised those who further global warming alarmism. Coleman believes that the station he founded has been captured by alarmists, such as the Weather Channel’s Heidi Cullen, who has advocated revoking the license of meteorologists that believe global warming can be explained by cyclical weather patterns and not human activity.

The majority of the scientific community seems to agree that humans are contributing to climate change. Do you think there's any merit to raising concerns about global alarmism? Would a lawsuit against Al Gore help the public determine fact from fiction?

We'll have that last paragraph be the topic here.

Discussion begins now.

[Balzac]

I read somewhere that Al Gore's movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' was dubbed 'An Inconvenient Lie' by a load of scientists. That made me lol.

[Avarice-ness]

Eh, I think the whole Global Warming thing has gotten to the point where we've all heard it so much it's just making us care LESS than more.

That being said, I don't really care.

[The Ceej]

Let's just assume, for the sake of argument, that Coleman is right in everything he's saying. This still does not give him the right to sue. In this country we have (or at least we used to) freedom of speech and freedom of the press (which logically expands to all media invented since which is half of the reason why the FCC is unconstitutional, but that's another argument) and therefore Al Gore is well within his rights. If you're going to start suing people because they're telling lies in documentaries, then you're going to keep the court systems busy for a long time.

[Aerith's Knight]

I will be the voice of science in here.

Global warming happens whether we do something or not. The earth get a certain amount of radiation from the sun, the only way to have no global warming would be if the earth's surface was as hot as that of the sun..

several thousand degrees.

carbon-dioxide and such gasses keep radiation from getting out.. not much.. very little in fact.. but there is also that ozon stuff that leaks more radiation from the sun onto earth.

the fact is, global warming will happen, all we can do is speed up the process.

the root of these physics lies in quantum mechanics.. look it up.

[KentaRawr!]

Doesn't the side of the Earth that was covered in Sun cool down when facing the other direction?

[Raistlin]

Global warming is happening. There is reason to believe that human action is contributing to it to some extent, mostly through carbon emissions.

What I disagree with is the fear-mongering and the proposed "fixes" for global warming (i.e., government-enforced limiting of carbon emissions). If the fear-mongering part is correct, then merely limiting carbon emissions a bit will do precisely sod all, as carbon will still be increasing in the atmosphere. Hell, even if we cut of ALL emissions, the carbon already there will still be trapping heat. So as I said, if the fear mongering faction is correct, then there needs to be much more drastic change.

Then again, I don't think the fear mongering faction is correct. I would definitely approve of more research into the subject, though. I'm not sure what else productive we can do at this point besides research and developing technology for alternative fuels.

Also, I think the lawsuit is just to get attention for Coleman's point, not to get money or anything. I don't think frivolous lawsuits are the best way to go about doing that.

[Peegee]

People tend to shut down when you throw science at them (sadly) so I will put this as simply as I can: You cannot possibly think that throwing all of our emissions and garbage into the biosphere has precisely nil effect on it. That just does not add up even using common sense.

[Goldenboko]

If only we had the annihilatrix.

[Quindiana Jones]

WTF? Global Warming can be explained by the fact that the Earth changes every now and then.

[Jessweeee♪]

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE

[XxSephirothxX]

This is obviously the fault of Manbearpig.

[rubah]

Ian Malcolm said it best;

"My point is that life on earth can take care of itself." "In the thinking of a human being, a hundred years is a long time. . . . But to the earth, a hundred years is nothing . A million years is nothing . This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."

[Namelessfengir]

LIn this country we have (or at least we used to) freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

we aint had that in eight years

[Jessweeee♪]

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE