Gore film 'too one-sided'
Thursday, 11 Oct 2007 10:42
Al Gore has been championed as an environmental crusader
A High court judge has ruled that Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth can be shown in schools - as long as it is accompanied by literature outlining alternative arguments regarding climate change.
Mr Justice Burton ruled that the Oscar-winning documentary was "broadly accurate", but also discovered nine "scientific errors" in its "one-sided" presentation.
The judge was adjudicating on an attempt by school governor Stewart Dimmock, a Kent-based father of two, who had attempted to prevent the government from "brainwashing" children by distributing the film in secondary schools.
Mr Dimmock was awarded two-thirds of his £200,000 legal costs against the government, and commented: "I am elated with today's result, but still disappointed that the film is able to be shown in schools.
"If it was not for the case brought by myself, our young people would still be being indoctrinated with this political spin."
One of the errors discovered by Mr Justice Burton was the film's claim that the melting of ice in Antarctica and Greenland could cause a sea level rise of up to 20 feet "in the near future".
He called this claim "distinctly alarmist" and explained that the sea level rise would happen "only after, and over, millennia".
He also criticised the documentary's assertion that snow at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro had been disappearing due to global warming.