LONDON - Some of the assertions in Al Gore's Oscar-winning environmental documentary are not supported by scientific evidence, a B
ritish judge said in ruling on a challenge from a school official who did not want the film shown to students.
The ruling was published Wednesday and it detailed High Court Judge Michael Burton's decision this month to allow film showings to go ahead in English secondary schools. But the judge said that written guidance to teachers designed to ensure Gore's views are not presented uncritically must accompany the showings.
Burton said he had no doubt the points raised in "An Inconvenient Truth" about the causes and likely effects of climate change are broadly accurate, but he found they were made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration."
Gore's film "is substantially founded upon scientific research and fact," Burton said. "Albeit that the science is used, in the hands of a talented politician and communicator, to make a political statement and to support a political program."
He said the government's plan to show the film violated laws banning the promotion of partisan political views in the classroom, but could proceed if teachers ensure that Gore's political views are not seen as being endorsed by schools.
Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for the former vice president, said the judge's decision backed key elements of the documentary.
"The ruling upheld fundamental pieces of the film and the scientific consensus that global warming is real and caused by human activities," she told The Associated Press. "Of the thousands of facts in the film, the judge only took issue with just a handful. And of that handful, we have the studies to back those pieces up."
Burton outlined nine problems — including Gore's claim that sea level rises of 23 feet might occur in the immediate future — something the judge characterized as "distinctly alarmist."
He also cited claims that Hurricane Katrina, the evaporation of most of Lake Chad and the melting of the snow on Mount Kilimanjaro were all caused by global warming. Burton said there was insufficient evidence to back those claims.
Burton's ruling follows a challenge from a part-time school official who complained that Gore's film was inaccurate and biased and should not be shown to pupils.
Stewart Dimmock, who works part-time on a school governing board, said he was fighting to have his children educated in an environment "free from bias and political spin."
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(more) - 10 12 2007 12:42PM
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