Executive Summary
• The movie, An Inconvenient Truth, is regularly shown in public schools in North America.
• An Inconvenient Truth, hosted and produced by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, presents the viewpoint that human-caused CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming.
• In reality, there is no demonstrable causal relationship between the CO2 record and the temperature record at any point in earth’s history.
• When the United Kingdom’s government announced it planned to distribute a copy of the movie to every secondary school, a lawsuit was launched which asserted schools should not be party to promoting propaganda to students.
• Judge Michael Burton ruled that while he felt the movie was “broadly accurate” it contained too many substantial errors to be shown in public schools without a disclaimer.
• In his ruling, Judge Burton identified nine scientific errors in the movie that were serious enough to warrant correction.
• An Inconvenient Truth is regularly shown in Canadian public schools; they would be well advised to look at this example and re-examine some of their practices.
• Teachers need to ensure that students receive a rigorous education where they learn the facts and all the different perspectives — regardless of whether they fi t into the popular version of environmentalism.
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