I knew there was something suspicious about this. The timing alone was enough to raise the hackles of anyone believing that climate change is one of the most important issues facing Planet Earth in 21st Century. Well, my intuition was correct. The British High-Court ruling is bogus.
A British High Court ruling last week against showing former Vice President Al Gore’s landmark film "An Inconvenient Truth" in secondary schools without "guidance notes to balance its claims" was welcomed by climate change skeptics and big business polluters alike. It was, however, a major blow to subscribers of Mr. Gore’s urgent message all around the world.
The Kent, England School Governor Stewart Dimmock’s purported high-profile, "David and Goliath" battle against the state, argued that the British government was ‘brainwashing’ pupils.
Well, as it turns out, Dimmock’s epochal quest to battle Mr. Gore’s ‘propaganda’ was indeed funded by a Scottish quarrying magnate who had formed a controversial lobbying group to assail environmentalist’s claims about global warming.
The UK Guardian has the story:
The Observer has established that Dimmock's case was supported by a powerful network of business interests with close links to the fuel and mining lobbies. He was also supported by a Conservative councilor in Hampshire, Derek Tipp.
Dimmock credited the little-known New Party with supporting him in the test case but did not elaborate on its involvement. The obscure Scotland-based party calls itself 'centre right' and campaigns for lower taxes and expanding nuclear power.
Records filed at the Electoral Commission show the New Party has received nearly all of its money - almost £1m between 2004 and 2006 - from Cloburn Quarry Limited, based in Lanarkshire.
The company's owner and chairman of the New Party, Robert Durward, is a long-time critic of environmentalists. With Mark Adams, a former private secretary to Tony Blair, he set up the Scientific Alliance, a not-for-profit body comprising scientists and non-scientists, which aims to challenge many of the claims about global warming.
Dimmock’s case was touted on the Scientific Alliance website, which also issued a coordinating press release, stirring the debate on both sides of the Atlantic. The website also advised Channel 4 in Britain on the, "Great Global Warming Swindle," a highly controversial documentary screened earlier this year that attempted to challenge claims about climate change.
In 2004 the alliance co-authored a report with the George C Marshall Institute, a US body funded by Exxon Mobil that attacked climate change claims. 'Climate change science has fallen victim to heated political and media rhetoric ... the result is extensive misunderstanding,' the report's authors said. Martin Livermore, director of the alliance, confirmed Durward continued to support its work. 'He provides funds with other members,' Livermore said.
In the Nineties, Durward established the British Aggregates Association to campaign against a tax on sand, gravel and rock extracted from quarries. Durward does not talk to the media and calls to the association requesting an interview were not returned last week. However, he has written letters to newspapers setting out his personal philosophy. One letter claimed: 'It is time for Tony Blair to try the "fourth way", declare martial law and let the army sort out our schools, hospitals and roads.'
He later clarified his comments saying he was merely pointing out that the army had done a 'fantastic job' in dealing with the foot and mouth crisis. He has also asked whether there has been a 'witch-hunt against drunk drivers'.
Mr. Dimmock also received financial support from a new organization, Straightteaching.com, which calls for the exclusion of politics in the classroom. An online payment system setup by the organization for people to make contributions to Dimmock’s campaign was started by Tipp and several others. The website was registered in September to an anonymous Arizona-based internet company.
Described on the website as having being a science teacher back in the 70s and 80s, Tipp has repeatedly declined to talk about whom else is backing the effort.
"There are other people involved but I don't think they want to be revealed," he said.
He also said that he thought his organization could bring more cases against the government.
"There are a lot of people who feel the climate change debate is being hyped up," Tipp said. "To try to scare people into believing the end is nigh is not helpful. We've been contacted by other teachers who raised concerns. There's a lot of interest, especially from people in the US."
As has been said repeatedly on this site and countless others in the last couple of years,
THE ARGUMENT IS OVER, PEOPLE!
Climate change is a fact of life and every single day that genuine concerns go unaddressed, the worse it’s going to affect our collective future. Virtually very argument you hear from now until doomsday attempting to marginalize the climate change issue is a fake message; contrived by those who would transgress the Earth’s well-being solely for the sake of profit.
We cannot let them win!
However, money talks in the U.S. and abroad. Big Businesses will do whatever they can to to stifle this coming catastrophe. We need a visionary like Al Gore in order to inspire Americans to action. The rest of the world is waiting for us to catch up. Their debate over climate change is essentially over, especially after this revelation of corporate shenanigans.
Please, join the Draft Gore movement. Do whatever is in your power to help convince Mr. Gore to accept his destiny as champion of the environment, and as the leader of the free world.
Earth really is in the balance.
Peace