Questions Al Gore Should Answer at Today’s Global Warming Hearing
 
  1. 1. You have consistently maintained that due to global warming, sea levels would rise some 20 feet. Yet in its latest report, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that sea levels will rise in the 21st century, at most, 23 inches. Since your inaccuracy is almost tenfold, how credible is your entire global warming scenario?
  2. 2. With respect to an intellectually honest and open debate on the matter of global warming, do you agree with the 19th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill who asserted in his treatise On Liberty, that there should be the greatest possible freedom with reference to opinions as well as to actions. And, that if an opinion be true, what harm can there be in discussing it freely? And do you further agree with Mill, that if it be but a part of the truth, free discussion is the only way in which it can be decided how large a part of the truth it embodies?
  3. 3. Since your answer to the preceding question was in the affirmative, do you accept Lord Monckton’s challenge to conduct an internationally televised debate on the subject of global warming?
  4. 4. You have asserted consistently and authoritatively that there exists consensus amongst the world’s leading scientists on the subject of global warming. How do you explain the fact that many of the world’s leading scientists and climatologists refute your theory of global warming and for those scientists who accept your hypothesis, how do you explain the fact that, of these, many have debunked the consequences you predict?
  5. 5. Isn’t it a fact that carbon offsets do nothing to diminish the overall level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but are rather a way of shifting the burden of global warming onto those who cannot afford the lifestyles of the rich and famous?
  6. 6. Do you believe this is an egalitarian and just manner by which to share the tremendous burdens and costs of remedying the perils of global warming which you advocate?
  7. 7. Can you explain to this Committee how your leasing of the mineral rights on your land over a twenty year period to a strip mining company (which resulted in the permanent scarring and pitting of the land) is consonant with your pretensions as one of the world’s leading environmentalists?
  8. 8. How do you respond to the comments of one of your neighbor’s who said recently, “mining is not exactly synonymous with being green, is it?”
Beacon Street Journal
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
By John Kinsellagh