Some inconvenient scientists have found Algore's new flick to be patently untrue. Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention." But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites? No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field. Ohhhhh, I see! So to do a study on humans effecting climate change, you should get scientists that actually specialize in that field! Dr. Boris Winterhalter, former marine researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland and professor in marine geology, University of Helsinki, takes apart Gore's dramatic display of Antarctic glaciers collapsing into the sea. "The breaking glacier wall is a normally occurring phenomenon which is due to the normal advance of a glacier," says Winterhalter. "In Antarctica the temperature is low enough to prohibit melting of the ice front, so if the ice is grounded, it has to break off in beautiful ice cascades. If the water is deep enough icebergs will form." Eh? So what you're telling us is... icebergs are naturally forming glacier bits. How could this be? Just because this was common knowledge before Algore blazed onto the scene doesn't mean we have to believe it, right? I mean, it's much more fun to yell FIRE in a theater! Dr. Wibjörn Karlén, emeritus professor, Dept. of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden, admits, "Some small areas in the Antarctic Peninsula have broken up recently, just like it has done back in time. The temperature in this part of Antarctica has increased recently, probably because of a small change in the position of the low pressure systems." But... how... what is this "low pressure system" voodoo of which you speak? It must be HUMANS! Didn't you see the film? HUMANS are causing the "warming" of the Earth... not naturally occurring phenomena over millions of years. Let me spell it out for you: H. U. M. A. N. S. You know, the same HUMANS that Algore valued at less than 3 trees? But Karlén clarifies that the 'mass balance' of Antarctica is positive - more snow is accumulating than melting off. As a result, Ball explains, there is an increase in the 'calving' of icebergs as the ice dome of Antarctica is growing and flowing to the oceans. When Greenland and Antarctica are assessed together, "their mass balance is considered to possibly increase the sea level by 0.03 mm/year - not much of an effect," Karlén concludes. More snow? The ice dome is growing? Simply impossible. There's no way Algore would lie to us in order to gain more political power for himself and his party. That would be unscrupulous, akin to losing an election and nearly destroying the Union by dragging it through an unecessary court battle and near constitional crisis in a desperate attempt to litigate victory. Nope, not even Richard Nixon would do that! Gore tells us in the film, "Starting in 1970, there was a precipitous drop-off in the amount and extent and thickness of the Arctic ice cap." This is misleading, according to Ball: "The survey that Gore cites was a single transect across one part of the Arctic basin in the month of October during the 1960s when we were in the middle of the cooling period. The 1990 runs were done in the warmer month of September, using a wholly different technology." What, selectively picking narrowly focused facts, likely inconsistent with the argument as a whole to win supporters? It's almost the same as hand-picking ballots that might almost possibly maybe are a vote for you because there's a slight bulge where someone may have pressed before fully punching out the section for the other guy. Maybe. But we've been down this road. Anyway, as much fun as I'm having mocking Algore, I'll leave you with the money quote: Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science."