Argues that the evidence behind global warming is inaccurate, and the environmental policies based on that evidence may ultimately lead to dire consequences for Western nations in the future.
This book tells for the first time one of the most extraordinary scientific and political stories of our time: how in the 1980s a handful of scientists came to believe that mankind faced catastrophe from runaway global warming, and how today this has persuaded the politicians to land us with what promises to be the biggest bill in history.
Christopher Booker interweaves the story of the science of global warming with that of its ever more costly political consequences, showing how just when the politicians are passing laws which threaten to change our Western way of life beyond recognition, the scientific evidence behind the theory that CO2 is causing a world-threatening rise in temperatures is coming under challenge as never before.
The book exposes the myth that the global warming theory is supported by a 'consensus of the world's top climate scientists'. It shows how the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is run by a small group of 'global warming' zealots, who have repeatedly rigged the evidence to support their theory.
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ix | |
| Introduction |
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1 | (10) |
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Part One: Forging the `Consensus': 1972-1997 |
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11 | (6) |
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Cooling and warming: 1972-1987 |
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17 | (21) |
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Enter the IPCC and Dr Hansen: 1988-1992 |
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38 | (18) |
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Enter Vice-President Gore and IPCC 2 |
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56 | (21) |
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Part Two: The `consensus' carries all before it: 1998-2007 |
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77 | (94) |
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Enter the `Hockey Stick' and IPCC 3: 1998-2003 |
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79 | (31) |
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The Political Temperature Rises |
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`A far greater threat than terrorism': 2004-2005 |
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110 | (30) |
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Hysteria Reaches its Height |
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Gore and the EU unite to save the planet: 2006-2007 |
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140 | (31) |
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Part Three: The `consensus' begins to crumble: 2007-2009 |
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171 | (136) |
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IPCC 4, The modellers lose the plot: 2007 |
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173 | (42) |
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Fiction versus truth: 2008 |
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215 | (49) |
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Colliding with reality: 2009 |
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264 | (43) |
| Epilogue: Saving the planet from whom? |
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307 | (37) |
| Appendix 1: `A Tightly Knit Group' |
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344 | (5) |
| Appendix 2: The IPCC Spins `Victory' out of Defeat |
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349 | (4) |
| A personal note from the author, with acknowledgements |
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353 | (6) |
| Index |
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359 | |
As a noted commentator on the political, social and psychological history of our time, Christopher Booker has in recent years, through his weekly Sunday Telegraph column, become the most conspicuous' global warming sceptic' in the British press. He has based his view on exhaustive research into the scientific evidence for and against the theory of 'man-made climate change'. His professional interest in this issue grew out of research for his previous book Scared The Death, co-written with Dr Richard North, a study of the 'scare phenomenon' which has been such a prominent feature of Western life in recent decades. Booker's other recent books have included The Seven Basic Plots, a best-selling analysis of why we tell stories which has established itself as a standard text (also published by Continuum). He has been an author and journalist for nearly 50 years, and was the founding editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye.
