Weather Channel Founder to Sue Al Gore?

John Coleman, founder of the cable television Weather Channel, wants to sue Al Gore. Why? For the possibility that Al Gore is committing financial fraud. Here is what Coleman says:

"Is he committing financial fraud? That is the question. Since we can't get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue. I'm confident that the advocates of 'no significant effect from carbon dioxide' would win the case."

He goes on to say that "As you look at the atmosphere over the last 25 years, there's been perhaps a degree of warming, perhaps probably a whole lot less than that, and the last year has been so cold that that's been erased." That is quite a powerful statement.

I am not a scientist. To engage in scientific discussions on this issue, as so many of my co-non-scientist brothers and sisters are prone to do, is silly. I can state some pretty clear and basic observations. First, people obviously have an impact on the environment. The degree of negativity of this impact is of course debated. But we do have an impact. Second, the media loves global warming. Third, people listen to the media.

So, after those deep and astute observations, my position on this is pretty simple. Do I think we have overblown the global warming threat primarily because of the media attention it enjoys? Yes. Do I think that means we can do whatever we want and not worry about the environment? No.

Perhaps Jonathan Merritt (see below) is coming at this from a similar perspective, I don't know. But it seems to me that even those folk who are not concerned for the earth's doom in 50 years due to the effects of global warming can still appreciate the need to take care of our planet. If global warming is a farcical waste of time at the end of the day, then yes, the world needs to be aware of the truth. Nevertheless, even if that new found knowledge came to us tomorrow, it should make little difference in our approach to the environment. We are called to be good stewards, with or without the threat of global warming.

So, I will leave the actual scientific discussion on the threat of global warming to those people who know about such things. In the meantime, I will try and do a little better to protect this great planet God has created.