Yesterday (20th January 2009) Sammy Wilson gave an interview on Good Morning Ulster, and was accompanied by Prof. Iain Stewart, of BBC fame. I couldn’t resist looking up his website, where he says, I quote:

Our climate is changing; there is little doubt that global warming had taken place in the last 30 years of the 20th century. However actual evidence (not forecasted computer models) now shows us that the earth has actually been cooling since 1998.

That’s what Sammy Wilson, Minister for the Environment, says on his own website.

His own rant, for want of a better world, against accepted science was at least somewhat divergant from that statement:

Well, first of all, if Iain, and those who take his view have a problem, if you look at the last decade, where the actually hasn’t been global warming even though there has been a huge climb in CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, and of course, that creates a problem for the people who take Iain’s view and it’s at the large number of variables which influence the world’s climate, and indeed, that this science is in its infancy, that I don’t think taht anyone can say with absolute certainty that CO2 emissions are the main driver and they are likely to be caught out as their own science develops, from signs that there are other factors which have influenced the world’s climate, and indeed, there is still a huge body of scientific opinion which takes the view that there are other drivers, including othe people in Iain’s field, who look at geology, study geology, and that… Geology is almost like the world library. The rocks, the sediments, the ancient soils and minerals, and

pollen; it’s like a book where by studying what happened in the past … [radio presenter cuts over] … and our ability to read those books is still limited.

An impressively unpunctuated speech. It worries me that the world’s environment should be left in the hands of people like Mr. Wilson. Scientific opinion weighs vastly in favour of CO2 being the current and principle cause of climate change.

Apart from what the above graph illustrates, the damning verdict of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published their findings last year, following an extensive period of review and interpretation. I can only find Mr. Wilson’s knowledge of the science of geology laughable, but in this day and age, his total ignorance of the issues which his office oversees are apalling.

There followed the reading of various text messages, the majority, allegedly in Mr. Wilson’s favour – It just goes to show one thing – Sectarianism can prove anything in Northern Ireland.

I am, however, looking forward to the lecture at MCB tomorrow, with Prof. Stewart, and Mrs. Foster, the minister for Enerprise, Trade and Investment. I will be photographing the great event…