In an age of rising sea levels, supercharged storms and rapidly melting glaciers, the need for environmental action and better management of resources should hardly be more evident.
Yet just weeks after a survey suggested that Angus has the second-highest rate of climate change deniers in Scotland, former children’s TV presenter Johnny Ball has fuelled controversy by defending the controversial views that got him into hot water with environmental campaigners 10 years ago when he claimed the arguments for man-made climate change just don’t add up.
In an interview with The Courier, the 81-year-old said he believes children across the world are being scared unnecessarily by the declaration of a ‘climate crisis’ at a time when millions worldwide have been mobilized by the campaigning of child environmentalist Greta Thunberg.
The former Think of a Number presenter, who recently spoke about maths in Dundee, said there was “no question” that humans are having a negative effect on the environment whether that be plastic pollution or wasteful resource depletion.
However, the man who once claimed that “farting spiders” caused more damage to the environment than fossil fuels will not accept that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are the main cause of climate change – instead of taking the view that rising CO2 levels are part of a natural cycle.
“Of course the climate is changing and always is,” he said. “I do not believe that CO2 is the main cause of climate change. I do not believe it at all because the main cause of climate change has to be the water in the atmosphere, and the weather is changed by that.
“Man is a great weight on the Earth – there’s no question about that. Plastics pollution [is] terrible. That’s got to stop. The polluting of the oceans – all that I’m with.
“I will not accept that CO2 is the main cause of climate change or that man is the main cause of climate change.
“I cannot accept it and I never will because I have enough facts behind me to know I’m on the right tracks.
“There are natural processes. Man does have an effect. We are talking about the fires in the Amazon, which are terrible. They say the Amazon is 20% of the Earth’s plants. It’s not. It’s at four percent. Why? Because 80% of the plants on Earth are in the oceans.
“People misconstrue science and misconstrue the facts.
“Eighty percent of all plant life is in the oceans and if the Earth was smooth the oceans would be 4km deep. That’s a hell of a lot of water with a hell of a lot of plants in it. All breathing CO2. Where is the CO2 coming from?
“It’s a natural cycle being reproduced and reproduced and reproduced, and that’s how it works. Man is unquestionably a terrible weight on the earth. We’ve got to be careful what we do. We’ve got to be careful we don’t wreck the earth. Of course, we have. But CO2? No.
“That all started with the anti-oil and fossil fuels lobby. I won’t go into more detail than that. My belief is that CO2 is not the main cause of climate change. And that’s where I stand.”
Read rest at The Courier
At last a respected man who speaks with common sense and knowledge.
He is absolutely 100% correct!
Someone to fire some ammo of truth at the Eco-Freaks that’s going to sink them their always hiding themselves behind their fake walls and their friends in the M.S. Media
Three cheers for this man, he is right. Please do a search for “Klaas-Vaak.pdf” to read a story for children to let them know that climate alarm at the hands of carbon dioxide is incorrect.
The author, Michael Alexander, is obviously a climate alarmist. I haven’t read data on glaciers, but sea level rise today is slower than the first half of the twentieth centerary, and the supercharged storms are nothing compared to the storms they had around 1900.
It is refreshing that Johnny Ball is aware that carbon dioxide is not driving climate change. Historically there is a poor correlation between the earth’s average temperature and CO2 levels. It is surprising that children’s TV presenter had the wisdom to point out that 80% of the plants are in the ocean.
Johnny Ball is on the Ball you have to admire a man who tells the truth against the demands of Big Green Brother and the Eco-Nazis/Watermelons