Flat Earthers

When former US Vice President Al Gore’s environmental documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Greenpeace (New Zealand), predictably, was happy. Others, less so.

New Zealand radio station NewstalkZB reported:

A critic of the climate change debate suggests Mr Gore’s Oscar makes a mockery of the awards. Meteorologist Augie Auer is a staunch critic of Mr Gore's views and believes the documentary is full of errors and is not relevant. He does not believe the documentary has the level of following the award would suggest.

The debate on global warming is over. Auer’s side lost. By continuing on, they’re sounding more and more like people standing at the end of an airport runway screaming that heavier-then-air flight is impossible as a roaring jet taking off provides evidence to the contrary.

While I’ve criticised Auer’s group before, I actually doubt that the opinions of a retired New Zealand meteorologist will have any real influence here or anywhere else. But what I personally find cringe-making is the fact that Auer is an expat American. We Americans already have a world-wide reputation as climate change deniers, and Auer just reinforces it. However, his odd opinions are not shared by all Americans, expat or not, and that, too, is an established fact.