Al Gore is sexy and Margaret Thatcher got something right

Apparently the most popular target, of vociferous climate deniers, is Al Gore. He is commonly invoked like a talisman or fetish as a refutation of climate science. Apart from mocking his slide show, it appears that he is derided as too fat and thus it is demonstrated that he is totally wrong about the need for action on climate change. In fact he is accused of perpetrating a giant climate hoax on the world, by shrill detractors including politicians who denounce climate science.

So if Al Gore has gained weight, does this mean that climate change is a lie?

Admittedly I am an 'older' woman but I find Al Gore breathtakingly attractive .He had me at "global warming is real". The combination of a brilliant mind, with a focus on real science, altruism, ethics and passion,energy and dedication to our planet and linked concerns about war and poverty, has proven an irresistible mix for me. I would even go as far as saying that he is totally hot, but for the fact that this might be construed as play on words. When I met Al Gore at a climate presenters training, I was totally smitten. It is incidental that he is also rather handsome.

Even if Al Gore does not conform to the classic narcissistic popular body image; it seems obvious to me that he cares massively deeply and sincerely, about our grandchildren's future.

On the other hand, many who are in denial of climate science are no oil paintings so to speak. For example,0 the incorrigible and disingenuous Lord Monckton, the gun for hire of big coal, has the dubious distinction of being ejected from DOHA 2012 climate talks for impersonating a delegate from Myanmar.

However, not before he managed to try to make the bogus claim - that the earth had been cooling for the past 16 years and the science needed to be reviewed. Crouching in his stolen seat, he looked like a comically inserted character from a Monty Python sketch.

But it is the failings of intellectual rigor, distortion of facts, and outright deception linked to unethical promotion of fossil fuels, that is exceedingly ugly.

The science is in.

It has been for quite some time. Furthermore the predicted evidence of increased warming is being measured daily. The only problem left is to implement the changes that we need to make in order to at least slow, if not reduce the impact of, already released emissions.

After her recent death, the controversial former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,was both hailed and denounced. I have disagreed with many of her political views but I greatly admire her stance on global warming. However few direct serious references have been made to her views on climate change. They have been explained away by some , as a political maneuver or discredited by claims of her being a first climate skeptic. In her later, cognitively impaired years, in a chapter of her book Statecraft, published in 2003, she also incidentally mocked Al Gore. In 2000 Thatcher's daughter Carol reported that she showed signs of dementia,and had to be constantly reminded that her husband had died, after his death in 2003. This was also the year when she "forgot" her original global warming stance . But whether she recanted or not, the solidity of her original scientific argument remains irrefutable.

In her address to the General Assembly of United Nations 8th Nov 1989 on global environmental issues Margaret Thatcher outlined the science in relation to global warming in a breathtakingly clear manner, saying, "we can't just do nothing. In the past, the tendency has been, to solve one problem by making others worse. Time is too short for diversion into fruitless divisive arguments. Every country will be affected and no one can opt out." The "Iron Lady", trained in science ,whom some have called cold and others strong, showed her mettle and knowledge of science. Thatcher supported the continuation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to keep monitoring and constructing models to help predict the course of climate change. She cited floods, droughts, extreme weather events, the loss of ecosystems, and the degradation of soil and water and a polluted atmosphere.

Thatcher also noted the fate of Easter Islanders, the Rapa Nui, and the demise of their civilization. The islanders unsustainably consumed all the island's resources, chopping down all the trees until they could no longer even build canoes to enable them to fish. Easter Island is now seen as a warning metaphor for the fate of our civilization. Jared Diamond further elucidates this in his work on why civilizations collapse.

I might add this warning that Jared Diamond is not fat ,but he does appear to have adopted an unstylish hairstyle. Nevertheless, his science is impeccable and his mind sharp, brilliant, and beautiful. His message on how we might manage the inevitable change and survive is to be heeded.

In Australia we have our own version of an Al Gore whipping boy, in Tim Flannery.

A long term advocate for climate science, Flannery is currently the head of the Commission on Climate Change .The leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott ,who has famously declared that the science on climate change is "absolute crap",

pledges to make Flannery's position redundant and to abolish the Commission, should he be elected as the next Prime Minister. Detractors such as Andrew Bolt

and Ray Hadley have used outright concocted lies to try and discredit Flannery. Hadley claiming that Flannery has bought up seaside homes [implying cheaply], after promoting information on sea level rises.

The moral of the tale, which many of us may all live to regret, is that shooting the messenger, whether by inappropriate personalised denigration, or outright lies, does not kill the truth. When this truth is an important warning that might engage us to reduce terrible harm, it is outright stupidity to attempt to crush the message. Climate change is real, happening and dangerous. And yes, I confess that I am a little overweight; but I can read the evidence and comprehend the basic science, as can most of us, if we dare to face it.