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Environment Minister Sammy Wilson bans adverts warning of the effects of climate change

By Noel McAdam
Monday, 9 February 2009

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Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has banned government television adverts in Northern Ireland warning of the effects of climate change, it emerged today.

The DUP man said he was not prepared to allow “insidious New Labour propaganda” about the impact of climate change which would have been screened on UTV.

“It was the sheer arrogance of them saying ‘we are doing this’ and yet they have had no consultation with my Department whatsoever. This is a devolved responsibility so they were also wrong constitutionally,” he said.

Mr Wilson said the adverts attempted to tell people that simple measures like changing their lightbulbs and turning off TVs from stand-by mode could help prevent them “wrecking the world”.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: “The vast majority of people are not prepared to accept this view of life any more and are certainly not prepared to bear the massive financial consequences.”

The Minister said all the focus groups involved in producing the ads, which are also being shown on Channels Four and Five, and Sky, were based in England and he wrote to then Minister David Milliband to stress “hands off Northern Ireland”.

“Since then, the Scottish administration has also said no to these adverts, which I would like to think was encouraged by my position and the Welsh Assembly, while being more timid, has taken a similar view,” he said.

The Green Party today however accused Mr Wilson of contradicting himself and warned his outdated opinions are preventing action to tackle fuel poverty and the provision of more jobs.

Steven Agnew said: “He has always said he will support measures which will encourage energy efficiency and these adverts are all about people supporting measures which can help energy efficiency — whether you agree with climate change or not. So Sammy is now contradicting himself.

“He seems to think that climate change is a belief you can argue for or against but when he had been asked to provide alternative explanations comes up with solar variations which have also been investigated by scientists.”

Mr Agnew said: “Certainly there are now very few who would agree with him.”

Mr Agnew, the Green Euro-candidate for this June’s election, argued the Green ‘new deal’ promoted by new President Barack Obama had shown how fuel poverty and climate change could be tackled while providing new jobs.

Mr Wilson insisted, however: “I have no difficulty with energy efficiency and I take my Ministerial obligations in this regard very seriously, but I believe there is virtually a fear factor in how this whole climate change issue is being addressed.”

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118 Comments

The last two centuries have seen industrialisation on a mass scale, from coal-burning ship furnaces to jet planes taking off. Man extracted this fuel from the earth and burns it continually. Combustion reactions involving fossil fuels emit C02; simple science! Man is responsible for increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Isn't it naive to think that our climate wouldn't change to cope with a change in any of its components?

Posted by Devlin | 01.04.09, 22:34 GMT

Good for you, Sir! It's about time someone brought some sanity to this runaway Chicken Little issue.

Posted by GTRocketman | 10.03.09, 22:10 GMT

One by one respected scientists and politicians are leaving the bandwagon as consumed by something called honesty and integrity. If enough follow eventually there will be nothing to follow any more.

Unfortunately the new arrival of President Obama has injected new life in what was a dying issue albeit slowly. I hope the facts can sway his mind before he drives us all back into the dark ages.

Posted by David Howard | 22.02.09, 00:34 GMT

GW is just the tip of the (melting?) ice berg, and there has been perhaps too much press about this 1 issue. Having said that and looking Saul Green's comments, despite hole pokers finding errors, we are not having a deluge of scientists saying sorry we got it all wrong. At the end of the day physics 101 says CO2 being an insulator, should have an effect if its amount is changed.

The big issue is growth itself, driven by our pyramid scheme economic system and gov't who are mostly educated in growth based economics. All the tentative estimates of oil years, Co2 reductions, food production, etc etc are blown out of the water when growth is taken into account. With Air port extensions and push for other business increases high on the agenda I very much doubt our 'Environment' minister is abreast of this.

The problem of sustainability is the shear scale of the changes required. We need to rebuild the world in a few decades.

Posted by Tony | 13.02.09, 16:42 GMT

The Warmists always have to resort to name calling! Very mature of them!
And they have the audacity to say that dissident views have been proven to be incorrect.
Fact is that there is no evidence that shows man influences climate on a global scale and whatever contribution we do make is offset by the activity of volcanoes, bacteria not to mention absorption and release of co2 from the sea.
You warmists just spout rubbish continually.
The IPCC's 4th annual report was shown to have over 30 inaccuracies that were corrected but was not re-published, so much of the data being expounded by these so called "green Bible" bashers is based on inaccuracy, further to this many of the subsequent articles that claim to dissident views are flawed are also based on these inaccuracies.
People really have lost the ability to discriminate and follow media sensationalism as though it is irrefutable.
When much of the knowledge we know is from the media, then we are living in a time of mediocrity!

Posted by Saul Green | 11.02.09, 03:20 GMT

I've no love for the DUP, however; hurragh for Sammy - It's about time somebody told the "Green Lobby" where to go - they disgust me because we have to pay for their outrageous beliefs - More coal on the fire and buy a six litre engine!!!!!

Posted by Harry Hopkins | 10.02.09, 21:08 GMT

People and politicians should leave science to the scientists and not base their opinions on 1 or 2 papers, which they are unlikely to understand anyway. I know I can't, and if some politician/plumber/bank clerk/business exec thinks they can form an educated opinion on this by reading a few papers they are very much mistaken. The science of GW is not certain by any means, but the current weight of arguments is for it.

In any case the global warming debate is not the most urgent issue. The most urgent issue is the lack of oil supply over the next few years, and saving energy needs to be our priority whether it is for global warming or simply immediate needs. Anyone who stands in the way of this is short sighted indeed.

Posted by Tony | 10.02.09, 18:31 GMT

Nobody disputes that the climate is changing - it always has done, and presumably always will do. It is also generally accepted that the Earth is warming, a process which has been going on for the last 10,000 years or so.

It is, however, highly disputed that this warming is being driven by mankind.

The reality is that Man-Made Global Warming remains am unproven hypothesis - despite what several posters here seem to believe. There is remarkably little actual scientific evidence to support it, and a considerable amount to show that it may well not be true.

The main support for the hypothesis comes from computer models. These have a very poor record when it comes to predicting not only the future but also the past ("hindcasting")- hardly surprising when you consider that what is being modelled is a highly complex, non-linear, chaotic system, about which we know comparatively little.

How refreshing it is to come across a politician who seems to know what he's talking about.

Posted by Paulus | 10.02.09, 16:00 GMT

I praise Sammy wilson for speaking out about all this Climate Change Hype. He is a brave man to take on the Environmentalists. If they had their way we would all still be living in mud huts and progress would never have been made. Just because Charles Darwin made his theory of Evolution does that mean that those who want to believe that God made the earth does not count. We should be allowed to have a free will. Scientists are not always right.

Posted by Shana | 10.02.09, 14:52 GMT

O.M.G. What planet is Sammy on?! Obviously not this one (wishful thinking...?). Is this seriously what our taxes are paying for in Stormont? Both sad and hilarious - is it April Fools Day already?

Posted by SK | 10.02.09, 13:51 GMT

I have commented a number of times already on this topic. I contacted Sammy directly and recieved an extremely condescending e-mail from him last night.

It is clear he is not open-minded on this subject, he has shut the door to debate. As others have commented I too have come to the conculsion Wilson is immune to rational argument. The fact he refuses to compromise in any way is all the evidence we need to be sure of this.

I think it is great we are getting to know our ministers. That way we know who to vote out when the time comes.

Posted by M Spence | 10.02.09, 12:04 GMT

It's quite simple - Sammy Wilson should resign over this. He is our Minister for the Environment and the policy of the British Government (and any other credible authority) is that man-made climate change exists. Whilst he is entitled to his personal views, in his position as Government Minister, he must implement Government policy and put his efforts behind trying to reduce emmissions and implement other environmentally friendly initiatives in Northern Ireland. This advertising campaign would be one useful step in that direction as i think it is fair to say that we in NI are well behind in our knowledge of environmental issues. As far as i'm aware Sammy Wilson is not a qualified Climate Scientist so has no place to publicy go against the almost unanimous views of climate science professionals around the world. As others have already said, it is the poorest of the world who will, and indeed are already, suffering the most (e.g. increased flooding in Bangladesh). Shame on him.

Posted by Paul Braithwaite | 10.02.09, 11:01 GMT

Is there any truth in the rumour that Sammy Wilson is a frontrunner for President of the Flat Earth Society?

Posted by John | 10.02.09, 10:42 GMT

Sammy Wilson should be sacked and someone else put in his place who takes the environment serioulsy. Climate Change will affect the world's poorest people and wildlife alike and we all have a responsibility to look after the planet. Otherwise we become very selfish people who do not care about future generations as long as we are alright. There is nothing democratic (DUP) about banning adverts on TV in Northern Ireland when I believe that the majority of people here will disagree with him.

Kim Rooney, Belfast.

Posted by Kim | 10.02.09, 10:18 GMT

The Global Warming Industry makes a lot of money from Government Research Grants and will use any form of advertising to ram home their cause notwithstanding the facts that the current world weather aberrations (bush fires in Victoria Australia and snow falls and ice in Manitoba Canada) are nothing out of the ordinary when compared with weather graphs over the long term. There are a number of people who stand to make a lot of money by carbon trading schemes allegedly to save the world from global warming. we have more to fear from the harbingers of doom than changes in our climate. Listen carefully folks, climate change = Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring ... nothing more ... nothing less.

Posted by Howard J. Powers | 10.02.09, 01:58 GMT

Sammy is right...science shows that methane, 20 times more damaging than CO2, is escaping the artic permafrost by the millions of cubic metres every day.

hundreds of these plumes have now been found...google it.

what we do with CO2 wont make a button of difference!
Sammy Wilsons common sense appraoch of insulation etc and other practical cost effective efficiencies makes more sense than the restrictive and ultimately unjustified costly policies of the green fascists!

Posted by david | 10.02.09, 00:21 GMT

Sammy "Hill Billy" Wilson strikes again for the DUP! First it was a "cure" for homosexuals, then it was the dinonsaurs who played hop-scotch with children on Noah's ark, and now they've added global warming denial to their repetoire. I wonder how long it will be before they start burning the books?

Posted by plannisuarus rex | 10.02.09, 00:19 GMT

good on him for doing this, everyone who hasnt been living in a cave for the past 15 years has heard of global warming, the goverment doesnt need to be spending money to put fear in the minds of the public in order to get them to be more green. We to stop scaring people into going green and start making an example instead, wouldnt the cost of running these ads be put to better use making goverment buildings more efficient and installing small scale rewnewable energy solutions. If the goverment put up small wind turbines for example at schools around the county they would send out a much better message than scaring people into unplugging their tv each night to save 2 pound a year in electricity and save the world

Posted by Barry | 09.02.09, 23:32 GMT

Here, here, Mr. Wilson!! Enviro groups continue to crow about a scientific consensus on AGW. So what! Once, it was widely assumed that the Earth was flat and at the center of the solar system. It took a few very courageous individuals, using scientific observation and empirical data, to bring the world out of its delusional assumptions.

CO2's role as a major contributor to global warming is still an assumption, NOT a proven fact.

Strange, alarmist enviro groups are NOT telling Al Gore, also a politician untrained in climatology, to butt out. Oh, that's right, the Goracle agrees with them.

Posted by Steve | 09.02.09, 23:30 GMT

Good old Sammy - doing what he does best -.making a joke of the DUP with his comical pomposity. Perhaps he is worried that someone might eventually ban flashbulbs in cameras. Maybe Sammy knows that the main cause of global warming is really all the hot air coming out of the minister's mouth.

Posted by Son of Watchful | 09.02.09, 22:24 GMT