I believe in global warming. As a scientists, though, I am concerned with some data in the movie, which is also a Figure on p65 of Gore book: An Inconvenient Truth. This figure shows temperature as a function of time from 1000CE - present.
(1) Why is there BOTH red (hot) and blue (cold) data in the period toward the right (the period from ~1950-present, when there is only red OR blue data elsewhere?
(2) By normalizing to data from 1961-1990, Gore is accentuating the red period (hot) from ~1950-present. If the data were normalized for 1000 - 1900CE, then there would be other regions (e.g. 1000 - 1400CE) that would also be red (hot).
The latter makes the especially HOT period from ~1900 - present more obvious (and it IS HOTTER!), but it does seem misleading.
(1) Why is there BOTH red (hot) and blue (cold) data in the period toward the right (the period from ~1950-present, when there is only red OR blue data elsewhere?
(2) By normalizing to data from 1961-1990, Gore is accentuating the red period (hot) from ~1950-present. If the data were normalized for 1000 - 1900CE, then there would be other regions (e.g. 1000 - 1400CE) that would also be red (hot).
The latter makes the especially HOT period from ~1900 - present more obvious (and it IS HOTTER!), but it does seem misleading.