NOTE ON GEORGE MONBIOT

In his critique of Crutzen Monbiot draws on the findings of the INDOEX project as publicised in David Sington's BBC documentary on "Global Dimming". Paul Crutzen was a participant in the INDOEX project, as can be seen by anyone following the preceding link.

The Sington documentary was criticized by Gavin Schmidt at his Real Climate forum for its cavalier and sensationalistic handling of the scientific evidence of the INDOEX project. Schmidt called it "horribly premature" to declare 'global dimming' the cause of the 1980s famine in Ethiopia . I know from personal correspondence with a number of the scientists interviewed in the documentary that they felt very ambivalent about the documentary's scaremongering.

By relying on such sources George Monbiot leaves himself open to exactly the same kind of attacks that David Sington was subjected to at the time the documentary was screened. Not only from contrarians but also from non-contrarian scientists.