Scientist documents climate change thinking

By Ann Packer

A 2013 film that’s been called “the most scientifically informative documentary ever made about climate change” is to be shown at Muritai School hall on Sunday 16 April at 4 pm.

The screening of Thin Ice – the Inside Story of Climate Science, supported by Eastern Bays Climate Response Network and York Bay Residents’ Association, will be followed by a Q and A session with climate experts including York Bay resident and filmmaker Simon Lamb, an Associate Professor at Victoria University who was based at Oxford University when he interviewed 40 leading climate scientists on the subject. Professor James Renwick, and Emeritus Professor Peter Barrett, who started the process that led to the filming, will also be present to answer questions. “It was Peter’s inspiration that started the process of making the film,” he says.

Dr Lamb, who started his project in order to counter attacks on the integrity of climate scientists, says the film chronicles his personal journey to find out directly from climate scientists why they think that our emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are changing the planet's climate.

He believes Eastbourne is especially vulnerable to climate change.

“I think the main issue for the Eastern Bays in the next two decades is the vulnerability to intense and much more frequent storms, both from waves crashing across the coastal road, and heavy rain and wind driving landslides on the steep slopes.” He says in the long term sea level rise will create a major problem for access.