Hole in Ozone Layer is Saving the Planet

Flicking through today's Sun, I came across a story by the tabloid's esteemed environment editor Ben Jackson. The journalist -- who has previously scripted ground-breaking accounts on climate change, such as Fatties Causing Global Warming -- was reporting on a study conducted by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

The organisation, which is a coalition of international experts from the region, published the report on ice loss in the Antarctic to give negotiators at the Copenhagen Climate Summit the most up-to-date research.

The report's findings revealed that the closing of the hole in the Earth's ozone layer will contribute to average temperature rises of 3C on the continent in the next decade -- leading to a global sea level rise of up to 1.4 metres by 2011. This increase would engulf islands located in the Pacific and Indian Ocean and destroy coastal cities such as Calcutta and Dhaka.

Pretty important news, most would say. Not, however, Ben Jackson, who instead decided to focus on evidence that the hole in the ozone layer has kept Antarctica warmer over the past decade.

"The hole in the ozone layer is protecting the arctic from global warming," he gleefully claims.

Though this report is undoubtedly factually accurate, it accentuates the myth that climate change is not an issue that the public needs to worry about; when insurmountable evidence suggests that it is.

And environmental activists wonder why the 'average Joe' remains unconvinced that human-induced climate change is occurring.