Anthropogenic Global Warming:

Beyond the Hype, Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reason

is the 10th lecture in the UP Centennial Lecture Series

 

The UP Centennial Lecture Series is a milestone activity and a vital component of the celebration of the UP's 100th year of academic excellence and service to the nation.

 

 

Last October 12, 2007, former United States Vice President Al Gore and the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace for their roles in raising the alarm about Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW)and Climate Change (CC) and the need to take action to avert a global disaster. 

 

However, two days earlier, on October 10, 2007, in a judgement issued by a Royal Court of Justice in London, United Kingdom under Justice Burton, nine (9) critical errors were identified in the film, “An Inconvenient Truth” (AIT).  This film was what catapulted AGW, Al Gore and the IPCC to the world stage, leading people all over the world to take notice. 

 

Justice Burton’s decision was based on a complaint by a British citizen who was concerned about the British government’s decision to distribute the film AIT throughout the educational system as part of its response to Al Gore’s appeal in the movie.  He complained that the film was a political tract and was not a science-based film that would qualify as an educational material and as such should not be distributed by the Ministry for Education at taxpayers’ expense.  Experts presented by the complainant identified nine instances when Al Gore made erroneous scientific claims in the movie, to which Justice Burton agreed.

 

The hype surrounding AGW and CC had diverted attention in looking at the IPCC report more critically. Furthermore, AGW and CC had diverted attention in addressing more pressing environmental issues.

 

 

Prof. Perry S. Ong, the Lecturer

 

Prof. Perry S. Ong,  a Professor in Wildlife Biology and the Director of the Institute of Biology, College of Science, is currently the president of the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Philippines and of the Earth Rights, People’s Rights Inc. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation, Inc and chairs the Philippine Federation for Envrionment Concern.  He is also the Vice President of the Southeast Asian Primatological Association and a research associate at the Field Muesum, Chicago, Illinois.

 

Prof. Ong earned his BS and MS in Zoology from UP Los Baños in 1983 and 1988, respectively. In 1995, he obtained his Ph.D. in Behavioral Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the Monash University, Australia. An associate editor of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology at the National University of Singapore, Prof. Ong wrote numerous papers and articles which were presented in local and international conferences and published in respected and prestigious international and local scientific journals and publications.

 

He likewise lends his expertise to organizations, serving as consultant or undertaking commissioned research for the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, Italian-based Istituto de Ecoliga Applicata, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

 

Prof. Ong was chosen as one of the 2000 Outstanding Young Scientist by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and one of the 2000 Ten Outstanding Young Men by the Philippine Jaycees. His other distinctions include the 2004 Hugh Greenwood Award for Environmental Science by the NAST and the Gawad Chanselor sa Pinakamahusay na Aklat in 1999 from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

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