Global warming, hypotheses and truth

George Monbiot, leading proponent of action for sustainability, has written a damning critique of "The Great Global Warming Swindle" (that Channel 4 programme I blogged about the other day). George cites many scientific studies and the programme maker's murky history as evidence against the programme, and his piece* reads rather persuasively.

George oversteps the mark in talking about "truth" rather than hypotheses, though, I feel. In my experience, we all yearn for simple truths, but all we ever can actually grasp are relatively strong hypotheses about the nature of our world. And we ultimately tend to act from our gut, not our intellect. My gut feeling is that George is probably right. But it's not necessarily the truth.

*For another good analysis of "Gore v. Four", see this piece from the Independent on Sunday.