Counterpoint: Greenhouse Effect

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Counterpoint: Greenhouse Effect

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Details

Location

Belfast, Loughgall, Queen's University Belfast, University of Ulster

Year

1989

Date

Transmission 16/02/1989

Length

25min 45sec

Audio

sound

Format

1 inch

colour

Source

Digitised as part of the UTV Archive Partnership Project (ITV, Northern Ireland Screen and PRONI)

Courtesy

Department for Communities, ITV, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

Rights Holder

ITV

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

Presenter Brian Black explores the increasingly urgent issue of the greenhouse effect and considers its implications for the habitat and humanity.

Scientists from the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast are interviewed, with additional commentary provided by local consumers. Dr. Bill Carter explains the origins of the greenhouse effect. He considers the deterioration of the ozone layer and the escalation in the greenhouse effect. Whilst drawing no direct, cause-and-effect, correlation between the two, he notes a number of common characteristics, not least that both are the result of the slow, cumulative effects that humans have wrought on the earth's atmosphere.

Pat Smyth, from the Met Office, confirms that their data indicates the greenhouse effect is a real and observable phenomena. Next, Brian Watters, from Loughgall Agricultural College states that a rise in temperature will have negative implications for the farming industry and will, in the long term, increase the costs for controlling pests and disease. Professor John McMullen says that there has to be some kind of centralised movement to tackle the greenhouse effect, with the next 10-15 years crucial.

Asked whether the Greenhouse Effect is an urgent matter, Dr Jim Swindall states that, "it is vital we get some work done now. We can't leave it for years and hand on the problems to the next generation". After this, a group of women consumers in Boots are asked if they are conscious of buying aerosols and the potential implications for the environment. This is followed by a discussion with Charles McShane, a Boots chemist. Concluding the programme, Dr Steve Yearley discusses how informed and receptive the general public are when it comes to considering the implications of the Greenhouse Effect.

Notes

Counterpoint is Ulster Television's landmark current affair series, which was also broadcast to a national audience on Channel4. Series' editor, Derek Murray described Counterpoint as addressing a "wide range of social concerns which affect every family in Ulster".

In May 2019 the UK government declared a climate emergency after many public protests and disruption; Belfast City Council followed their lead and declared one too in October 2019.

 

Credits

Presented by Brian Black

A Ulster Televisionary Production

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