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LONDON - The British government will distribute Al Gore's dramatic global warming film to all secondary schools in England in its fight to tackle the climate crisis, Environment Minister David Miliband said on Friday.
The announcement came as a panel of the world's top scientists issued a new report blaming mankind for the crisis and predicting that average temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century as a result.
"The debate over the science of climate change is well and truly over, as demonstrated by the publication of today's report," Miliband said.
"I was struck by the visual evidence the film provides, making clear that the changing climate is already having an impact on our world today, from Mount Kilimanjaro to the Himalayan mountains," he added.
"An Inconvenient Truth", a film of the former US vice president's lecture tour illustrating the dramatic change to the environment due to human activities, has already been a box office hit.
The film will be part of a global warming information pack distributed to schools as the government strongly pushes the message that everyone has a role to play.
Gore, a dedicated climate crusader, has begun a programme of training what he calls climate ambassadors to travel the world.
"As the film shows, there's no reason to feel helpless in the face of this challenge. Everyone can play a part along with government and business in making a positive contribution in helping to prevent climate change," Miliband said.
The government is drafting a Climate Change Bill to set in law its own self-imposed target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.
But environmentalists have called for a far tougher target and on Friday the head of a cross-party parliamentary environment committee urged Miliband to raise the figure.
"I will be asking David Miliband to scrap that target and instead introduce a formula which works towards a safe and sustainable concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which minimises the danger of catastrophic climate change," said Colin Challen.
- REUTERS
