Sammy Wilson is a flat earther, fumes eco-film maker

Northern Ireland’s environment minister has come under fire once again for his controversial views on global warming, this time from the director of a major new movie on the subject.

Sammy Wilson — who controversially believes that climate change is not man made — has already said he will not be going to see environmental docu-drama The Age of Stupid, which opens in Belfast later this month.

The film, which is set 50 years in the future, stars Pete Postlethwaite as an old man looking back at archive footage from 2008 and asking why more was not done to stop climate change.

Along with all 107 other Stormont MLAs, as well as his fellow Northern Ireland MPs, Mr Wilson has been invited to a special screening of the film at the QFT tomorrow, organised by Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland.

But Mr Wilson said he would not be joining fellow public representatives at the screening.

“I am fairly busy with the work I have to do, and am not too sure that that’s the kind of way to spend an afternoon,” he said.

Now the director of the film, Franny Armstrong, has become the latest voice to criticise the minister’s controversial views.

“It’s only a matter of time until this guy gets voted out” she said.

“If 99 doctors tell you you’ve got cancer and if you don’t act very soon that you’re going to die, and one doctor tells you that you should ignore the other 99, which ones are you going to believe?

“Let’s not give any more air time to people who don’t know what they are talking about. This guy is not a scientist, he is not prepared to watch the film or listen to the evidence, so let him go back to the flat earthers,” said Franny.

Last week, the minister told the Belfast Telegraph: “I think there are enough fantasies floating around without me giving any credence to them. If we are going to examine this subject we should examine it in the cold light of the evidence, not the fantasy world of the film producers.”

Ms Armstrong said she believed there was no time to lose in dealing with the problem. “We have just a couple of years left to stop the situation and save everything that we have achieved,” she said.

The Age of Stupid runs at the QFT from March 20 to 26.