‘Science debunks conspiracy theory’

IT is a frequent comment repeated to deny the reality of climate change, and David Nixon makes it.

He refers to the Little Ice Age, which gripped parts of the world, especially Europe, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

It is true that this period saw lowering temperatures, and illustrating the point are the fairs held on the ice bound Thames in the 1600s.

Sceptics use the argument to claim that climate change

is natural and nothing man made about it.

However, a scientific report in the irrefutable publication Nature debunked this view a few years ago which examined climate data from ice cores, tree rings, etc to comprehensively debunk the Nixon case.

It found that it got cold in different parts of the world depending on specific local events such as volcanic activity.

To give a specific local incident, the so-called ‘year of no summer’ in 1816 was the consequence of a major volcanic eruption in Indonesia the previous year.

It led to crop failure in Europe, ice in major waterways, and in a bizarre Staffordshire Moorlands specific incident, giant hailstones in Caverswall killing cattle on a summer’s day.

Researchers concluded that average global temperatures over the last 80 years are higher than ever before in the last 2,000 years, and

that the warming period is impacting on the whole planet, it is not localised.

And the speed of global warming is accelerating.

So ultimately, who do you believe? Scientists and empirical evidence or conspiracy theorists with coded references to secret elites?

CLLR BILL CAWLEY LEEK WEST