Get things in perspective

THERE are climate alarmists who accuse those who express contrary views on the causes of climate change of ignoring facts and disseminating nonsense. They should instead welcome open debate on the basis that science is never settled, but is in fact a process of perpetual inquiry. Those who assert that a 97% majority of scientific sources unequivocally support the theory of anthropogenic global warming choose to conveniently ignore serious and valid research which has revealed that this consensus was arrived at through deliberately flawed methodology.

Climate zealots would do well to ponder the theory of continental drift (plate tectonics) which was first proposed back in 1912 by the meteoroligist Alfred Wegener. This created much heated debate, disbelief and and even ridicule. It took a further 50 years before this theory became accepted as fact.

Human-sourced emissions when expressed in terms of gigatonnes (a billion metric tons) may indeed sound alarming to many people but it should be realised that carbon dioxide, vital though it is for life, is a trace gas which constitutes just 0.04 of all atmospheric gases of which just 3.8% are of human origin.

We should get things in perspective and accept that although the CO2 concentration has indeed increased, analysis of data retrieved from ice cores and ocean sediments reveal that there are also numerous natural factors such as solar variability, cloud cover and fluctuating ocean currents that have always had and continue to have overriding influences on our continuously variable climate. These are facts that should not continue to be ignored, but as many scientific research grants are reliant on state funding the result is the regrettable corruption and politicisation of science.