Error-filled attack was in poor taste

RE: JAN. 4 opinion of Jackie Ericksen. Ericksen makes a serious error concerning cosmic rays. Cosmic rays ionize the air in the atmosphere, causing cloud condensation nuclei to form. Only the most energetic charged particles can travel down to sea level. They are called muons and are thought to form clouds low in the atmosphere and thereby cool the earth. You can find this treated in the book by Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Calder titled “The chilling stars.”

The ad hominem attack of Fred Singer was in poor taste. Many views on certain subjects do need correction, and doing so does not mean one rejects the “link” between, say, chlorofluoro compounds and ozone loss. Both Fred Singer and James Hansen have Ph.D.s in physics and both have credentials in climate science. Ericksen is wrong about Singer.

One other item is the cherry picking by

Ericksen of the 97 percent consensus. The British social scientist Benny Peiser checked Naomi Oreskes’ 928 papers and found only 13 actually argue for her “consensus” view. Richard Tol, a former UN IPPC lead author, said “But this 97 percent is essentially pulled from thin air; it is not based on any credible research whatsoever.” Tol found only 64 papers out of nearly 12,000 supported the alleged “consensus.”

I found no serious errors in Nelson’s opinion. HOWARD MILES Albuquerque