Tony Sykes, says he is "in agreement with worldwide scientific data that man makes no contribution to global warming" (Letters, October 10).
That would be different data, then, than the scientific data gathered and published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the planet's leading international body on global climate matters; a scientific rather than a political organisation.
While Mr Sykes believes "the whole globe is not warming," the IPCC says the evidence of warming of the climate system is unequivocal from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea levels.
The IPCC's conclusion from all of the scientific data available is that increases in the atmospheric concentrations of green house gases (GHGs) have altered the energy balance of the climate system and are the drivers of climate change, and that the major growth in GHGs is due to human activities, with an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004. One very visible measure is that the daily rate of loss through the melting of Arctic sea ice in this summer of 2012 was 50% higher than the record loss set in 2007. It is now projected that the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer months within 20 years.
The scientific community has largely reached agreement about the data and its interpretation.
Unfortunately the new Westminster Coalition subsidies promoting a dash for gas and global oil plans to sink new wells in the Arctic as the ice recedes indicate that too many people are still ignoring the scientific consensus.
Andrew Reid,
Armadale,
Shore Road,
Cove, Argyll.
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