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To The Gloucester Citizen 5th February 2010
Dear sir/madam
R Chorley wrote to accuse me of 'jaw-dropping arrogance' in my last letter. I had said that Joe Public - the likes of you and me - are in no position to decide what is happening in the Earth's atmosphere.
Climate science is one of the most complex of all sciences. To examine the whole of the evidence involves a phenomenal amount of data and analysis. R Chorley says 'we are not "experts" but we are not stupid'. Well, I'm afraid on this one, we probably are, if not exactly stupid, ill-placed to judge or comment.
If reading one original climate science study doesn't make the words swim before your eyes like tadpoles, a few thousand of them certainly will. This truly Herculean task falls to the IPCC (warts and all), where there is a massive concentration of expertise. There is so much to wade through they only publish reports once every few years, and even these are years behind the latest research.
Of course, there is debate about climate change within the scientific community as a whole. This is healthy and normal in science. But if you take scientific opinion in the round, by far most scientists with relevant expertise believe that global warming is occurring, is man-made, and is a threat serious enough to warrant global action. Indeed, they say global warming could possibly result in abrupt and dangerous climate change in the coming decades, and that there could be a point of no return.
It is astounding that such a message could be supported by the world's most revered scientific institutions, who are famously conservative and cautious in their pronouncements.But it is.They could all be wrong of course, and if they are I'll be the first to crack open the bubbly. But given what is at stake, would a wise person really bet against them being right?
Matthew Sidford
Gloucester Green Party
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