Letter to Belfast Telegraph


This letter was published in the Belfast Telegraph on 7 Feb 2017.

Dear Editor,

Dr John Cameron’s letter of 2 Feb 2017, Climate change report alarmism, not science was useful in that in drew the public’s attention to the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Report, but his letter was recklessly useless in its comment on it.

Dr Cameron makes an number of claims about climate science but offers no credible sources for his point of view. The Committee on Climate Change, who publish the report, draw upon peer-reviewed scientific papers in their work. Their conclusions are based on facts and evidence.

Some indisputable facts about climate change are: global temperature has increased 0.85°C since 1880, global sea level has risen an average of 0.19 m in 100 years, and CO2 levels in the atmosphere have increased almost 30% since 1958 (graphs). The last time the CO2 levels were above 400 parts per million was 4 million years ago.

The impacts of climate change are severe: Arctic sea ice, glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet are melting fast; deadly heat waves are more likely; severe flooding is increasing, for example Storm Desmond or the Paris Flood of 2016 were more likely because of climate change; and climate related disasters raise the risk of conflict such as the Syrian civil war. References for the above at bit.ly/BTCCfacts

I hope that in this era of ‘post-truth’ and ‘alternative facts’ (lies) readers will be sceptical of hearsay and baseless opinion.

Stephen Trew
Lurgan

Comments

Hobos. said…
Climate change cause of Syrian civil war. Really?
This one stupid assertion calls into question the rest of your letter. Another alarmist idiot.
8:22 PM
Stephen Trew - www.thetrews.com said…
Drought in Syria was a factor in the conflict, not the cause, read the reference linked in the letter.
10:50 PM
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