Debate lacks common sense

Mr Oliver (July 5) is suffering from the rampant self delusion which currently encompasses the climate change debate.

I am amazed that we have bought, lock stock and barrel, the idea that it is the carbon we produce not the actual sun itself that is currently warming up the earth.

The fact that temperature variations fall in line almost exactly with solar activity is totally overlooked.

Add to this the fact that India, a country often mentioned in this debate, is not experiencing global warming at all. Its winters are actually getting slightly cooler because of their use of fossil fuels. The resultant sulphur smog prevents sunlight reaching the ground, hence the fall in temperature.

Hold on, I hear people say! What about the fact that the majority of scientists now believe in the carbon warming theory. This is true, but as I heard a prominent scientist say recently, science has never been a matter of democracy.

All scientific breakthroughs always start as a minority viewpoint. Don't forget the greatest minds in the world at one time believed the earth to be flat, as ridiculous as that sounds today.

In 1972 the Washington Post quoted a scientist saying: "We cannot afford to gamble. We cannot risk inaction. The indications that our climate can soon change for the worse are too strong to be reasonably ignored." The scientist who said this was talking about global "cooling", which was the big global concern 35 years ago.

In the last 100 years the scientific consensus has twice said the earth is cooling 1895-1930 and 1968-1975 and twice that it is warming up 1930-960 and 1981 to present. In virtually every case it has been our fault and something has needed to be done about it.

I agree we must look after the earth and we must find ways to cut pollution, but can we please have some rational common sense in this debate before we lose all sight of reality.

Of course I could be wrong and here in the Black Country we may one day live in a Mediterranean climate. Somehow though, I don't think the scientific history on this issue would back up this theory.

Stuart Turner, Duke Street, Gornal.