Tony Moore writes in Hebden Bridge Times 18.12.2014 that “there is a lack of evidence that the planet has warmed over past 18 years”.
This is strictly not true.
Although there has not been an increase in the world’s average land surface temperature over the last 18 years there is plenty of evidence (NASA, IPCC, etc) that the oceans have been warming up during that period.
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as other parts of the world. 2014 is set to be the warmest year so far.
However, even if the oceans had not been getting warmer over the last 18 years global warming has to be measured over longer period than two decades.
And here the picture is pretty clear: the Earth is getting warmer and warmer – both land surface temperature and the temperature of the oceans.
Around 97-98 per cent of all climate scientists agree that this warming of the planet is mainly due to activities done by humans: burning fossil fuels, change of land use, meat production, etc.
For more information read for example www.carbonbrief.org.
All scientists could be called ‘sceptics’ as the scientific method constantly challenges existing theories in the search for truth.
So far no one has come up with a better theory than the one agreed by nearly all climate scientists.
So to avoid a lot of human suffering, loss of biodiversity, food shortages, health problems, extreme weather events, etc in the coming decades we should take urgent action and drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels, eat less meat – particularly red meat, save our forests and plant new ones, and so on.
Finn Jensen
Blackshaw Head