Prof Bruce Hewitson’s intemperate response (Uninformed Vitriol, Letters, November 19) to Andrew Kenny’s article on climate change (Ideology and money drive global-warming religion, November 16), seems to prove Kenny’s point that “CC” — as initiates like to call it — is fast assuming all the attributes of received religious dogma.
Although making no direct rebuttal of Mr Kenny’s assertions, Prof Hewitson is particularly incensed by his remarks about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on which the professor says he served as a lead author. He dares Mr Kenny to repeat his accusations of deceit face to face over lunch.
The professor’s lunching arrangements are his own affair, of course, but I’d rather see the issue thrashed out in print, if he doesn’t mind.
As I read it, Mr Kenny’s principal charge was that the IPCC airbrushed the Medieval Warm Period of 900AD to 1200AD out of their 2001 report because it would have spoiled the symmetry of their famous Hockey Stick Graph, which sought to illustrate the sudden and rapid rise of global temperatures caused by human activities in the 20th century.
Well, did this happen or didn’t it?
Mr Kenny apart, there are many reputable scientists across the world who take issue with the whole concept of CC as it is currently forced down our throats. It is also undeniable that a lot of money and many careers are at stake.
Mr Kenny’s view that the earth’s climate is constantly changing, as it has done for millions of years, and will continue to do so regardless of what we do or don’t do, sounds about right to me. It is human arrogance to believe otherwise.
For fellow sceptics I recommend Francis Wheen’s 2004 book, How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World — a refreshing demolition of all nonsense from voodoo economics and medical quackery to alien abduction, New Age mysticism and irrational public hysteria.
Richard McNeill
Parkwood