12:00pm Sunday 7th February 2010
DR David Walter (“Planet’s climate has constantly changed”, Readers’ Times, January 7) may have a scientific background but he has lost his ability to distinguish scientific tosh from scientific fact.
If you want a reasoned, balanced and scientific view on climate change, then avoid Professor Plimer’s book Heaven and Earth at all costs.
It would take several Readers’ Times to list the factual errors in Heaven and Earth but I can send Dr Walter a list if he’d like to understand the true science rather than the non-science in this book.
After reading Heaven and Earth, Professor Malcolm Walter (University of New South Wales) concluded: “In my opinion, Professor Plimer has done a disservice to science and the community at large.”
Professor David Karoly (University of Melbourne) commented: “Given the errors, the non-science, and the nonsense in this book, it should be classified as science fiction in any library that wastes its funds buying it.
“The book can then be placed on the shelves alongside Michael Crichton's State of Fear, another science fiction book about climate change with many footnotes.
“The only difference is that there are fewer scientific errors in State of Fear.”
If Dr David Walter got his facts from reputable sources he would know there is a well-established association between global temperature and CO2 levels (visit, for example, climate.nasa.gov/evidence) and that satellite, weather balloon and surface thermometer measurements all confirm the earth is getting warmer and the last decade was the warmest on record.
Climate change sceptics lost the scientific argument several years ago.
They should stop burying their heads in the sand and direct their energies towards solving the problems we will face in the future.
If we want to challenge the policymakers and legislators about the climate change decisions they make on our behalf, then we must use good science and not the garbage pedalled by Professor Plimer.
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