Climate expertise

IN RESPONSE to Neil Craig (Letters, 7 September), the citation for the statement that 97 per cent of climate experts assert “that abnormal climate change is occurring and that it is ‘very likely’ to be largely manmade” was given but not printed (Expert Credibility In Climate Change, the American Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, June 2010).

The same research also concludes: “the relative expertise and scientific prominence of the researchers unconvinced of anthropogenic [caused by humans] climate change are substantially below that of the convinced researchers”.

Science and the examination of evidence doesn’t provide absolute certainty, but if I was getting on board a plane and 97 per cent of the engineers told me it was going to crash, my inclination would be to get off again.

Tom Ballantine

Chair, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland

Lochside View

Edinburgh