Public need to know the facts on climate change

Straits Times Forum 9 Nov 09;

IN HER letter last Friday, 'Don't promote fence-sitting on global warming', Mrs Sylvia Lee responded to Dr Andy Ho's commentary, 'Reasons for Singapore to be cool on global warming' (Oct 30). She states that we do not need to 'encourage more fence-sitters or buy time by asking for such revisits of the scientific evidence'.

I applaud Dr Ho for his commentary. He is correct to state his doubts regarding human-driven climate change and request a full public hearing of the scientific evidence.

The global warming issue has not had a public debate or any properly construed scientific debate. Much rhetoric emanates from a variety of 'green heralds' and others with strong vested interests in the proposed carbon tax scheme.

I do not wish to see 'fence-sitters' either. I want a fully informed Singapore public jumping off the fence in search of the truth in the climate-change debate.

Singaporeans are generally intelligent, and all they need is exposure to real evidence on the issue of climate change. They will then be able to decide what the truth is.

Mrs Lee says the Singapore Government has done many things to combat global warming. She believes these are testimony to Singapore's belief that global warming is due to human activities.

The investments by the Government in gas power generators, incentives for buildings with green features and so on are laudable. They are not, however, proof that Singapore believes global warming is caused by human activities; rather, they are a sign that Singaporeans want to live in a clean, energy-efficient environment.

As a geologist with about 45 years' interest in the role of the Sun and the Earth's geological evolution, I have a keen interest in the climate-change issue. To most geo-scientists, the public side of the global warming saga is a sorry affair of apparently deliberate media and scientific misinformation.

Rising global temperatures, which former United States vice-president Al Gore believes in, are nowhere to be seen; in fact, they are falling. The present facts point more to a case of climate cooling, rather than climate warming.

Geologists are used to the facts of climate change and planetary eras of either extreme heat or cold. The Earth's last 4.5 billion years of this often violent climate evolution involved no input from humans, and little from any other form of life. Human activity is now responsible for about 1 per cent of climate change; the other 99 per cent is the result of planetary volcanic activity, and solar emission of both heat and electrical energy.

It is essential that Singaporeans acquire the facts in this climate-change debate. Facts can be acquired via an Internet search, and they may surprise those who have been fed only on media green hype over the past few years.

Perhaps we could arrange a public event in Singapore where several papers are delivered by recognised experts during the day, followed by an evening debate and a vote. I would be happy to help organise such an event next year.

Harry Mason

Not the time to go soft against global warming
Straits Times Forum 11 Nov 09;

I REFER to Mr Harry Mason's letter on Monday, 'Public need to know the facts'. His willingness to organise a public climate change event is both admirable and sincere.

However, by organising yet another presentation or debate, are we simply dragging our feet, or worse, falling into the hands of those who simply refuse to acknowledge the possibility that man's pollution is hurting and going to kill the earth's ecosystem if we fail to do something now?�

The hurting is obvious. The melting of the polar ice caps, glaciers and shrinking of the ice sheet along Greenland's southeastern shoreline are all cause for concern. Do we still need a round-table debate?

Further scientific studies and public debate is all very academic. I am not advocating a stop to this, but there is enough evidence for us to act now before it is too late.

Then Kim See