Dear Wolfgang,

Of course I appreciate your desire for an empirical scientific debate. The fact is that there are people in political positions and also here at Mudcat who do deny the increasing weight of scientific opinion concerning global warming. There are also those who like to split hairs and sell red herrings on the matter.

The report of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment that I linked above is an authorative scientific report with an impressive list of contributors. I used the word "deny" pointedly here because it seems to me that some peoples' belief systems (not in the religious sense of course) simply do not allow them to accept that which can clearly be observed and measured (not the interpretation thereof) and which now has the overwhelming weight of scientific opinion behind it.

All the best,

Richard