Skipper

I was quite relieved when I read the piece about Professor Richard Muller's report into climate change designed to produce a once and for all answer to the questions of: is the climate changing and is it because of human activity? Muller's study revealed an increase of 2.5 degrees F over the past 250 years and 1.5 over the last 50 years(see graph on left). 'It appears likely,' he writes, 'that essentially all of this increase results from human emissions of greenhouse gases.' Muller, formerly a leading sceptic, now considers himself 'a converted sceptic'.

The study entailed 14.4m land temperature readings dating back to 1753. Funding for the project included a big chunk from the exceedingly right-wing Koch Foundation, so a sceptical conclusion would have seemed likely. But it has proved otherwise. So has his report settled anything? It would seem not, as Leo Hickman's piece reveals.

Rather than join Muller on his road to Damascus, many climate sceptics have predictably been tempted by the neon signs directing them to turn back instead. Muller, as a result of his "conversion", is now being painted as a figure of distrust and scorn, in much the same way that they have viewed many climate scientists over the years. His research methodologies and results are being mocked and slammed for being simplistic and "agenda driven".

To quote the well known psalm:

They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.