Find True Cause
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
[To the AUSTRALIAN]
Your correspondent Ben Brooker (Letters, 14 June) seems to have misunderstood the point Christopher Pearson was making about global warming.
No one that I am aware of is denying that global warming will occur. What is at issue is whether it is man-made. Global warming is something we must prepare for whenever it occurs. But if in fact it is a natural cycle, beyond our power to avert, it would be an awful waste of effort to reduce industrial activity, thinking that will save us.
There are of course solid reasons for inventing cleaner engines - such as urban pollution. There are also obvious reasons for finding alternatives to fossil fuels. God forbid we will have to fight over the last of the oil.
But we hope science will continue to seek out the true causes of events.
Philip O'Carroll