The broader picture

How can any intelligent person doubt the link between the evidence put forward to date, and the rise in global temperatures?

As I read the many opinions about the cause of global warming, like Peter Gibbs's very logical arguments (letters PE February), I find myself faced with the question; how can any intelligent person doubt the link between the evidence put forward to date, and the rise in global temperatures? 

Seemingly, no one can offer an opinion to the contrary and make it into print, but to me this just shows the global warming belief in its true light; a popular attitude. I should like to offer some questions for Mr Gibbs to consider. 

How is it that the earth stays in its orbit, and what should we, as responsible engineers do to ensure that it keeps spinning? What has the temperature fluctuation of the planet been over the last billion years? Who was burning the fossil fuels which melted the last ice age? Has there ever been a time when carbon dioxide levels were at twice or perhaps even twenty times their current atmospheric concentrations, and what were the effects? Has there ever been a time in the history of the planet where the industrialisation and population of the planet far exceed what we see today? 

I'm not saying I know the answers to these questions, but at least I'm willing to ask them. Wisdom typically comes with age, as the broader picture emerges. So when talking about planet earth, which is billions of years old, are we really qualified to make such declarative statements?

Andrew Goodman