The following letter was published in the Southern Daily Echo on 20 July 2017:
This letter was written in response to a reader (Jock Macdonald) who quoted Professor Stephen Hawking who claimed the Earth would end up like Venus with runaway warming and surface temperatures in hundreds of degrees C.
Professor Got It Wrong
I see that Jock Macdonald quoted professor Hawking as though the words of a renowned professor must be true.
As far as I am aware professor Hawing has never studied climate science and his words should be given as much scrutiny as anyone else's
I found it extraordinary that he should make such alarming pronouncements about the Earth becoming like Venus, without being asked to provide a shred of evidence. No credible climate scientist has ever made such a claim to my knowledge.
The Venusian atmosphere has 96% CO2 whereas Earth has 0.04%.
If Jock Macdonald did a little more research he would find that far from disappearing, Arctic ice has halted its decline over the last few years. In fact none of the so-called tipping points ever seem to happen.
A few years ago we were told that global warming would lead to long hot summers. When this failed to happen we were told that it's the climate which would suddenly become unstable.
The fact is that heatwaves, floods and hurricanes are now happening at about the same rate as they always have. Don't take my word for it, check out the facts with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Well said. Professor Hawking does himself no favours by displaying his ignorance like this. Venus is also very much closer to the sun than earth which has an effect !!!!
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