Response to article in The Australian by global warming deniers

That infamous global warming denier, Bob Carter, and three others argue that there is limited link between CO2 and temperature because “CO2 increased by 5 percent since 1998 while global temperature cooled” (‘Wong’s Silent Treatment’ The Australian, 19 June 2009)

Why were they not previously arguing that there was a strong link because CO2 increased at a similar rate during the 1990s and temperatures increased? Such cherry picking of data to suit their argument is very disappointing.

The simple reality is that greenhouse gases keep our planet warmer than the moon. We are increasing those greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels. Therefore temperatures will continue to warm. The science of this was resolved in the 19th century. The issue is the pace of that increase. Other factors will clearly slow or accelerate that increase in temperature over the short and long term. Many of these factors are not fully understood but the risk to our quality of life on the planet is not something to be gambled on the hope that it will all just ‘go away’ so we can continue with our comfortable life without any disruption.