Climate change debated in the Otago Daily Times

The Otago Daily Times has played host to debate on climate change over the last couple of weeks, with its opinion pages carrying the conflicting views of University of Otago researchers on the controversial subejct of whether climate change is largely down to humans.

In an article titled “Debunking the climate change deniers”, Dr Doug Mackie, a research fellow in the department of chemistry at the University of Otago, attacks the claims made in a column by his colleague Professor Geoffrey Kearsley, who in a July 17 column in the same paper suggested sunspots have more to do with global warming than humans.

Professor Kearsley’s original column is published here and was re-published in the Melbourne Age under a different headline – Climate science is never settled, and with a different introductory paragraph.

Dr Mackie column also references an October 2007 paper he co-wrote with Professor Keith Hunter, titled Climate Change Mythconceptions: Some Incorrect, Irrelevant and Misleading Arguments Made by Climate Change Denialists.

The paper was published in the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry magazine. Please click on the PDF icon below to download it.

To speak to expert climate scientists, please contact the Science Media Centre on 04 499 5476 or smc@sciencemediacentre.co.nz