by Keith Redfern

Created on: June 27, 2008

How do we get to know the real truth about global warming? Do we trust the views of scientists? Or of politicians? Or of industrialists? Who do we trust?

I hope we can trust ourselves. We may not have detailed data on which to base our conclusions, or years of complex research behind us, but we have our own powers of observation. At least we can use these as a means of determining some sort of truth.

I am neither a scientist nor a politician. I am a geographer with a fascination for weather and climates.

For over 25 years I taught geography to an advanced level in British schools, and my degree course included climate change study modules. So I know something about this subject, and what I am reading in some of the essays on this topic are frankly disturbing, and bear no relation to what my experience tells me is the truth.

One article claims that talk of global warming / climate change is part of a marxist plot using fascist methods'. I have no political axe to grind, nor do I have any religious views to affect my judgement, but I know what I learned 30 to 40 years ago - I heard the warnings at that time, and I know how closely I can relate those warnings to present fact and experience.

The same article declares: There are no scientific proofs for global warming. But there is plenty of proof that different parts of the northern hemisphere are experiencing changes in temperature. The temperature changes in each of these northern areas is different and very small and is just normal. The southern hemisphere has no such experiences. Therefore, there is no such thing as global warming!'

The facts are that northern and southern polar ice is melting at rates unprecedented in human history. This is not normal. Changes are taking place in both hemispheres.

World climates do change - they always have, but gradually. The type of changes which are now taking place defy explanation unless one considers that an extra factor has been added to the normal process. What that extra factor is I will leave you to work out for yourself.

Let me simply describe my experiences, as set out elsewhere on helium in a similar article, and leave you to work out what is truth for you.

When I was studying Geography at school in the sixties, all the talk was of a down turn in global temperatures. The earth's ambient temperature follows cycles which are caused by a combination of factors, some not fully understood, but it is known that through earth's history temperatures have risen for a time and

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