From JOHN GRIBBEN
David Slade (Letters, 16 December) seems to take a peculiarly one-eyed
view of his own statistics. On a scale from zero to 10 where 10 indicates
complete disbelief, he finds that 14 out of 22 ‘scientists engaged in greenhouse
research’ rate the evidence for an existing greenhouse warming lower (which
means higher, on this scale) than 7. Of the eight scientists who gave scores
in the range 7 to 10, it would be surprising, from what I recall of statistical
distributions, if more than two of them expressed ‘complete disbelief’.
So Slade’s own figures could be used to support the contention that 20 out
of 22 scientists (more than 90 per cent) agree that there is some evidence
that the greenhouse effect is upon us. A consensus if ever I saw one – and
evidence that statistics of this kind are meaningless.
John Gribbin Piddinghoe, East Sussex
