Carbon dioxide

I read Tony Hassall’s letter (Carbon Dioxide Facts – Southern Free Times, July 7) with interest. Like all those in denial regarding human induced climate change, he makes a number of unsubstantiated assertions. I won’t bother debunking all his nonsense because others more qualified than I have already done so.
Just visit your favourite search engine and type in “New Scientist climate myths”. Google, for instance, delivers over a million hits on this search topic and all of Tony’s objections are debunked in glorious detail. New Scientist magazine (May 16, 2007 ran a series of articles entitled “”Climate change: A guide for the perplexed”.
For instance, we find that there has not been cooling of the planet over the last 10 years. In fact, the planet as a whole has warmed since 1998.
It is true that carbon dioxide is indeed good for plants, but unfortunately the factors that affect plant growth and, more importantly food production, are more complex than the one dimensional model that Tony proposes. In fact the ABC program, Catalyst (May 6, 2011) revealed that as carbon dioxide levels increase in the atmosphere, some of our food crops will respond by becoming less nutritious and produce more toxins.
Clearly, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, it is incumbent in my view that they do their homework in advance of expressing themselves.
Ross Barrell, Warwick