LETTERS

摘要

From Shane Budden It is always wise to be wary of the company one keeps. Have Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Partha Dasgupta and Peter Raven forgotten this wisdom when they back the pope's call to action on climate change? "We are fortunate to have a global moral leader in Pope Francis", they write (27June, p 24). Science has been bitten by ill-considered company before and should be wary of being so again. In the early stages of the public debate over climate change, scientists unreservedly accepted the support of green groups. But the findings and legitimate warnings of climate scientists have been tarred by the outlandish claims of extreme greens whose concern for the planet is often part of a wider political agenda. Climate change deniers regularly discredit scientists through association with the extreme fringe of the environmental movement.