ONCE AGAIN we have hot air from leading climate sceptic Richard D North against pursuing targets on reducing carbon emissions (4 June).

North takes issue with the largeindustry on climate change that pretends to know more than it does. Yet he himself is part of a well- funded contrarian movement, making his living by taking an opposing view on a range of contemporary environmental issues.

A decade ago, like many contrarians, North questioned the science of global warming in his book Life on a Modern Planet. However, as the weight of scientific evidence has accumulated, the sceptics have had to modify their position as their previous one became untenable. Some now admit that the Earth is ...