OPINION

Half-way there

Re: "Biology lesson", (PostBag, Oct 16). Half an apology (or swallowing half a pill) is better than none, so kudos to Ray Ban.

Ray Ban tells us some of the new "greenery" recorded from space, as in the deserts of China and India, is due to the "deliberate planting of large areas of trees" and the "Sahara, Kalahari, Simpson and Gobi deserts, among many others, continue to expand in area, due in part to the global warming caused by man-made carbon dioxide."

There is no man-made global warming crisis; this is abundantly clear. China's massive "green wall" project in the Sahel reportedly had up to 80 % tree mortality when irrigation support ended.

Studies using NDVI and remote sensing found the Gobi Desert underwent a contraction between 2000 and 2012, attributed to increased precipitation and CO2-driven greening. Land use management (overgrazing, deforestation, irrigation, soil degradation) and rainfall remain the principal drivers of desertification.

Lastly, Ray Ban advises using Google despite their algorithms which are designed to drive the vaccine and climate change narratives. Anything which does not use the Google search engine is a better choice.

That's a big leap

Re: "Living room horror", (PostBag, Oct 16).

Jason Jellison seems to have had more than his fair share of interactions with people acting badly under the influence of drugs, so it is perhaps not surprising that he is so supportive of ex-PM Thaksin's "amateur" but lethal war on drugs in 2003.

No doubt he might feel the same way about ex-president Duterte's record of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects during his 2016-2022 hold on power in the Philippines. One could also reasonably presume that he believes the President of the United States, Donald Trump, whom Mr Jellison affectionately refers to as "my president", is justified in blowing up suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and killing Venezuelan and Colombian nationals.

Luckily for the two addled youths who broke into his home, Khun Jason's somewhat intriguing approach of "self defence" and talking to their parents was admirably restrained and resolved the incident.

When, however, he can describe those two Thai teenagers as the embodiment of "mind-bending, narcotic evil", one has to ask how easily the outcome might have been very different, given his casual acceptance of summary execution for anyone even suspected of drug use, if there had been a firearm to hand.

Let's debate it

Re: "Biology lesson" & "Living room horror" (BP, Oct 16).

The letter titled "Living room horror", reflects critical thinking is in short supply. It is not surprising that Jason A Jellison yet again jumps from a single personal anecdote to the claim that Thaksin Shinawatra's murderous war on drugs was a good thing.

More interesting is Ray Ban's thoughtful letter "Biology lesion" reply to Anna Aarts, who has correctly pointed out that higher CO2 levels are good for plant life. The evidence shows this to be true. During the carboniferous era some 350 to 300 million years ago, CO2 levels were several times higher than they are today.

It is also a fact that our planet is warming rapidly and there is no reason to doubt the expert consensus that humankind has been a major contributor.

The response to claims that human activity is driving global warming should indeed be debated. Are carbon taxes the way to go? Should we switch as rapidly as possible to sustainable energy sources? Should we look to geo-engineering on a massive scale?

Or is another response more likely to avert, or at this late stage ameliorate, what is well underway? This is what should be debated, not the basic fact that our species' acts are today the primary driver of the warming planet and resulting climate change that we are accurately measuring from year to year.