Convenient name changes

Richard Bowler brings together comments by the UK’s chief scientific adviser, “current extreme weather” and the undoubted fact that Bangkok is slowly sinking, to state that the government must take “climate change” into account when planning the admirable projects to upgrade Thailand’s infrastructure. But he doesn’t explain how this would be done, or why.

It’s odd how the very specific term “global warming” has largely been replaced by the much less specific “climate change”, which can be made to mean almost anything. As regards Mr Bowler’s reference to “current extreme weather”, I’m not sure what he means. It’s certainly extremely warm in Thailand at the moment, but then it usually is at this time of year. It’s also extremely cold in northern Europe, but that’s caused by the unusual positioning of the jet stream, not by human activity. And “climate change” isn’t causing Bangkok to slowly subside.

We should be wary of pronouncements by so-called “experts” on global warming/climate change. Another British scientist predicted in 2000 that, in the future, children would not know what snow is – and what a load of nonsense that has turned out to be. And remember all the predictions of doom by other “experts” in the 1980s that acid rain would destroy our forests and pollute lakes and rivers. When was the last time anyone talked about acid rain?

If we’re worried about Thailand becoming too hot, or too dry, or too flooded, ignore the “experts” and dredge the rivers and canals, stop building on floodplains, improve water retention and irrigation, and above all, plant trees, plant millions and millions of them, everywhere, and especially on the hillsides.

Robin Grant

Bangkok