Letter: Climate hindsight

The article, "Study shows Exxon Mobil predicted warming" in Sunday's paper illustrates the adage that hindsight is 20-20 and the idea of cherry picking historical data to support a conclusion.

The article cites a climate model of Exxon in the 1970s that predicted a global warming of about 0.36 degrees, which it argues is close to the current actuals. It then takes Exxon to task for not accepting the results as fact and somehow acting on that conclusion. No data is presented from any other Exxon models that may have predicted a different temperature change.

The article also fails to mention that in the 1970s, based on the temperature trends since 1900 or before, the predominate thinking was that the world was, if anything, experiencing global cooling and possibly heading for a new Ice Age. Under those conditions, how much faith should have Exxon or any other organization put in a prediction that was the opposite of the current mainstream climate thinking.

David Swanson

Elgin