Despite a record amount of carbon injected into the atmosphere these past two decades, the Earth's average temperature has not risen beyond the level it achieved in the late 1990s ("No place for Big Oil in climate change policy debate"; Oct 14).

I recall reading early 1980s newspaper articles where "studies" claimed that by the year 2000, cities such as New York, Miami and New Orleans would be under water due to "melting polar ice caps".

I also recall predictions from 2004 to 2006 that by 2015, ships would be able to navigate across an ice-free Arctic Ocean.

Instead, coastal cities like New York remain very much above water, with no sign of long-term inundation.

This summer, a Canadian coast guard vessel had to rescue a ship trapped in ice several thousand kilometres from the North Pole.

I posit that the rising concentrations of toxic chemicals, pesticides, carcinogens and radioactive isotopes in the Earth's land, air, food and water are a far greater threat to humanity than an unproven scientific hypothesis on connections between atmospheric carbon and global warming.

Eric J. Brooks