Sea walls not the answer to global warming

YOUR columnist Steven King derides Eamon Ryan TD for warning that we face dire results of climate change (Irish Examiner, November 8). Mr King implies that the Green deputy is an eco-fundamentalist and that such people are brainwashed.

Mr King’s wonderful idea is to forget about limiting greenhouse gases and spend billions on coastal defences.

This puts the burden entirely on the taxpayer and future generations who will just have to keep building sea walls.

It’s fair enough to suggest that the prediction models used by such respected organisations as the UN’s International Panel on Climate Control may be on the conservative side. But is in not fair to suggest that people who listen to the majority of the scientific community rather than George W Bush are eco-fundamentalists.

However, the alarm bells start ringing when, without offering a single example, Steven King gently slips in the good news that there are benefits to global warming. What mad scientist is working on that one? Stick to the old horror novels, Steven.

Cormac John Desmond

St Anthony’s Villas

Old Youghal Road

Cork