Official policy of HKU?

From todays SCMP:

What global warming?

Can I take it from yesterday's Monitor column that arch sceptic, myth debunker, fat-cat exposer, government shamer and all-round good chap Jake van der Kamp has tossed his lot in with the scientists who believe humans are causing global warming ("Stop throwing yuan into a leaky bucket and use proper water pricing", August 3).

Hold steady, Jake. The power of your incisive arguments is that you almost always draw upon hard data. Aside from the end-of-the-world-is-nigh gang, a huge number of good scientists out there, myself and many colleagues included, aren't joining in with the hullabaloo. When the data is in on global warming (and I don't deny that a major effort should be made to collect it), we'll let you know.

In the meantime, you might want to check the internet for an article by Professor Bob Carter of James Cook University in Australia. It's entitled "The problem with global warming is that it stopped in 1998".

Otherwise, keep up the good work.

JASON ALI, Sheung Wan

I wonder is the letter writer above Dr Jason R. Ali, the Assistant Professor of the Department of Earth Sciences of Hong Kong University?

Bob Carter is a thoroughly discredited source. He cherry picks his data and is sponsored by various vested interests in the energy producing sector. See:

• BOB CARTER:OWNED (and then some )
• "Scientists" respond to Al Gore
• Another questionable friend of the Friends of Science
• Tim Lambert on Bob Carter
• Sourcewatch: Bob Carter - where we see that he's involved with:
• Sourcewatch: Institute of Public Affairs - "a right-wing, corporate funded think tank based in Melbourne. It has close links to the Liberal Party, with it's Executive Director John Roskam having run for Liberal preselection for a number of elections. Its key policy positions include advocacy for privatisation, deregulation, reduction in the power of unions and denial of most significant environmental problems, including climate change."

If the letter writer does indeed work for HKU, which is a publically funded institution, surely us taxpayers have a right to academic staff who are more than paid right-wing shills, or who parrot the views of such?

I'd really like to know if Dr Ali (if indeed it was he) was demonstrating the official University stance on Global Warming.