SIR – Messrs Goldsbrough and Murphy (T&A Letters), in claiming there is no proof of climate change, are perpetuating a misconception about the nature of scientific proof.

The popular view of the crucial experiment that proves the theory forever is wrong. You can prove something is possible, but you can never prove it will be true in all circumstances.

There is no doubt about the underlying science of the greenhouse effect; it is ‘proved’ in their terminology. The question is whether the billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide we are pumping into the atmosphere will cause the earth to cool, stay about the same, or warm.

It’s a silly question really. It is rather like someone who is overweight asking if eating more will make them fatter.

Both situations have much in common. To do something about it involves cutting back on something essential, which we love, even are addicted to. And we will clutch at any straw that suggests we don’t really have a problem, it is not our fault and there is nothing we can do about it.

We know the answer to the second point, of course. Even if we didn’t, it would take only a year or so to find it.

Climate change is taking place over decades, but it is no less certain for that.

Ron Harding, Oakwood Drive, Bingley