Richard Kates' "Climate change" letter on Dec. 14 put the situation on its head: The IPCC reports are trusted, as they are written by climate scientists from around the world, 97 percent of whom agree that global warming is human caused, which is also the position of the academies of science from 19 countries, plus many scientific organizations that study climate science.

That "many other publications have refuted it" is a myth: Less than 3 percent of peer-reviewed scientific literature is contrary to the IPCC reports.

Kates' claim that "anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are miniscule in the overall climate picture" is completely wrong. In fact, those emissions now comprise more than 25 percent of the CO2 in the atmosphere. This is based measurements made over the last 150 years. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is small, but the physics of its warming effect has been well understood since the 50's, and was initially determined 175 years ago.

The fact is, recent IPCC reports have been criticized by many scientists for being too conservative by understating the amount and effects of global warming, a problem caused by the science advancing during the years it takes to prepare a report.

ERIC GREENWELL, Richland