A hot topic in February

Global warming is the theme of an event on 5 February being organised by the Budleigh Salterton Festival Trust.

The one-day Climate Change and Global Warming Conference organised by The Budleigh Salterton Festival Trust has been described as the town's first-ever science festival and comes in the wake of the Copenhagen climate talks.

Melting ice in Antarctica, just one manifestation of global warming

Speakers will consist of a prominent politician, a senior representative from the Met Office and one of the BBC's well known weather forecasters.

It's a commonly expressed view that forthcoming generations will not remember us well if we shirk responsibility for global warming by leaving behind us a deterioriating environment polluted by carbon-producing nations, say the Budleigh conference organisers.

International agreement on the trading of carbon credits between nations was one of the hoped-for goals at Copenhagen. But such a system, whereby prosperous nations can pay to continue to pollute the Earth and those prepared not to develop polluting industries can be compensated, is "a complex business," admits conference spokesman Roger Bowen.

There are, as he points out, those sceptics who argue that statistics have been misrepresented and that a panic approach to the issue is not justified.

"We have assembled well informed speakers to explain to our audience how they have arrived at their conclusions, to explain how the data is interpreted and to comment upon the evidence for the conclusions being drawn."

The conference takes place in the Public Hall on Friday 5 February from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. Tickets are available on 01395 445275 at £12 for the day, including tea and coffee. Lunch at extra cost will be available for those who order it. Concessions are available to full time students and children under 16.

Full details of the science conference are at
http://www.budleigh-festival.org.uk/new%20html%2008/Science%20entry%20page%202010.htm

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