It is disappointing to see such a misleading article as “Fever chart: 2010 marked as hottest decade on record” (Jan. 16). Such a claim is ridiculous and not reasonably supported by the information claimed by the article.

The article claims “records” have been maintained for 140 years. It also claims that the average temperature of the Earth has gone up 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (260 years ago). How do you calculate the change if you don’t know the beginning temperature?

Regardless of the beginning date claimed in the article, there is no way there were enough continuously recording thermometers located over the entire Earth to reasonably claim to know the average temperature within one-tenth of a degree. In fact, I do not believe such accuracy exists today.

The article stated that the worldwide temperature averaged 58.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the 2010s and this was 1.4 degrees hotter than the 20th century. I have lived through most of the 20th century, and I know that, for most of that time, no one could or was measuring the average temperature of the entire Earth within 0.1 degree.

Climate change is real, I believe it has existed from the beginning. Warming has gone on since the Ice Age. I see little reason to believe that man has a significant effect on it compared to natural forces.

Why should we trust doomsayers who are obviously trying to mislead us?

Thomas Standard, Sumner

Editor’s note: The article quoted research by NASA and NOAA using tree rings, ice cores and other signs for early records, and satellite-based measurements for more recent research.