IT WAS good news to read that we can now eat cod again without worrying about sustainability. The population has recovered and this is a small example of what can be achieved by humankind if we are organised. Sitting back and waiting for calamity is not an option!

This year the planet appears to have more problems than ever, however research shows the proportion of the world’s population living in extreme poverty has fallen below 10 per cent for the first time, global carbon emissions have failed to rise for the third year in succession, the death penalty has been stopped in more than half of all countries and the giant panda has been removed from the endangered species list.

This is just the start and as a species we still have massive challenges left ahead.

Mr Hunt’s reply to my letter (Standard, July 26) agreed that the Bible is unscientific. His letter then contradicts itself by claiming the Bible is true. Since the study of science is only about the truth, The Bible can’t be both the truth and non-scientific. 

It is true that some people believe what they want to believe in the face all other evidence. Despite this there is only one truth.

Mr Hunt continues to claim that the prophet Isaiah first revealed that the earth was round: ‘It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth’.
When I studied engineering, a circle was a flat geometrical shape not a three-dimensional globe or sphere. 

The earliest reliably documented mention of the spherical Earth concept dates from around the 6th century BC. when it appeared in ancient Greek philosophy. The Greek mathematician Eratosthenes was the first person to measure the circumference of the Earth in 245BC establishing that it was round not flat.

While I am pleased Mr Hunt is now recovered from his stomach ulcer, his claims that he healed himself by the power of prayer also do not measure up. Some simple research shows that stomach ulcers can often heal of their own accord, especially if you remove the cause.

In the words of the great Carl Sagan, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. 

HUW ADAMS
Poulton
Cirencester