Dear Editor:
Do extreme statements help you make reasonable decisions? Based on two recent letters on global climate change I would argue no.
In my opinion to state that global warming is a hoax is extremism. So is saying the planet will be so hot at the end of the 21st century that lead will melt. These groaners turn citizens off.
I support science like most people. Except when science is inconvenient in regards to evolution or climate change then some groups of citizens are dedicated to attacking logic and deductive reasoning. These same people do not say "bunk" to their physician when modern scientific medical technology renders a diagnosis of cancer or other illnesses. Instead, the question becomes a reasonable, "What can be done?"
In regards to climate change the climate scientists who study the earth's temperatures over long periods of time are 95 percent in agreement that man is causing serious global warming and there will be negative consequences. The spectrum over the next two centuries ranges from two to 10 degrees. No matter what, the way humans live will likely change.
To say that scientists are ginning up fear to promote carbon cap trading is ignorant. I suppose cancer researchers are ginning up fear to sell cancer treatments. What intelligent person believes such loopy ideas?
The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication just released a study indicating 70 percent of Democrats and Independents believe climate change is real. Republicans agree by 53 percent and only 34 percent of self-identified Tea Party members agree. Among Democrats 63 percent believe man has a role. Among all other groups man's role drops to less than 50 percent.
No matter what else you say about these results, this is a massive success story for corporate propaganda. The carbon industries are the largest corporations on the planet. The use of their money to stall any changes in their business model is widely known. Every public interest group has reported on this. Their influence on politicians is very clear. They fund scores of think tanks to infiltrate the media. The Koch Brothers are primary funders of the Tea Party.
Citizens, are you toast? Lowly scientists and their factual reports have little impact against this juggernaut. Today 50 percent of the world's population lives within 50 miles of the sea. If the coast changes drastically, under the worst case scenarios, it will be too late to ask, "What could we do?"
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