Dear Editor:
In his letter published in the Jan. 23 Cochrane Eagle, Brian Davis makes a few points which are commonly made by the dwindling number of climate change deniers.
He describes the presentation of two Al Gore trained advocates as “poorly done fear mongering”, lacking in substantiation, all intended to induce unwitting listeners to “open their wallets and purses”.
Although I witnessed the same presentation, I had exactly the opposite reaction and I would wager that my views are representative of the majority of those present. There was no charge for the event and no appeal was made to raise funds for the Gore program.
Neither Gore or the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), both winners of the Nobel Prize, are “disgraced” except by the few who participate in contrarian blogs.
The science of climate change is clearly presented on websites such as realscience.org, and skepticalscience.com and summarized in books written by Michael Mann et al.
There are literally tens of thousands of peer-reviewed research pieces available for scrutiny for the careful student and hardly any researched articles disproving the consensus argument. There are a handful of contrarians who publish opinion piece articles on blogs, many of which are well funded by organizations with vested interest in creating confusion regarding the science. This group does no empirical research, but still claims legitimacy. Unfortunately for the planet and our civilization they have the ears of powerful politicians here in Canada and in the United States and the result is inaction.
Incidentally, Mr. Davis, I was the one who suggested that it was fitting that the discussion occur in the sanctuary of a church. This reflects my view that caring for the Earth, and all creation, including the growing populations of people and all other living creatures, is a fundamental stewardship obligation. A denial of this obligation and the related responsibilities is, in my view sacrilegious.
Hugh Pepper
