Dear editor,
I was intrigued by the letter from Lorne Smith about the Global Climate Intelligence Group and its World Climate Declaration in his letter to the editor published on Jan. 31. ((Comox climate crisis denialist says issue is nothing more than alarmist messaging).
Google found their website for me and also directed me to the AFP Fact Check site. Very edifying.
I recommend that all your readers check it out. Indeed there are almost 1,200 signatories to the declaration. According to the AFP Fact Check the “scientists and professionals” Mr. Smith refers to include a great many people in the fossil fuel industry but only 10 signatories identified themselves as climatologists.
Considering the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people in these professions worldwide, the 1,200 signatories the Global Climate Intelligence Group was able to recruit represents but a paltry few malcontents. But please, don’t take my word for it, look it up.
Yes, Lorne, we are all entitled to our opinions, indeed the entire contents of the World Climate Declaration are purely opinions and very biased opinions at that. All the real science has been peer-reviewed and subjected to intense scrutiny. The guidance from economists that pricing carbon is the most effective and economical approach to reducing carbon emissions is backed by rigorous modelling and study. I know it is convenient to grab on to opinions that support our biases but we will all have to deal with the reality of climate change. If not by making the necessary sacrifices now, then by suffering extreme consequences later. Already the cost of climate-related disasters is mounting as insurers and governments are obliged to pay ever-escalating bills for remediation. Of course, we can always choose to stick our heads in the sand and with a future of increasing desertification there will be plenty of that to go around in a world of denial.
Ken Kemper, Comox