L.N. Swenberg: Selective climate support

Referring to the Dec. 21 letter “Just a warm cycle”: I find the writer’s claim of looking at all available data before reaching conclusions to be suspect. While he correctly noted Earth’s past cyclic climatic changes, he then referenced a National Geographic article about a Soviet scientist’s claim that solar activity explained both Mars’ climate cycles as well as Earth’s current global warming – a conclusion rejected by mainstream scientists for its insufficient supportive data and its contradictory conclusions.

The letter-writer appears to have selectively sought out an article, however questionable, to support his contention that “we must not waste large amounts of national time and treasure tilting at windmills,” a message common to those who deny both global warming and the significance of human activity in current climatic change.

Despite the extensive and expanding peer-reviewed science supporting both of these tenants, climate pseudoscience thrives both in Congress and the private sector, buoyed by fossil-fuel industry dollars.

Reflecting on the tobacco industry’s repudiations of any smoking-cancer link, one can see that money talks and denial can work, at least for a time, but consequences to national treasure and public health can span generations.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "L.N. Swenberg: Selective climate support."