The debate about human-caused climate change is much like the debate about whether the earth is flat – the jury has been in for some time.
Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that the planet’s climate is warming as a direct result of human activity. Even Donald Trump has grudgingly acknowledged this may be true. I’d like to see Tom Fletcher do the same.
His column, “Polluting the Climate Change Debate”, is a textbook example of misinformation, half-truths and logical fallacies. A few minutes on Google is enough to locate his sources in the nooks and crannies at the far right of the internet. His claims that polar bear populations are increasing, that global temperatures are no longer rising and that a fully implemented Paris Agreement would result in negligible change are quickly refuted by legitimate scholars and publications.
Even more objectionable than his disregard for scientific fact is the deliberate way in which he tries to manipulate his audience. In referring to what he considers “a religious war on fossil fuels”, in calling the scientific consensus on climate change “propaganda”, by quoting the discredited views of Judith Curry and by using poor Leonardo DiCaprio as a straw man to disparage the movement toward a post-carbon economy he attempts to confuse his readers and create doubt where there is none.
There is a legitimate debate to be had about how best to meet the challenge of a changing climate.
To have an “opinion” that these challenges don’t exist is akin to having an “opinion” that the world is flat.
Your readers deserve better.
John Elson
