Tom Fletcher’s recent piece in his ongoing opinion column (Western News, May 11, Growing trees for climate change) starts off a forestry/climate topic by stating that “Disagreements persist on the extent of humanity’s role in the current changes to BC’s climate, and our ability to influence it …”
Apparently many readers had told him so in the week prior. The key word in the quote above is “extent.” I think a little more information is warranted after his statement emphasizing persistent disagreement. If by that statement he means that we can’t agree whether there is a 90 per cent or 100 per cent consensus on human-caused climate change, then I would agree.
Over 15 years ago Harvard researcher Naomi Oreskes first documented an overwhelming scientific consensus that 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that human-caused climate change is happening (published in Science Magazine). Since then there have been studies on the “consensus of the consensus,” which again shows that a vast majority of scientists agree.
Paul Russo
Penticton
