Editor:
In response to a letter to the editor published in Lagniappe Aug. 4 (“Slowly sinking”), of course global warming is happening. Were there no global warming, we would be stuck in the Little Ice Age, which ended in the late 1800s.
Contrary to the implications of Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteer Robert Nowak, global warming — about 0.8 degrees Celsius during the 20th century — has been a good thing. Whether the warming restarts after its current 18-year pause is unknown.
Similarly, sea level has been rising since the end of the last glacial period, 15,000 years ago. There has been no recent acceleration, and the current rate of rise is less than one-tenth that of 8,000 years ago.
Despite the overconfidence of groups like CCL, no one, not even the world’s leading experts, knows the future of climate. Until we do, the billions being spent trying to stop climate change should be diverted to helping the world’s poor cope with problems we know to be real.
Tom Harris, B. Eng., M. Eng. (Mech.)
Executive Director, International Climate Science Coalition
