12/15/09
"Science Solid, So Scientists Targeted"

Dear Editor:

Your December 8, 2009 editorial, “Data skewed to back climate theory” only serves to add more hot air to our already warming planet. Thousands of scientists working at climate research centers throughout the world have carefully and rigorously reached a consensus on the extent of climate change, the urgency of the problem, and the role of human activity in causing it. A few distorted e-mail exchanges will not change that consensus.

The informal messaging of a few climate scientists, selectively mined by hackers, does not equate to a fraudulent presentation of the climate science itself. A full reading of the stolen emails reveals nothing that compromises the enormous body of evidence suggesting global warming is real and a serious concern. This is an old strategy. After decades of failed attacks on the substance of climate science, opponents of climate action are now attacking the climate scientists themselves. All this conveniently timed with the start of the Copenhagen climate talks.

Meanwhile, carbon concentrations in the atmosphere continue to increase and glaciers continue to melt. Many bird species are changing their migration patterns to accommodate the earlier arrival of spring and the later arrival of winter, and sea level continues to rise. The signs of atmospheric heating and rapid change in nature are evident, and the time to act is now.

Thomas R. Baptist
Executive Director and Vice-President
Audubon Connecticut