Balanced Coverage for Climate Change

Here's a letter I just submitted in response to this editorial in The Garden Island. 

On Sunday, for the second time, The Garden Island Newspaper published an editorial from fossil fuel lobbyist Tom Harris.  

The scientific consensus on climate change is equal to the scientific consensus that smoking causes cancer.  Yet, TGI would never publish an editorial from a tobacco industry lobbyist pushing the benefits of smoking.  I don’t blame Tom Harris for writing his piece, because as a lobbyist that’s what he does.  He gets paid a lot of money simply to muddy the debate on climate change.  But, I do blame TGI for printing it.

Over the last year, 9,137 scientists have published peer reviewed research on climate change.  Of those, only one attempted to discredit the theory of anthropogenic climate change (that the planet is warming and humans are causing it).  So, in an attempt to accurately represent the views of the scientific community, I propose that TGI devotes the next 9,136 issues (every issue for 25 years) to publishing editorials from actual scientists who support the theory of anthropogenic climate change.  Only then will we get a fair and balanced view of the scientific concensus on climate change.

The planet is warming, humans are the cause, and the effects (unless mitigated) will be disastrous.  That conclusion is endorsed by every national academy of science of every industrialized nation on the planet, the IMF, the World Bank, the Pope, the UN, NASA, and the President of the United States.  But, don’t just take my word for it: check out http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus and http://opr.ca.gov/s_listoforganizations.php for a wealth of information on the consensus behind climate change. The debate is over; it’s time to start talking about solutions. 

Luke Evslin
Kapahi