Letter to The Garden Island

This was published in the December 4th edition of Kaua'is The Garden Island newspaper.

Let science dictate, not money

On Nov. 21, TGI published a letter from a Canadian engineer named Tom Harris which disputes the evidence behind climate change. He claims that the Earth may actually be cooling and that “extreme weather events are not affected by our emissions of greenhouse gasses.”

I found it curious that a Canadian engineer would be writing a letter to The Garden Island, so I did a bit of research.  

1) Tom Harris began his career as a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry.  

2) Tom Harris is a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute.  This institute exists to undermine the science behind climate change and is funded in part by the notorious Koch brothers.  Their most recent advertising campaign was a spree of billboards comparing those who believe in climate change to terrorists.   

3) The panel that he cites in his letter (NIPCC) consists of 23 citizens who are paid $300,000 a year by the Heartland institute.

I don’t mean to personally discredit Mr. Harris, because I’m sure he believes what he says. He is likely just as sincere and passionate about the continued use of fossil fuels as I am about preserving the natural wonders of Kaua‘i.

However, the difference between us is that he gets paid for his passion. Fossil fuel companies pay him and every outspoken climate change denier in the world to speak up. Their job is to muddy the discussion just enough so that our society will continue with the status quo. So that the people who write his paycheck can continue to run the most profitable companies in the history of the world.

There have been 13,950 peer reviewed articles on climate change published since 1991. Of those, only 24 reject the evidence behind anthropogenic climate change. Other than the theory of gravity, there are not many theories out there with that type of overwhelming consensus.  

By listening to men such as Mr. Harris, we are letting the future of our planet be dictated not by science, but by money.

Luke Evslin