In regards to the May 24 letter “Coal is a plentiful, reliable source” from Tom Harris of the International Coalition on Science Climate, there are a couple of major fallacies with Harris’ argument, as well as a distinct bias, that readers may not be aware of.
Harris tries to make a point that due to some weather (not climate) events, that climate change does not exist. Every legitimate climate scientist will tell you that you cannot, nor should you, associate individual weather events with overall climate change. Additionally, his organization has received funding from the Heartland Institute. Since 1998, Heartland has received major funding from Exxon Mobil in order to deny climate change. Can anyone here smell conflict of interest? Heartland also worked extensively with Philip Morris in the 1990s to deny the harm of second-hand smoke.
Harris is not a climate scientist and is not qualified to pontificate on the subject. He is a Canadian mechanical engineer, with no climate background. He is not a scientist, he is not a climatologist, a meteorologist, or an oceanographer. So just as I would not accept advice on my cardiac condition from a shoe salesman, I will continue to rely on the 97 percent of climate scientists who say climate change is real and that man is aggravating the problem. I will continue to oppose the coal terminal here in Vancouver.